Our Solar System In Focus

Robotic probes launched by National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), the European Space Agency (ESA), and others are gathering information right now all across the solar system. We currently have spacecraft in orbit around the Sun, Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, and Saturn. Several others on their way to smaller bodies, and a few on their way out of the solar system entirely. 

 On Mars, a rover called Spirit has just been officially left for dead, after two years of radio silence from it but its twin, Opportunity, continues on its mission, now more than 2,500 days beyond its originally planned 90-days. 

 With all these eyes in the sky, here is a photo album of our Solar system, a set of family portraits, as seen by our astronauts and mechanical emissaries.

NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) satellite captures an image of the Earth's moon crossing in front of the Sun, on May 3, 2011. (NASA/GSFC/SDO) 

When a rather large-sized (M 3.6 class) flare occurred near the edge of the Sun, it blew out a gorgeous, waving mass of erupting plasma that swirled and twisted over a 90-minute period on February 24, 2011. This event was captured in extreme ultraviolet light by NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory spacecraft . Some of the material blew out into space and other portions fell back to the surface. (NASA/GSFC/SDO)

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History Of NASA Space Shuttle Program

From its first launch 30 years ago to its final launch on July 8, 2011, NASA's Space Shuttle program has seen moments of dizzying inspiration and of crushing disappointment. The program had sent up 135 missions, ferrying more than 350 humans and thousands of tons of material and equipment into low Earth orbit. 

Fourteen astronauts have lost their lives along the way. The missions have always been risky, the engineering complex, the hazards extreme.

Individual Space Shuttle orbiters were named in honor of antique sailing ships of the navies of the world, and they are also numbered using the NASA Orbiter Vehicle Designation system. Three of the names had also been borne by Apollo spacecraft in 1969-1972: Apollo 11 command module Columbia, Apollo 15 command module Endeavour, and Apollo 17 lunar module Challenger.

Lets look back at the past few decades of shuttle development and missions as we await the next steps toward human space flight. Some of the images are awesome and dramatic and suitable to be made as your desktop wallpaper.

Space Shuttle Columbia lifts off from Kennedy Space Center, on April 12, 1981. Commander John Young and pilot Robert Crippen were onboard STS-1, the first orbital flight of the Space Shuttle program. (Reuters/NASA/KSC) 

Shuttle launch profiles. From left to right: Columbia, Challenger, Discovery, Atlantis, and Endeavour. (Wikipedia)

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How NASA Prepare Space Shuttle For Launching

As a kid, I really want to be an astronaut or cosmonaut. Not because I want to be in outer-space but because I have something inside me that really into heavy machinery. So, as today I already become an engineer, I think it is not really bad at all. 

These pictures shown the amount of thought and engineering that goes into every launch which is hugely immense. In each successful take-off, it represents the Mankind's finest effort, and is a wonder to behold. 

Too bad NASA already terminate the Space Shuttle program. NASA Space Shuttle Pre-Launch Activities.

External tank arrives by barge from Louisiana

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