My interest (my wife might call it an obsession) in aviation means that I keep my eyes on lots of non-electronics websites. This morning I found this image on the NASA website.
Photo: Paolo Nespoli/NASA
Italian astronaut Paolo Nespoli took pictures of the International Space Station as he was leaving in a Soyuz capsule. Normally, Soyuz wouldn't leave during the time that a Shuttle was also docked, mainly for safety reasons. But in the twilight of the Space Shuttle's career, they bent the rules a little.
The Shuttle didn't turn out to be the cheap, reliable space-truck that was originally intended, but over the years it has given us some of the greatest technology imaginable. One of the first laptop computers was designed for the space programme, and the Hubble Space Telescope was taken into orbit by the Shuttle Discovery.
In the future maybe the Shuttle will be regarded in as much affection as the Douglas DC-3, but for the moment do take a look at these stunning images. We won't see anything quite like them for a long time.
studiogavinelli
Dear "Connector" thank you for your post.
In the 90's I worked 10 years in the aerospace industry and participated to the STS46 and STS75 missions as ground support, in NASA facilities, to the italian Thetered Satellite so today these pictures have a special meaning to me, they remind to a unique and unrepeatable experience; more unrepeatable now that the shuttle retiers.
Thanks again for this glad flashback!