NASA Shuttle Launches (70 images)

The astronaut crew of NASA's Space Shuttle Atlantis, Steve Frick, Alan Poindexter, Leland Melvin, Rex Walheim, Hans Schlegel, Stanley Love and Leopold Eyharts (right to left), depart from the crew quarters at the Kennedy Space Center, Florida on February 7, 2008. The crew will flt Atlantis to the International Space Station where they will install the European Space Agency's Columbus module to the orbiting laboratory. .(UPI Photo/Joe Marino-Bill Cantrell)

The Space Shuttle Atlantis successfully launches a crew of seven from Launch Complex 39A at the Kennedy Space Center, Florida at 7:39PM on June 8, 2007. NASA celebrates the 50th anniversary of the Space Age marked by the October 4, 1957 launch of Sputnik, the world's first artificial satellite, made by the Soviet Union. (UPI Photo/Joe Marino-Bill Cantrell/FILES)

NASA's Space Shuttle Endeavour launches from the Kennedy Space Center on August 8, 2007. Carrying a crew of seven, including Teacher Astronaut, Barbara Morgan, Endeavour is heading for a two day chase to the International Space Station. Once docked, the crew will continue construction of the station, adding critical power systems which will allow the shuttle to remain attached to the station for longer periods of time. (UPI Photo/Joe Marino-Bill Cantrell)

This NASA image taken on June 8, 2007 shows drifting smoke plumes over NASA's Vehicle Assembly Building following the launch of Space Shuttle Atlantis on mission STS-117. (UPI Photo/Ken Thornsley/NASA)