Photo Gallery: Rare, last look inside space shuttle Atlantis


http://www.collectspace.com/news/news-121911a.html

 

Thanks for posting this, they are amazing birds and its a shame that we'll not see anything like them again.

I've been to three shuttle launches and its impossible to describe that awesome man made thunder as they lift off, simply amazing and sadly missed.

 

Looks like its back to the days of bottle rockets.... although the Air Force claims to have a single self contained stage to orbit and return 2 seater. Technology rule of thumb, why operate this, when we have This!

Been to a couple of launches myself. Best one was a night launch seen from Daytona Beach about 60 miles away. When it launched, for a few minutes it became daylight in Daytona!

I was eight when the shuttles went into service and I have been a rabid fan of the program ever since, hell I even went to Space Camp. I will miss their triumphs, but not their tragadies. My wife and I know one of the finalists for the fatefull "Teacher in Space" flight, he describes the whole NASA/Space Shuttle experience as one of the best in his life, even though he wasn't ultimately chosen.

 

That's an amazing amount of electronics, imagine what is behind the dash.