Space Shuttle Atlantis Returns Home

Digitus1337 writes to mention the news that Space Shuttle Atlantis has returned to Earth after a successful twelve-day mission. Everything involving the mission went smoothly, resulting in high praise from NASA officials. The only drama came from 'mysterious' debris floating alongside the shuttle; this turned out to likely be trash from the cargo bay accidentally released into space. From the article: "The unplanned drama threatened to overshadow what had been a nearly flawless mission filled with strenuous spacewalks and rigorous robotics work that placed the space station back on a path to completion after its long hiatus. The crew of five men and one woman were the longest-trained in NASA history, because they were originally supposed to fly to the space station in 2003. But the Columbia accident kept them grounded."

Comments

...in color

[Megane]

It's also today's APOD picture:

http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap060921.html

For those who were "too lazy; didn't read" the comments on the badastronomy page, the transit only lasted one second. So not only was it great camera work, it was great timing, too.