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Credit & Copyright: NASA
Explanation:
What's that rising from the clouds?
The space shuttle.
Sometimes, if you look out the window of an airplane at just the right time and place,
you see something unusual -- in this case a space shuttle launching to orbit.
The featured
image of Endeavour's final launch in 2011 May was
captured from a NASA shuttle training aircraft.
Taken well above the clouds, the image can be matched with similar images of the
same shuttle plume taken
below
the clouds.
Hot glowing gasses expelled by the engines are visible near the
rising shuttle, as well
as a long smoke plume.
A shadow of the plume appears on the cloud deck, indicating
the direction of the Sun.
The US Space Shuttle program concluded in 2011, and
Endeavour can now be
visited at the
California Science Center.
Planned for tomorrow, however, is a different launch -- that of the
Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) aboard a SpaceX
Falcon 9 rocket.
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NASA Web Site Statements, Warnings, and Disclaimers
NASA Official: Jay Norris. Specific rights apply.
A service of: LHEA at NASA / GSFC
& Michigan Tech. U.
Based on Astronomy Picture
Of the Day
Publications with keywords: space shuttle Endeavour
Publications with words: space shuttle Endeavour
See also: