Last picture of Atlantis in space

Jul 26, 2011
Space shuttle Atlantis (circled) and sunspot AR1254. Credit: NASA/Thierry Legault

July 21, 2011: Space shuttle Atlantis landed at NASA's Kennedy Space Center, wrapping up the final mission of NASA's space shuttle program.

At 08:27:48 UT, just 21 minutes before the deorbit burn, astrophotographer Thierry Legault captured what might be the last picture of Atlantis in space--and it was a solar transit.

The full disk composite


Explore further: Dark, massive asteroid to fly by Earth on May 31

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