Save the date

The space shuttle Atlantis and the six astronauts on board, departed today from Cape Canaveral on a 12-day mission for this ship will be the last trip to the International Space Station. The shuttle, carrying equipment and supplies for the ISS, took off from the runway at 4:20 GMT, with excellent weather Conditions for launch. After splitting and discard the fuel tanks, the empezar spacecraft orbiting around the Earth. Ship is expected to arrive at the ISS on Sunday.

Source: http://www.providingnews.com/shuttle-launch-countdown-atlantis-ready-for-last-trip.html#ixzz0nwGb8uVQ


This is it. The final countdown (pun intended) of the shuttle. It has given us many great years but we gotta go above and way beyond now. Thanks shuttle - I'll save the date for your last launch (Nov. 22) for mission Glory - whose coming with me! If not, we got the future - especially August ** for mission NuSTAR



2010 Launches
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Date: Sept. 16 +
Mission: STS-133
Launch Vehicle: Space Shuttle Discovery
Launch Site: Kennedy Space Center - Launch Pad 39A
Launch Time: 11:57 a.m. EDT
Description: Space shuttle Discovery will deliver the Express Logistics Carrier 4 (ELC4), a Multi-Purpose Logistics Module (MLPM) and critical spare components to the International Space Station.

Date: Mid-Nov. *
Mission: STS-134
Launch Vehicle: Space Shuttle Endeavour
Launch Site: Kennedy Space Center - Launch Pad 39A
Launch Time: To Be Determined
Description: Space shuttle Endeavour will deliver an EXPRESS Logistics Carrier-3 (ELC-3) and an Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer (AMS) to the International Space Station.

Date: Nov. 22
Mission: Glory
Launch Vehicle: Orbital Sciences Taurus Rocket
Launch Site: Vandenberg Air Force Base - Launch Pad SLC 576-E
Description: The Glory Mission will help increase our understanding of the Earth's energy balance by collecting data on the properties of aerosols and black carbon in the Earth's atmosphere and how the Sun's irradiance affects the Earth's climate.
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2011 Launches
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Date: **
Mission: Aquarius
Launch Vehicle: United Launch Alliance Delta II 7320
Launch Site: Vandenberg Air Force Base - SLC 2
Description: The Aquarius mission will provide the first-ever global maps of salt concentrations in the ocean surface needed to understand heat transport and storage in the ocean.

Date: Aug. 5
Mission: Juno
Launch Vehicle: United Launch Alliance Atlas V
Launch Site: Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Fla.
Description: The solar-powered Juno spacecraft is to orbit Jupiter's poles 33 times to find out more about the gas giant's origins, structure, atmosphere and magnetosphere.

Date: Aug. **
Mission: NuSTAR
Launch Vehicle: Orbital Pegasus
Launch Site: Kwajalein
Description: NuSTAR will search for black holes, map supernova explosions, and study the most extreme active galaxies.

Date: Sept. 23
Mission: NPP
Launch Vehicle: ULA Delta II
Launch Site: Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif.
Description: The National Polar-orbiting Operational Environmental Satellite System Preparatory Project (NPP) mission for NASA and NOAA is to measure Earth's atmospheric and sea surface temperatures, humidity sounding, land and ocean biological activity and cloud and aerosol properties.

Date: Sept. 8
Mission: GRAIL
Launch Vehicle: ULA Delta II Heavy
Launch Site: Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Fla.
Description: The Gravity Recovery and Interior Laboratory mission's primary science objectives will be to determine the structure of the lunar interior from crust to core and to advance understanding of the thermal evolution of the moon.

Date: October 14 *
Mission: Mars Science Laboratory
Launch Vehicle: United Launch Alliance Atlas V
Launch Site: Cape Canaveral Air Force Station
Description: The Mars Science Laboratory is a rover that will assess whether Mars ever was, or is still today, an environment able to support microbial life and to determine the planet's habitability.

http://www.nasa.gov/missions/highlights/schedule.html