You just won’t believe how vastly hugely mindboggingly big it is..

Yesterday’s attempt was scrubbed with an hour to go, but NASA will try to launch Shuttle Mission STS 115:Atlantis again today at 11:14:55 a.m. EDT (16:14:55 pm BST)- Launch blog.. NASA TV. [pesky sensors permitting – Ed] While waiting, just time to catch up on other space-related news [*ahem* – Ed] NASA has awarded the contract to develop the replacement for the space shuttle, Orion, in a surprise to some, to Lockheed Martin Corporation. It will use solid rocket boosters, Ares, and is expected to form the basis of manned missions to the Moon, a stepping stone towards further missions to Mars. Meanwhile the European Space Agency’s first lunar mission, SMART-1, successfully crashed into the Moon last weekend.. with a small bang UpdateAtlantis has successfully launched and safely reached orbit.

Btw, absolutely stunning images during that launch, from the camera on the main external fuel tank, as a vividly blue and green curved Earth slipped into view.. all the way to the point at which the main tank was dropped and Atlantis swooped on into orbit.

More on the launch here

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