Space Shuttle Endeavour's Last Launch: See Photos From The May 16 Blastoff

Space Shuttle Endeavour lifted off for its final mission just before 9 a.m. ET on Monday.

An estimated crowd of 500,000 spectators and well-wishers gathered to watch the blastoff, according to the Houston Chronicle.

The craft disappeared into an overcast sky soon after launch, but photographers on the ground were able to capture some show-stopping images of the launch pad.

Take a look at the best photos from this historic launch (below). If you missed the launch, you can see a video recap at Nasa.gov.

Comments

[chesscub]

04:20 PM on 05/17/2011

I heartily recommend this graphic novel. "Orbiter" by Warren Ellis and Colleen Doran. It's about the discovery of a space shuttle that went missing on a mission. It came back to earth after the US abandoned the space program.

It's a beautiful story about the joy of space travel.

[jsarets]

11:32 PM on 05/17/2011

I wonder how they narrated around the problem of Shuttle only having enough fuel cell reactants for about 14 days of power on orbit.

[chesscub]

09:36 AM on 05/18/2011

Read it and see. :-)

This book came out right as the Columbia disaster occurred. They nearly shelved it out of respect to the lost crew but gladly Vertigo decided to go forward with it.

[racquetguy1]

11:22 AM on 05/17/2011

Good no more space nonsense, now we can have NASA concentrate on more important things. What is it that obama has planned for NASA? Oh that's right to work on better relationships with the muslims. I'm sure it will be money worth spending. Just another good move by obama.

[Downix]

11:42 AM on 05/17/2011

Obamas NASA proposal is manned missions to objects beyond earth orbit, asteroids, as stepping stones to Mars, with our first Lunar mission in 2016, a full decade sooner than under the old plan.

[racquetguy1]

12:07 PM on 05/17/2011

Yes but 1st lets concentrate on our muslim relationship. It seems like a waste of time and money. We know their relationship with us, they want us dead.

[Tuula Westra]

08:08 AM on 05/17/2011

What a waste of money all the space crapola, money is needed to help the people on flooded Miss, crocs and snakes are swimming into their houses. What do they think this space nonsense is good for anyway...

[Aaron Oesterle]

10:47 AM on 05/17/2011

the amount we spend on space is not that much - I don't deny we need to help people in those situations, but by the same token, would you cut college grants to do that? Spending on space (when done correctly) is like funding college grants

[MrSimythe]

11:32 AM on 05/17/2011

Give tax payer's money to victims of natural disasters?!?! That sounds like some so cial ist talk to me. (sarcasm)

[harleyboy0808]

07:43 AM on 05/17/2011

THIS WAS A BIG WASTE OF TAXPAYERS MONEY WE SHOULD MAKE CUTS WITH THE SPACE PROGRAM INSTED OF MEDICARE

[Aaron Oesterle]

10:46 AM on 05/17/2011

You do realize that the NASA budget would hardly make a dent in the medicare budget?

[Downix]

01:03 PM on 05/17/2011

The irony of you saying this when you are typing over a network created by ARPA as part of the NASA development sphere....

[MayFlower27]

02:04 AM on 05/17/2011

One step backward for mankind. The layoff of 3000 engineers will soon follow in a matter of weeks. The idea that out sourcing the space program along with everything else is to be expected to be a good thing??? America is becomming one ghost town. Let's all just become illegal immigrants, it seems to be the in thing to do...

[rpokeytruck]

07:42 AM on 05/17/2011

Our one saving grace is Lockheed / Martin had the foresight to keep the Orion program going with their own money in spite of this ignorant and shortsighted excuse for a president.

[Aaron Oesterle]

10:43 AM on 05/17/2011

Sorry, but thats crap. They kept it going because Obama kept its funding going.

And we will be getting at least 2, and probably 3 other vehicles flying that will have much more impact than Orion - CST-100, Dragon, and Dream chaser

[Downix]

11:43 AM on 05/17/2011

Absolutely false, Orion is still funded by NASA, as it is a NASA capsule. It is far more versitile, no longer tied to a broken rocket.

[Madbunny]

01:39 AM on 05/17/2011

I know this isn't the end of NASA, or space exploration. I understand that on an intellectual level.

The problem I have, is that this feels like the end of one of the great chapters in the history of this nation. What we're doing is replacing dreams with practicality, and that just bites on so many levels. It will never be practical to take a man, or a group of men and blast them to the stars on a column of fire, but every time we did it, my heart surged watching it. Watching our fellow humans struggle to escape this tiny speck that we live on.

I feel like as a nation we've abandoned dreams of greatness, turned our eyes from the stars only to squabble amongst ourselves for table scraps and dirt.

