Atlantis 6 hours after landing

How often do you get to see a space shuttle up close just 6 hours after landing?  Well, after this view - never.  Photography from the KSC tour bus was difficult due to reflections from the bus windows.  They would not stop to let us out for a better view, but this wasn't bad.  This image was taken at 160mm focal length with an exposure of 1/800 seconds at f/5.6, ISO 400.

Atlantis rolling back to the OPF

Atlantis is being rolled back from the runway to the Orbital Processing facility for is post-flight processing. This image was taken about five and a half hours after touchdown as it approached the area around the OPF and VAB, fresh from its 13 day mission to the ISS.  This image was cropped from a 300mm shot taken at 1/500 seconds at f/5.6, ISO 400 while riding the tour bus heading out to the LC-39 gantry viewing site.

Sunrise after Atlantis final landing

The Sun rises about an hour after Atlantis landed at KSC after its final flight of STS-135, July 21, 2011.  The runway is approximately at center in this image taken from the Causeway bridge at the north end of Titusville.  The VAB is at right.  Also visible if you know where to look are both LC-39A and LC-39B; the Saturn V center, the Ares I launch tower (just left of the VAB) and several other Kennedy Space Center facilities. This image was taken with a 24mm lens with a setting of f/8 at 1/1000 seconds, ISO 400.

Go Atlants Go!

Atlantis climbs into the Florida sky as it makes the 135th and final launch of the Space Shuttle program on July 8, 2011. The boat in the foreground dragged its anchor and ended up right in line with our view from Space View Park in Titusville as the main engines and then SRBs lit to begin its flight. This image was taken with my 75-300mm lens at 300mm focal length, 1/400 seconds at f/8, ISO 100.

STS-135, the night before

We watched the launch of Atlantis on the final shuttle flight of STS-135 on July 8. This was the view of the launch pad with low hanging clouds the night before launch as viewed from Space View Park in Titusville where we watched the launch. The bright xenon lights illuminate the shuttle and launch pad as well as the sky overhead. This exposure was with my 70-300mm lens at f/5.6, ISO 100, 30 seconds.