Friday, April 17, 2009

Photo Gallery: Two Ships Perched On KSC Pads

ABOUT THE IMAGES: Click to enlarge the great shots of shuttle Atlantis (in the foreground) and shuttle Endeavour on Kennedy Space Center's launch Complex 39A and Launch Complex 39B, respectively.

Atlantis is being prepped for a May 12 launch on NASA's fifth and final Hubble Space Telescope servicing flight.

Endeavour rolled out of the Vehicle Assembly Building late Thursday and now is being readied to fly a rescue mission if Atlantis sustains damage that would endanger its crew on atmospheric reentry.

The Rotating Service Structure at pad 39B swung open to receive Endeavour. The gantry at pad 39A was opened in advance of the delivery and installation Saturday of the cargo for the Hubble mission.

The service structures at both pads will remain open for KSC Family Day on Saturday -- an open house that is expected to draw up to 50,000 NASA and contractor workers along with their families and friends.

The event is not open to the public.

However, there are two ways others can see Atlantis and Endeavour:

++Drive east on State Road 406 toward Playalinda Beach and see the shuttles from side-of-the-road pull-offs.

++Take the bus tour at the KSC Visitor Complex and see the shuttles from a gantry-like viewing site halfway between the Vehicle Assembly Building and the pads.

The bus tours are included with regular admission, which is $38 plus tax for adults and $28 plus tax for children ages 3-11.

The images all were captured by award-winning Florida Today photographer Michael R. Brown.

Click Read More to see additional photos:




2 comments:

Conor said...

Fingers crossed that we see a Shuttle and the Ares 1X on the pads later this year.

Anonymous said...

great pics but its a shame that FT couldnt have posted these pics inn there max res. last time that pics of the two shuttles were published they where in hi res, making great background photos for the desktop. Some of these work but the 16x9's dont work well at the current published res.