[JoJo66]

02:11 AM on 05/17/2011

I don't disagree with you. It is the end of an great era, but at the same time we are in the early stages of spreading out and colonizing or places and making new discoveries of things we can't even imagine. I was 14 when the Columbia was first launched, and now as we reach the end of the shuttle's time, it's exciting to the next step in space travel.
Maybe we should focus more on the turmoil here on Earth and try and stop all the squabbling. But really if we had kept up the momentom after the first Moon landing and explorered more back then we might have already made it to Mars and beyond and there would not be the fighting here on Earth there is now.
Lots of people say space travel is a waste of time, money and resources, but so is NASCAR if you think about it. Yet look at the progress we have made from both racing and space travel.

[Madbunny]

02:23 AM on 05/17/2011

Like I said, intellectually I understand it. It just feels like an end. Great things like this are a lot harder to get started than they are to kill.

[Aaron Oesterle]

10:52 AM on 05/17/2011

See, the problem is you are giving up the dream by default by saying that it will never be practical for people to go to space.

I submit that that is going on right now - that we are moving in that direction. I welcome the retirement of the space shuttle, because its being replaced by a fleet of more capable vehicles, including things like the Atlas V rocket & the Falcon 9 rocket, the CST-100 & Dragon capsules, the Dream Chaser mini-shuttle, and of course, the International Space Station

[El Duche]

12:00 AM on 05/17/2011

sadly EVERYTHING having to do with our government from the military, to the IRS to our own congress and president is ALL ABOUT keeping people dependent on the government payroll long enough to get them pensions courtesy of the sucker private sector taxpayer...NASA has been stagnant for 25 years sending boondoggle missions for the past 20 years and in the name of employment of the incompetent government worker......100 years ago England had the most powerful Army and Economy in the world....Kingdoms rise and kingdoms fall....welcome to the fall...On a brighter note, dont miss Dancing with the Stars this week!!!!!

[ondbuyu]

09:11 PM on 05/16/2011

Check out a company listed to make billions due to the flooding in Louisiana.
It's a Oil & Gas Company ...Sandridge Energy (SD).... Stock is projected to
go up 79% from $10 to $18.00 with the flooding........

[Thomas Frizzensnitchel]

08:41 PM on 05/16/2011

Well, I remember when the Titan rockets got to be too much....every one thought the same we are thinking now, that the space race was over. Then we came up with completely reusable reentry vehicles...(the space shuttles). Now, just imagine what we can come up with next. Really now, NASA is not at its end.

[Downix]

01:09 PM on 05/17/2011

I see what NASA has on the plate, and it is incredible. The Shuttle proved how right, and wrong, we were about reuse. We've applied the lessons from it, and what I see coming down the pipeline looks absolutely incredible.

Look up the Starbooster sometime. Already had several sub-scale test flights.

[politicalpost]

07:24 PM on 05/16/2011

Most of computor technology that we have today has been created due to Space Program. I salute NASA for all their efforts.

[paigeghackett]

06:18 PM on 05/16/2011

So sad I was not able to see the launch this morning. Damn summer classes. =(

[cque8]

06:18 PM on 05/16/2011

As a small child I remember the first launch. The actors from Star Trek were there. It seemed as though the world was at our fingertips, and outerspace travel would become as ordinary as going across the country in a plane. The 200th birthday of America , and that.....American Pride...not arrogance, just proud of what we had accomplished. I like MILLIONS miss the pride we used to have as Americans. Only two or so weeks ago we were United..now we are nipping at the heels of our fellow man, our government officials fight rather than work together, back to those nasty habits that keep us going in a tailspin, rather that soaring like the Eagle that represents us.

[Al Schrader]

05:46 PM on 05/16/2011

It costs 37 billion dollars a year to operate the Space Program. So we go to Mars. Oh look, some red dirt. Then we come back. You can see more stuff at Disney World for $85.00
What's the point ? I invented the technology to get us there very fast. Nobody cares.
Shut it all down. Reduce it to a payphone in the Whitehouse basement...Al-

[Downix]

01:35 PM on 05/17/2011

No it doesn't. Our space program, including the earth-observation bits like weather mapping, comes to under $18 billion a year.

[Nec V20]

04:36 PM on 05/16/2011

This marks the beginning of the end of the United States as we knew it.

[Downix]

01:36 PM on 05/17/2011

Indeed, and about time. We're better than this, and now we have the chance to be greater than we ever have before.

[Nec V20]

02:34 PM on 05/17/2011

NASA inspired two generations of people to get involved with science.

The Bush Administration did a lot to kneecap NASA because they refused to go along with the climate change denial mentality in the White House.

They appointed lackeys to NASA that sickened off many of the best and the brightest.

[topflight13]

03:45 PM on 05/16/2011

It was a beautiful sight to watch!!!!!! I enjoy every launch!

[MacDaddyMan]

10:41 PM on 05/16/2011

Yes-awesome!

[Madbunny]

01:34 AM on 05/17/2011

past tense now.