A Space Shuttle Before Dawn
Credit & Copyright:
Charles Danforth
(CASA, U. Colorado)
This shuttle has launched to space.
Pictured above, the
Space Shuttle
Atlantis
sat on Launch Pad 39A before
dawn last month as it was prepared for the launch.
The shuttle orbiter is visible on the image right, attached to a
brown liquid fuel tank and two
white solid rocket boosters.
In the image center is the
Fixed Service Structure that
stands just over 100 meters tall, including the white
lightning rod at the top.
Starting on Sunday, the space
shuttle embarked
on one of its most
ambitious missions ever: its fourth
mission to
fix and upgrade
the ageing Hubble Space Telescope.
Hubble's replacement, the James
Webb Space Telescope, is currently scheduled for launch in 2014.