First portrait of Shuttle and ISS taken from a Soyuz spacecraft

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Newly released portraits show the International Space Station together with the space shuttle Endeavour, the vehicle that helped build the complex during the last decade. The pictures are the first taken of a shuttle docked to the station from the perspective of a Russian Soyuz spacecraft. On May 23, the Soyuz was carrying Russian cosmonaut Dmitry Kondratyev, NASA astronaut Cady Coleman and European Space Agency astronaut Paolo Nespoli back to Earth. Once their vehicle was about 600 feet from the station, Mission Control Moscow, outside the Russian capital, commanded the orbiting laboratory to rotate 130 degrees. This move allowed Nespoli to capture digital photographs and high definition video of shuttle Endeavour docked to the station.
Credit: NASA

Starry Sky off Space Shuttle Endeavour on STS-134 Mission

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Earth's atmosphere and a starry sky just off the port wing of the docked space shuttle Endeavour are the subject of this image photographed by the Expedition 28 crew, while the shuttle was docked with space station on the STS-134 mission. Endeavour and the STS-134 crew undocked from the station on Monday, May 30, and landing is slated for 2:35 a.m. EDT Wednesday, June 1 at the Kennedy Space Center.
Credit: NASA

Endeavour at the International Space Station on May 19, 2011

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This image of space shuttle Endeavour, taken by STS-134 mission specialist Ron Garan on May 19, shows the craft docked at the International Space Station. Thus far during the 14-day mission, the Endeavour crew has installed the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer, delivered spare parts and is conducting the mission's first spacewalk. This is the 36th shuttle mission to the International Space Station.
Credit: NASA

Space Shuttle Endeavour's Final Roll: the End of an Odyssey

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Bathed in xenon lights, space shuttle Endeavour moves along the crawlerway from the Vehicle Assembly Building to Launch Pad 39A at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Riding atop a crawler-transporter attached to its external fuel tank and solid rocket boosters, Endeavour's last scheduled 3.4-mile trek to the pad, known as "rollout," took just less than eight hours.
Credit: NASA/Terry Zaperach

Space shuttle Discovery lifts off on Feb. 24, 2011 at 4:53 p.m. EST

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Space shuttle Discovery lifted off from Kennedy Space Center's Launch Pad 39A on Feb. 24, 2011 at 4:53 p.m. EST. It's the final spaceflight for Discovery, NASA's oldest orbiter, which is ferrying hardware and supplies to the International Space Station on the 11-day STS-133 mission.
Credit: NASA TV

Shuttle Discovery at launch pad 39A on Wednesday, Feb. 23, 2011

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The space shuttle Discovery is seen shortly after the Rotating Service Structure was rolled back at launch pad 39A, at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida, on Wednesday, Feb. 23, 2011. Discovery, on its 39th and final flight, will carry the Italian-built Permanent Multipurpose Module, Express Logistics Carrier 4 and Robonaut 2, the first humanoid robot in space, to the International Space Station.
Credit: NASA/Bill Ingalls

Discovery ready for launch to the ISS on the STS-133 mission

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Dawn broke over the Atlantic Ocean near Launch Pad 39A at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida to reveal space shuttle Discovery newly arrived for its upcoming launch in this image taken on Feb. 1, 2011.
Discovery began its 3.4-mile trip from the Vehicle Assembly Building at 7:58 p.m. EST Jan. 31, and was secured on the pad a little before 3 a.m. Feb. 1. Discovery is set to launch to the International Space Station on the STS-133 mission on Thursday, Feb. 24.
Credit: NASA/Kim Shiflett

Space shuttle Buran on launchpad 110/37 in November 1988

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Soviet space shuttle Buran on launchpad 110/37 at Baikonur Cosmodrome in November 1988.
Credit: Roscosmos

Space Shuttle Enterprise First Historical Appearance: May 1, 1979

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Space shuttle Enterprise made its first appearance mated to supportive propellant containers/boosters cluster, as it was rolled from the Vehicle Assembly Building at Kennedy Space Center en route to the launch pad, some 3.5 miles away, on May 1, 1979. Enterprise underwent several weeks of fit and function checks on the pad in preparation for STS-1, on which its sister craft Columbia took astronauts John Young and Robert Crippen into space for a 54-hour test mission.
Credit: NASA

Space Shuttle main engine: 6,000 degrees F inside, cool outside!

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A space shuttle main engine stands alone. Technicians have rotating devices to position the engines for processing. A space shuttle main engine burns at 6,000 degrees F, but the outside of the nozzle remains cool to the touch. Prior to launch, sometimes it even frosts over.
Credit: NASA/Jack Pfaller

STS-129 Space Shuttle Atlantis on Pad 39A

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The space shuttle Atlantis is seen on launch pad 39A of the NASA Kennedy Space Center (KSC) shortly after the rotating service structure was rolled back, Sunday, November 15, 2009 in Cape Canaveral, Florida.
Credit: NASA/Bill Ingalls