BBC News – Majestic shuttle in unique station image
NASA on Tuesday July 7th released the first-ever image of a space shuttle docked at the International Space Station.
The image, which shows the space shuttle Endeavour docked at the ISS, was taken from the Soyuz TMA-20 after it left the station on May 23. Expedition 27 crew member Paolo Nespoli snapped the shot from an altitude of approximately 200 miles as he and Russian cosmonaut Dmitry Kondratyev and NASA astronaut Cady Coleman headed back to Earth – a rare, indeed unique image as safety protocols don’t usually allow more than one vehicle to be in transit with the ISS at close proximity.
The image is very 2001: A Space Odyssey and just shows how far forwards Arthur C Clarke & Stanley Kubrick were thinking in 1968!
Will be my new desktop background for a while, the widescreen source is at http://www.nasa.gov/images/content/557328main_1969_946-710.jpg
