Home Aircraft and helicopter picture galleries Airshow Overview Aircraft and helicopter index Serial Numbers Videos Other airshow stuff Search on MilitaryAircraft.de

Launch Pictures of STS-125 Atlantis


Space Shuttle Launch of STS-125 Atlantis: "The Final Visit to Hubble"

Pictures: Orbiter "Atlantis" (OV104)
Event: Launch of STS-125
Location: Kennedy Space Center, Florida, USA
Date: 11 May 2009, 2:01 PM EDT

NASA STS-125 Atlantis Launch NASA STS-125 Atlantis Launch NASA STS-125 Atlantis Launch

NASA STS-125 Atlantis Launch NASA STS-125 Atlantis Launch



STS-125 Atlantis Mission Patch (© NASA Picture) STS-125 Atlantis Mission Crew (© NASA Picture)

STS-125 Atlantis Crew

Commander: Scott Altman
Pilot: Gregory C. Johnson
Mission Specialist 1: Michael Good
Mission Specialist 2: Megan McArthur
Mission Specialist 3: John Grunsfeld
Mission Specialist 4: Mike Massimino
Mission Specialist 5: Andrew Feustel


Launch Details:

Orbiter: Atlantis (OV-104)
Launch Site: Kennedy Space Center, Launch Pad 39A
Launch Date/Time: May 11, 2009, 2:01 p.m. EDT
Launch Window: 42 minutes (approximately)
Altitude: 297 Nautical Miles (342 miles)


Thrust & speed information:

The three main engines together provide almost 1.2 million pounds of thrust and the two solid rocket boosters provide a total of 6,600,000 pounds of thrust. The total thrust at launch is about 7.8 million pounds.

To achieve orbit, the shuttle must accelerate from zero to a speed of almost 28,968 kilometers per hour (18,000 miles per hour), a speed nine times as fast as the average rifle bullet.

To travel that fast, it must reach an altitude above most of Earth's atmosphere so that friction with the air will not slow it down or overheat it. The journey starts relatively slowly: at liftoff, the shuttle weighs more than 2.04 million kilograms (4.5 million pounds) and it takes eight seconds for the engines and boosters to accelerate the ship to 161 kilometers per hour (100 mph.)

But by the time the first minute has passed, the shuttle is traveling more than 1,609 kilometers per hour (1,000 mph) and it has already consumed more than one and a half million pounds of fuel.

(Text, Mission patch, Crew photo: © NASA)


Photographer's note:

The pictures above were taken from the north site of the "Space View Park" (Orange Str.) at Titusville, Florida. This point is about 10 mi. away from Launch Pad 39A at Kennedy Space Center.



Related Video:



A brief look inside the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) at NASA's Kennedy Space Center.



[ TOP ]



Site updated: 13-Jul-2024



Linking to image files is not permitted. Please link on HTML-Documents only!
Copyright © 2005-2024 Ulrich Grueschow · MilitaryAircraft.de · Aviation Photography - All rights reserved!


About & Copyright | Contact | Privacy Policy | Site Map | Updates