As the space shuttle program winds down, Atlantis has made what is likely to be its final journey. Phil Plait over at the Bad Astronomy blog has posted a gorgeous picture from Thierry Legault showing the International Space Station (ISS) and the Space Shuttle Atlantis transiting in front of the sun. In this image, Atlantis is docked with the ISS. An earlier picture we posted showed Atlantis approaching the ISS during the transit.
The picture has been cropped to show the relevant section, but you can click on it to see more detail. Better yet, you can see it at its full resolution by clicking on the link below. The original image is 5,430 x 3,620!
Image of the solar transit of the International Space Station (ISS) and Space Shuttle Atlantis during the STS-132 mission, taken from Niederbipp in Switzerland on May 22nd 2010 at 13h 14min 09s UT.
Transit duration: 0.49s.
ISS distance to observer: 390 km.
Speed in orbit: 7.4km/s (26500 km/h or 16500 mph).
