Atlantis returns home – viewed from ISS

Posted on July 22, 2011 | 3 Comments

This is a time exposure taken from the International Space Station (ISS). It shows the plasma trail of Atlantis as it travelled through the atmosphere on its final return from orbit.

Thanks to NASA – Station Crew Views Shuttle Landing.

This entry was posted in atmosphere, SciBlogs, science, Science and Society and tagged , , , , , , , , . Bookmark the permalink.

3 responses to “Atlantis returns home – viewed from ISS”

  1. Andrew W | July 22, 2011 at 5:20 pm |

    Wow, thank God that’s over, now maybe we can move onto a launch system that has some regard to operating costs.

    Like

  2. Mark Sloan | July 23, 2011 at 4:48 am |

    Amazing! Thanks for posting. Those are brave men and women. They trust their lives to reason and science in spectacular fashion.

    This shot might be useful as an illustration in a discussion I am engaged in about the value of science (or vulgar materialism or crass reductionism as science is known in some circles) in informing our ethics. My ‘opponents’ on the moral philosophy forum tend to favor reason working from what I understand to be only intuitions and ‘spirituality’.

    Like

  3. Mark Sloan | July 23, 2011 at 6:58 am |

    I went ahead and used the picture to illustrate a short post about the limits of science regarding understanding morality:. “Last Shuttle Descent, Vulgar Materialism, and Crass Reductionism”.

    If anyone is interested, it can be found at:

    http://forums.philosophyforums.com/comments.php?id=48786&findpost=816422#post816422

    Like

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