STS-127 awaits launch
The space shuttle Endeavour is seen at launch pad 39A at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida.
July 11, 2009

The Apollo 14 Saturn V, lifted off at 4:03 p.m. Eastern Standard Time on January 31, 1971, from the Kennedy Space Center Launch Complex 39A, to begin the fourth manned lunar landing mission.

The Space Shuttle Atlantis moves within 80 feet of Russia's Mir Space Station during rendezvous and docking operations.

A small satellite called STARSHINE 2 is deployed from a canister in the payload bay of the Space Shuttle Endeavour at 10 a.m. (Eastern Standard Time) on Sunday, December 16, 2001.

The Space Shuttle Columbia passes into a brilliant sunrise scene during the STS-9\Spacelab 1 mission.

The Space Shuttle Endeavour is backdropped over Cook Strait, New Zealand as it approaches the International Space Station (ISS) during STS-113 rendezvous and docking operations.

Just prior to dawn, the space shuttle Columbia heads for a landing on Runway 33 at the Kennedy Space Center's (KSC) Shuttle Landing Facility (SLF) to successfully complete a 17-day mission.

The first flight of the commercially developed SPACEHAB laboratory module begins with the flawless liftoff of the Space Shuttle Endeavour from Launch Pad 39B at 9:07:22 a.m. EDT, June 21, 1993.

Astronauts Carl J. Meade and Mark C. Lee (red strip on suit) test the new Simplified Aid for EVA Rescue (SAFER) system some 130 nautical miles above Earth.

Taken on September 16, 1994

Astronaut Michael R. (Rich) Clifford, mission specialist, works at a restraint bar on the Docking Module (DM) of Russia's Mir Space Station during a March 27, 1996, Extravehicular Activity (EVA).

A view of the Space Shuttle Atlantis departing the Mir Russian Space Station. This image was taken during the STS-71 mission by cosmonauts aboard their Soyuz TM transport vehicle. 07/04/95

Space Shuttle Atlantis takes flight on its STS-27 mission on December 2, 1988, 9:30 a.m. EST, utilizing 375,000 pounds thrust produced by its three main engines.

The moon is framed between the Space Shuttle orbiter's OMS pod and the Earth limb over the Atlantic Ocean as seen from the aft windows onboard Discovery on mission STS-95.
11/06/1998

Aerial view of the launch of STS 51-A shuttle Discovery. Taken on November 8, 1984

View of the approach of the STS-79 orbiter Atlantis during its docking with the Mir space station.
Taken on September 20, 1996

Space shuttle Atlantis (STS-135) touches down at NASA's Kennedy Space Center, completing its 13-day mission to the ISS and the final flight of the Space Shuttle Program. 07/21/2011

On July 26, 2005, Space Shuttle Discovery’s STS-114 mission launched on the first Return to Flight mission since the loss of Space Shuttle Columbia on February 1, 2003.

The Mars Climate Orbiter was launched on December 11, 1998 on a Delta II Lite launcher from LC-17A at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, FL.

The unpiloted ISS Progress 36 resupply vehicle departs from the International Space Station's Zvezda Service Module's aft port on May 10, 2010.

Against a black sky, the Space Shuttle Endeavour and its seven-member STS-123 crew head toward Earth-orbit and a scheduled link-up with the International Space Station (ISS).
Taken on March 11, 2008

Aurora from the ISS.
Scott Kelly
June 27, 2015