Atlantis lift-off at 11:29 am EST on Friday, June 8th 2011

Arriving the day before with steady rain,  the chance of STS-135 launching on time was 30%.

STS-135 fueling
Fueling a little after 4:30 AM

We arrived early to get some fantastic photos like the one above, and a great seat for the launch.

sts-135 waiting
Less than 10 minutes to go and still launch is not likely

sts-135 ready
As if planned  to happen on schedule, the low cloud ceiling parted and the fuse was lit on time!

AtlantisReturn
... if you were watching the launch from space.

30 years of shuttle
An end of an era

 sts atlantis

sts challenger
sts columbia
sts discovery
sts endeavor
sts endeavor

ISS

iss

Click Here for Current Status

More incredible images ...

LEM
Apollo Lunar Module

challenger_apollo17_site
Site of Apollo 17 LEM mission

rare_color_apollo
Rare color Apollo mission photo

Shuttle Docked
Shuttle docked with ISS

Astronaut at work
At work on some ISS equipmnt

Parkes Dish
Parkes Radio Attenae

Endeavour in the hanger
Retired Endeavour Shuttle

Soyuz module
What is this?

asteroid
Asteroid


Cassini view of Saturn's moons