The landing of the Space Shuttle Atlantis on it's and the Shuttle program's final mission was not as spectacular as the launch but certainly awesome in it's own right. The landing was scheduled for 5:48 .m., so it would still be dark. This meant we would not actually see the craft until it was just about to make the runway. But you know it's coming when, about 4 minutes before the actual touchdown, you hear two loud "BANGS", much like the blast of a rifle, one immediately after the other. BANG, BANG is the sound of the shuttle breaking the sound barrier just above the field. I've been told that you hear 2 bangs because the Shuttle is so large and heavy that you hear the nose breaking the barrier first, followed by it's tail.

It then circles the runway in a series of figure 8's, gradually slowing from its top speed of 17,000 mph to 190 mph, the speed at which it will hit the tarmac. Then, suddenly, right on schedule, like a giant, ghostly specter it appears out of the blackness, bathed in the enormous vapor lights that illuminate its way, and streaks across the landing strip, trailing an enormous parachute. It eventually comes to rest at the far end of the strip.

I made this photo using a slow lens. And with little available light, my only option was to open the shutter, hold the camera as steady as possible, and hope for the best. If you look closely at the results you can see the blurry image of the Atlantis, trailing its parachute, in the lower right corner of the frame.