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Астронет: Астрономическая картинка дня Космический челнок перед рассветом http://www.variable-stars.ru/db/msg/1234752/eng |
Credit & Copyright: Charles Danforth
(CASA, U. Colorado)
Explanation:
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 itself 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 which 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.
Authors & editors:
Robert Nemiroff
(MTU) &
Jerry Bonnell
(USRA)
NASA Web Site Statements, Warnings,
and Disclaimers
NASA Official: Jay Norris.
Specific
rights apply.
A service of:
LHEA at
NASA /
GSFC
& Michigan Tech. U.