STS-134 Shuttle Mission to the International Space Station Launches Monday 16th @ 13:56 BST

Cosimo · 7 Jun 2011 at 20:07

Combat squirrel said:
I think somethings gone wrong with the pics, they should not be taking this long

The first images have been released, these are edited versions:

This image of the International Space Station and the docked Space Shuttle Endeavour, flying at an altitude of approximately 220 miles, was taken by Expedition 27 crew member Paolo Nespoli from the Soyuz TMA-20 following its undocking on May 23, 2011 (USA time). It is the first-ever image of a space shuttle docked to the International Space Station. Onboard the Soyuz were Russian cosmonaut and Expedition 27 commander Dmitry Kondratyev; Nespoli, a European Space Agency astronaut; and NASA astronaut Cady Coleman. Coleman and Nespoli were both flight engineers. The three landed in Kazakhstan later that day, completing 159 days in space.

Westyfield2 · 7 Jun 2011 at 20:08

At long bloody last!

Cosimo · 7 Jun 2011 at 20:10

The rest are here.

Cosimo · 7 Jun 2011 at 20:21

Two more videos.

Imaging experts funded by the Space Shuttle Program and located at NASA's Ames Research Center prepared this video by merging nearly 20,000 photographs taken by a set of six cameras capturing 250 images per second at the STS-134 launch on May 16, 2011. From seven seconds before takeoff to six seconds after, the cameras took simultaneous images at six different exposure settings. The images were processed and combined in this video to balance the brightness of the rocket engine output with the regular daylight levels at which the orbiter can be seen. The processing software digitally removes pure black or pure white pixels from one image and replaces them with the most detailed pixel option from the five other images. This technique can help visualize debris falling during a launch or support research involving intense light sources like rocket engines, plasma experiments and hypersonic vehicle engines.

This is a side-by-side comparison video showing a one-camera view of the launch (left) with the six-camera composited view (right).

The six camera view:

Combat squirrel · 7 Jun 2011 at 21:20

Finally !! Awesome shots as expected

Cosimo · 7 Jun 2011 at 23:17

Combat squirrel said:
Finally !! Awesome shots as expected

Another batch has been published and we still don't have the video. This one is a real cracker (edited):

DJMK4 · 7 Jun 2011 at 23:30

'0My jaw is dropping, stunning pictures

PermaBanned · 7 Jun 2011 at 23:59

Yup... breathtaking

dekez · 8 Jun 2011 at 09:51

Amazing pics

Cyclone · 8 Jun 2011 at 17:32

Awesome pics. Looks like a toy set, hard to believe its real. Just 'floating'.

Cosimo · 8 Jun 2011 at 17:35

A 70MB zip file of the all the images can be download from here.

PermaBanned · 8 Jun 2011 at 17:58

Oh how i'd love to see groen try to disprove this

Westyfield2 · 8 Jun 2011 at 18:14

PermaBanned said:
Oh how i'd love to see groen try to disprove this

It's been over two weeks since they "took" the "photos"... that's a fair bit of Photohop time

.

Macky · 8 Jun 2011 at 18:15

Amazing.

Cosimo · 8 Jun 2011 at 22:45

And now we also have the video:

PermaBanned · 11 Jun 2011 at 15:51

http://thebrigade.thechive.com/2011...eavour-will-make-you-feel-small-22-hq-photos/

Brilliant collection of Endeavor in her stride

You know, when i started following this mission i believed that ultimately it was the right decision to retire the Shuttles. Now... i can't advocate it without a proper replacement. Retire Atlantis, yeah, but anywhere in the world where it's possible i think we need to have the capability for manned space flight. Is this going to be like the six years after the Apollo-Soyuz mission? Or is it going to be worse, is NASA never going to have a proper new craft again, instead working with private enterprise to support a profit driven enterprise in space? I find that thought physically sickening, and Roddenberry is spinning in his grave at the possibility.