A look back at Endeavour: NASA releases first-ever pictures of space shuttle docked on International Space Station

By DAILY MAIL REPORTER

Flying high: The International Space Station is seen with the docked space shuttle Endeavour in this photo taken on May 23


NASA has released the first-ever images of a space shuttle linked to the International Space Station taken from a departing spaceship.

Italian astronaut Paolo Nespoli took the photos two weeks ago from inside a Russian Soyuz capsule soon after he left the space station for the trip back to Earth.

The shuttle Endeavour is pictured attached to the bow of the space station and was captured by the capsule as it orbited at 17,000mph at 220 miles above Earth.


One final journey: Days after the photos were taken, Endeavour landed at Kennedy Space Center on June 1, bringing to an end NASA's 30-year shuttle programme .


A Soyuz capsule had never headed for home while a shuttle was parked at the space station due to safety procedures. However, space officials made a rare exception to capture a picture of the shuttle for posterity. The ISS was even commanded to rotate 130 degrees to get the best shot.

The photo was taken by Expedition 27 crew member Nespoli from the Soyuz TMA-20 when it was 600ft away from the station on May 23, 2011.

The camera is pointed along the ISS's backbone, which holds the four sets of solar wings that power the craft. A European ATV cargo carrier can be seen on the far right.

The European Space Agency astronaut had around half an hour to capture high resolution digital photos and videos of Space Shuttle Endeavour docked to the orbiting lab for the very last time.


Here's looking at you: Astronaut Paolo Nespoli's camera can be glimpsed in the Soyuz window as they head back to Earth


The Expedition 27 crew was made up of Paolo Nespoli, Russian Commander Dmitry Kondratyev and NASA astronaut Cady Coleman.

The trio began their mission with the departure of the Soyuz TMA-20 spacecraft on March 16 and spent two months on the ISS working on microgravity experiments.

They landed in Kazakhstan on May 24, days before Endeavour concluded its final mission, which marked the completion of NASA's 30-year space shuttle programme. At the time, Endeavour was on the next-to-last shuttle mission.

NASA's shuttle fleet is retiring after one last flight next month with a load of supplies for the station.


Unprecedented images: Italian astronaut Paolo Nespoli took the photos from inside a Russian Soyuz capsule soon after he left the space station for the trip back to Earth


Endeavour landed at Kennedy Space Center on June 1, bringing to an end to America's 30-year shuttle programme.

Commander Mark Kelly, Italian astronaut Roberto Vittori and Endeavour's four other astronauts - Gregory Johnson, Michael Fincke, Greg Chamitoff and Andrew Feustel - had returned to Earth after 16 days in space of repairs at International Space Station.

The crew installed a $2billion cosmic ray detector, an extension beam and a platform full of spare parts, enough to keep the station operating in the shuttle-less decade ahead.



Into the future: NASA is leaving the Earth-to-orbit business behind to focus on expeditions to asteroids and Mars


The $2.2billion ship, the youngest of the shuttles with 123 million miles over 25 flights, is now bound for the California Space Center in Los Angeles.

NASA is leaving the Earth-to-orbit business behind to focus on expedition to asteroids and Mars.

Private companies hope to pick up the slack for cargo and crew hauls to the space station.

Until then, Americans will continue hitching rides to the station aboard Russian Soyuz capsules at the cost of tens of millions of dollars a seat.


source: dailymail