UT: Atlantis Launches Successfully on Last Scheduled Flight

[bystander]

Atlantis Launches Successfully on Last Scheduled Flight (Video)
Universe Today - 14 May 2010

Atlantis launched successfully, and beautifully, on its final scheduled voyage to space Friday at 2:20 pm EDT (1820 GMT). The shuttle and its six astronauts will deliver 3,000 pounds of U.S. supplies, including food and laptop computers to the International Space Station. and — for the first (at last) time — bring a Russian module to the station. The 12-day mission will include 3 spacewalks for that will focus on storing spare components outside the station, including six batteries, a communications antenna and parts for the Canadian Dextre robotic arm.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6hqoBx6h ... r_embedded[/youtube]

Atlantis Lifts Off

Space shuttle Atlantis lifted off from Launch Pad 39A at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida on the STS-132 mission to the International Space Station at 2:20 p.m. EDT on May 14. The third of five shuttle missions planned for 2010, this was the last planned launch for Atlantis. The Russian-built Mini Research Module-1, also known as Rassvet, or "dawn," will be delivered and it will provide additional storage space and a new docking port for Russian Soyuz and Progress spacecraft. The laboratory will be attached to the bottom port of the station's Zarya module. The mission's three spacewalks will focus on storing spare components outside the station, including six batteries, a communications antenna and parts for the Canadian Dextre robotic arm. (NASA IOTD)

NASA STS-132 Mission Archive

[owlice]

YAY!!!!!!

[bystander]

Venus, and the Moon, and Atlantis, and ISS, and Magellan
The Planetary Society Blog - 14 May 2010

Greetings, and a note, to the Magellan team, to mark imminent events related to Magellan, Atlantis, and Venus...

Twenty-one years and ten days ago, on May 4, 1989, the space shuttle Atlantis successfully delivered the Magellan spacecraft to Earth orbit, as part of STS-30. From that essential and powerful first step, Magellan went on to Venus and, piercing the opaque and acidic clouds with high-resolution radar, mapped the planet's surface at high resolution and gathered almost global altimetry and gravity data. (Magellan, aging and designed for the vacuum of space, ended its mission by descending at speed into Venus's atmosphere in October 1994.)

Now, the space shuttle Atlantis is scheduled to launch on its last NASA mission, STS-132, on Friday May, 14 at 2:20pm EDT (18:20 GMT). According to the NASA website, the countdown has been smooth, and the launch weather forecast is 70% favorable.

If Atlantis launches on that schedule, we on Earth may have a rare (and final) opportunity to view Atlantis, the International Space Station, Venus, and the Moon in the sky after sunset this weekend. Check this website, and at the bottom of this post are the possible sightings for Littleton, Colorado, where Magellan was designed and integrated.

Magellan was one of only three deep space craft to launch on space shuttles, and Atlantis carried two of them. Galileo was launched on its way to Jupiter by Atlantis on October 18, 1989; and Ulysses began its journey to solar orbit on Discovery on October 6, 1990.

This is the end of an era. Here's a link to NASA's fact sheet (PDF format) about the final flights of Atlantis, Discovery and Endeavor.

There is a short video of The Legacy of Atlantis here.

As one appreciative ex-Magellanite and ex-Galilean, I thank Atlantis for the rides! And as a U.S. taxpayer, I salute the space shuttle program and wish the best for the last flights of the three US space shuttles.

A Rare Meeting of Planets and Spaceships
Science@NASA - 13 May 2010

This weekend, Venus and the crescent Moon are gathering in the western sky for a spectacular conjunction, and they're not alone. The International Space Station and, very likely, space shuttle Atlantis will join them for a rare four-way meeting of spaceships and planets over many locations.

The show begins at sunset when Venus and the Moon emerge from the twilight in close proximity to one another. The Moon will be exquisitely slender, a 5% crescent on Saturday, May 15th (sky map), and a slightly fatter 10% crescent on Sunday, May 16th (sky map). Between the horns of the crescent, a ghostly image of the full Moon can be seen. That's "Earthshine"—the light of our own planet reflected back toward us by the Moon's dark terrain. In conjunction with Venus, a crescent Moon with Earthshine is regarded as one of the most beautiful sights in the heavens.

Into this tableau of surpassing beauty comes a spaceship--and maybe two!

The International Space Station is due to fly over many US towns and cities this weekend. The ISS appears just after sunset, about the same time as the Venus-Moon encounter, and it glides slowly across the sky shining as brightly as Venus herself. Check NASA's SkyWatch web site to see if you are favored with a flyby and to find out exactly when to look.

If the ISS appears over your hometown, Atlantis is likely to be there as well. The shuttle is scheduled to launch from the Kennedy Space Center on Friday, May 14th, at 2:20 pm EDT (updates). It would then spend the weekend catching up and docking with the ISS, appearing as a distinct point of light in company with the brighter space station. People who have seen double flybys of station and shuttle say it is even better than a Venus-Moon conjunction. Something about two spacecraft gliding silently together among the stars multiplies the beauty and wonder far beyond a factor of two.

APOD: Alpine Conjunction (2009 Jan 02): A Venus-Moon conjunction over the Alps of Austria in 2008. (Tamas Ladanyi (TWAN))


A double flyby of the ISS and space shuttle Discovery over Lumby, British Columbia, Canada, on April 20, 2010. (Yuichi Takasaka)

[bystander]

Space Shuttle Atlantis Returns Home After Its Final Planned Mission

Space shuttle Atlantis and six astronauts ended a 12-day journey of more than 4.8 million miles with an 8:48 a.m. EDT landing Wednesday at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

The third of five shuttle missions planned for 2010, this was the last scheduled flight for Atlantis. The mission, designated STS-132, delivered the Russian-built Mini Research Module-1 to the International Space Station. Also known as Rassvet ("dawn" in Russian), the module provides additional storage space and a new docking port for Russian Soyuz and Progress spacecraft.
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The mission's three spacewalks focused on replacing and installing components outside the station, including replacing six batteries, installing a communications antenna and adding parts to the Canadian Dextre robotic arm.

Click to play embedded YouTube video.

Click to play embedded YouTube video.