The space shuttle Atlantis blasted off without a hitch this afternoon from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. This launch represents the last mission for the orbiter as NASA moves to scrap the space shuttle program, despite the cranky ramblings of NBC space correspondent Jay Barbree, who kept popping up on MSNBC all afternoon to remind each successive host that Atlantis could still be used in an emergency operation. Let it go already Jay!
Photo: Lance Ulanoff
Wow! If you’ve never seen a space shuttle launch I suggest you do so. There’s only six missions left before they scrub the shuttle program altogether and between the brilliance of the fire spewing out of the booster rockets, plumes of smoke and bone-rattling rumblings, it’s quite impressive—even for the non-geeky mindset. Here’s a view of Atlantis blasting off from the Kennedy Space Center today for its last and final mission, STS-129, which has something to do with bringing spare parts to the International Space Station.
The space shuttle Atlantis blasts off from the Kennedy Space Center for the final repair mission to the expensively broken Hubble Space Telescope. |Big Picture|
Photo by Matt Stroshane/Getty Images
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