On a lighter (though still quite sad) note the Space Shuttle Discovery has retired following it’s 39th and final flight into space – this time to visit the International Space Station.
Above you can see the view some lucky aeroplane passengers saw as it took off.
Then the astronauts on the Space Station took a great photo as it approached.
An even luckier UK amateur astronomer, Rob Bullen, caught the approach of Discovery to the Space Station – from the ground!!
Finally – even sillier – German astronomer caught the moment Discovery emptied it’s urine tanks into space before it re-entered the atmosphere on the way back home.
For more videos, pics and comments – including info about the R2 Robot (Star Wars geeks I guess) they took up for the Space Station – check out this BigThink article.
Mr G
Sources: YouTube, Discover Magazine, Neatorama Blog, Wikipedia, BigThink
Mr G's deFScience Blog 