Pictures: Space Shuttle Endeavour's Final Mission

Shuttle Control Room

Photograph courtesy NASA

NASA astronaut Greg Chamitoff, foreground, and European Space Agency astronaut Roberto Vittori work controls on Endeavour during a routine external inspection of the space shuttle on May 17, following Endeavour's final launch into space.

After the completion of its final mission, Endeavour will be retired, decontaminated, and sent for display in the California Science Center in Los Angeles.

(See a picture of space shuttle Endeavourbacklighted by lightning.)

Published June 1, 2011

Engines Over Earth

Photograph courtesy NASA

Photographed by an International Space Station crew member, Endeavour's three main engines hover over Earth just prior to the space shuttle's final docking with the space station on May 18.

Endeavour's final launch was attended by U.S. President Barack Obama, marking the first time since 1998 that a sitting president has visited NASA's Kennedy Space Center to view a manned blastoff.

(See more space shuttle pictures.)

Published June 1, 2011

Floating Through Space

Photograph courtesy NASA

NASA astronaut and pilot for Endeavour's final flight, Greg Johnson floats through a hatch on the International Space Station on May 20 while Endeavour remained docked outside.

Endeavour, the fifth and final space shuttle to be built, was constructed as a replacement for Challenger after that shuttle had been destroyed in a deadly accident shortly after liftoff in January 1986.

(See "Five Myths of the Challenger Disaster Debunked.")

Published June 1, 2011

Endeavour, Traveling Light

Photograph courtesy NASA

Endeavour's empty payload bay is illuminated as the space shuttle zooms over city lights on Earth on May 28.

Endeavour's final mission was originally intended to be the last for the entire, 30-year-old U.S. space shuttle program. But that honor will now go to the space shuttle Atlantis, scheduled to launch in July. Atlantis's previous mission, in 2010, was originally intended to be that shuttle's last.

(See "Space Shuttle Atlantis: Final Flight in Pictures" [2010].)

Published June 1, 2011

Spacewalker

Photograph courtesy NASA

NASA astronaut Andrew Feustel removes a materials experiment from the outside of the International Space Station on May 20.

The six-hour spacewalk was the first of four for the space shuttle Endeavour mission.

(Read about early manned spaceflight.)

Published June 1, 2011

Diving Headfirst

Photograph courtesy NASA

NASA astronaut Greg Chamitoff dives headfirst into the space station's Quest airlock following the completion of the space shuttle Endeavour mission's first extravehicular activity on May 20.

(Read about the future of spaceflight.)

Published June 1, 2011

"Amazing" Dark Matter Detector

Photograph courtesy NASA

A robotic arm on the International Space Station lifts the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer (AMS) satellite from Endeavour's payload bay on May 19.

The AMS was designed by particle physicists at the European Center for Nuclear Research (CERN) to intercept and study antimatter and dark matter particles as they fly through space at nearly the speed of light.

"The AMS is an amazing story all by itself," Gary Horlacher, lead flight director for space shuttle Endeavour's final mission, said in a statement.

"They've been working on this for well over 15 years now. It's bigger than a VW bug, and it will be able to look at things that the other observatories aren't even looking at."

Published June 1, 2011

Eating Light on Endeavour

Photograph courtesy NASA

Inside the space shuttle Endeavour a half-eaten sandwich floats in zero gravity by European Space Agency astronaut Roberto Vittori. Vittori joined five NASA astronauts for the 16-day mission that marked Endeavour's final mission.

(Also see "Space Shuttle Discovery: Final Flight in Pictures.")

Published June 1, 2011

Shuttle Program's Final Spacewalk

Photograph courtesy NASA

NASA astronaut Michael Fincke prepares to take off his extravehicular-activity space suit after the completion of the third spacewalk of space shuttle Endeavour's final mission on May 25.

A total of four spacewalks were performed during the 16-day mission—the last spacewalks to be performed by any NASA space shuttle crew.

(See pictures: "Humans in Space" in National Geographic magazine.)

Published June 1, 2011

Endeavour's Last Space Station Departure

Photograph courtesy NASA

Photographed by an Endeavour astronaut, the International Space Station floats above Earth shortly after the shuttle and the space station separated for the final time.

The undocking of the two spacecraft occurred at 11:55 p.m. ET on May 29, 2011. Endeavour spent 11 days, 17 hours, and 41 minutes attached to the orbiting laboratory.

(Read more about space in a special issue of National Geographic magazine.)

Published June 1, 2011

Endeavour's Final Landing

Photograph courtesy NASA

Vapor trails stream behind Endeavour just before the space shuttle touched down for the last time on Runway 15 at Kennedy Space Center at 2:34 a.m. ET on Wednesday, according to NASA.

A vapor trail, known as a contrail, is a cloud of water vapor that condenses and freezes around small particles in aircraft exhaust.

(Test your space IQ.)

Published June 1, 2011