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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."
Among the debris: 6 McDonalds fries containers, a comb with gum stuck on it, a toll receipt for the GW bridge dated 1995, that missing glove from the EVA 10 years ago, an empty chapstick, two Miller Lite beer cans, and directions to the party that you don't want to remember now.
Intron: the portion of DNA which expresses nothing useful.
Yesterday the Bad Astronomy site posted a great photo of Atlantis and the ISS silhouetted against the sun. The photo was taken last Sunday... from the ground! The post over there also links to photographer Thierry Legault's website, with a bunch more space photos.