Space shuttle Atlantis touches down

[Helicoradian]

NASA - Space Shuttle

Here's a pic taken by the crew of the ISS of Atlantis making it's final re-entry

[iron_jones]

[Aketuan]

the end of an era...

[Empty Glass]

Beautiful picture, but I'm kind of sad to see the shuttle program come to a close. I always dreamed of getting to fly on one of them as a kid.

[Raptor]

Sad that the program has ended. Oh well, time to look ahead for its future successor (a bit of a stretch considering NASA's financial fiasco). We can't support it with the current debt and deficit (and yet, the Pentagon's budget dwarfs NASA's ).

Or at the Russian Soyuz...

[Moco Loco]

I feel like NASA should have its own charity.

[Mother of the Forest]

That picture is so surreal.

[mikkowilson]

That picture is awesome for one reason: It's real.

We are used to images like this. But that one isn't generated in a computer, or a model on a set. Some crazy lucky swine got to see that with their own eyes.

I'm really bummed I never saw a shuttle launch. Even had tickets to go to one last year, but then it got moved and I couldn't make it. I saw Atlantis once, she flew overhead docked to the ISS a few summers ago while I was in France on vacation. Just a bright dot of light passing across the sky. Not unlike that image in a way actually.

The shuttle program has always been one of those "cool" things for me. It's represented one of the pinnacles of human achievement. Something great that we can do as we reach for the stars.

I only got 2 hours of sleep Wednesday night because I stayed up to watch Atlantis come home online. It was very sad, but I too am filled with hope for what cool thing the people at NASA will do next. I think the end of the shuttle program will focus them to move on to the next thing. They are the geekiest geeks there are, and one thing they won't settle for is not doing something even cooler.

Spaaaaaaaaaaaaace.

- Mikko ... cried watching the landing at final Wheels Stop.

[Human No More]

Another retrograde step for humanity... it seems there are more every day. Now the US needs some serious investment in NASA or they will be left behind.

Of course, the state of Britain is even worse and makes the US look completely exemplary in regards to space - the previous government couldn't even contribute a single module for the ISS, and the current government has completely failed to rectify that travesty.

On the shuttle... So much discovery, and inspiration. So much knowledge gained. Now all just history. I would say that some of the most beautiful manmade sights are related to space, and what they have discovered as a result are even better. It has inspired millions of people, yet humans haven't even been back to the moon yet, when by all rights there should be people beyond Mars by now

The actual landing was interesting, it was a night landing, which I hadn't seen before. I watched it live

[James of terra]

wow love that picture. We can only hope they can contiune the space adventure, I hope they do.

[Helicoradian]

Originally Posted by mikkowilson

I'm really bummed I never saw a shuttle launch. Even had tickets to go to one last year, but then it got moved and I couldn't make it.

Awww Watching a shuttle launch in person is something you never forget, I wish more people would've had that chance.

Originally Posted by Human No More

Another retrograde step for humanity... it seems there are more every day. Now the US needs some serious investment in NASA or they will be left behind.

Yup

Considering how much wasteful spending takes place in the US government, it's almost sickening that they won't give a truly worthwhile agency like NASA a more generous yearly budget.

[Human No More]

I wish I could have seen one in person... I watched quite a lot in the internet, but it's not the same at all - I've read descriptions, and it sounds like nothing else on Earth.