Ave atque vale

[caddyman]

As the Times has it today, Hail and Farewell.

This is the first and last picture of the Space Shuttle docked with the completed International Space Station. Since the Shuttle is to be retired after the current mission and that other orbiting spacecraft are usually steered away from the area when a mission to the ISS is under way, to minimise risks of collision, we won’t see another of these. Probably.



I suspect this may become one of those iconic pictures in the history of space exploration, like Neil Armstrong on the moon, Earth Rise and so on.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-13691608

Edited to add: facts check - this is actually the Endeavour docked with the ISS. Its final mission ended last month and this picture has only just been released. Atlantis has one final mission forthcoming before it is scrapped, but it is unlikely we will get a picture of it docked.

Comments

[snorkel-maiden.livejournal.com]

That wasn't the last mission (Endeavour landed last week; the photo was taken a while ago but only just released); there's another in July which will be STS-135. The picture was possible because the Soyuz Expedition 27 left the ISS while Endeavour was docked, which hasn't happened before.

[caddyman.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I just read that in the paper. Bum.

[snorkel-maiden.livejournal.com]

Bum to which bit? I'm glad it wasn't the last mission as I love watching the launches; Soyuz isn't quite the same, probably because they aren't reused in the same way, and aren't named so it's harder to get attached to them. They lack the romance of the Shuttles, somehow!

[caddyman.livejournal.com]

Bum to getting my facts mangled.

[snorkel-maiden.livejournal.com]

Ah! Well I don't think it's your fault; for a while STS-134 was scheduled to be the last mission, and I think the press latched on to it. But it's not like STS-135 is any sort of secret! I think there's also been some confusion between the last mission, and the last missions of Discovery and Endeavour and so on, as the last few have seen the other Shuttles retiring at the end.

[snorkel-maiden.livejournal.com]

But still, it is of course a stunning picture and fully deserves to become iconic, as you say! :)

[changeling72.livejournal.com]

Progress.

[failing-angel.livejournal.com]

That's still a stunning pic - the BBC news site has some stuff about this too: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-13691608

[failing-angel.livejournal.com]

Doh - I really should read the full post properly.