Artist Inspired by Final Space Shuttle Launch

Standing on the grounds of Kennedy Space Center, facing the launch pad as a space shuttle lifts off, is an experience that defies words.  Friday's historic launch of Atlantis marks the beginning of the end for NASA's space shuttle fleet
It is an almost impossible experience to describe.  Upon liftoff, there is a bright blaze from the engines, a flaming trail that cuts the sky vertically, the cloud plume that begins in silence, going up, and then the thunder that mounts and rolls into a noise that seems to make both the sky and your stomach shudder.
Stephen Bach, a landscape painter from Orlando, Florida, watched the launch from the Kennedy Space Center, two paintings in progress on an easel before him, both of the shuttle.  He gazed directly across the water at Atlantis on the launch pad, and then, Atlantis in flight.

"It's just a really amazing sight, and I don't think you can describe it until you see it, you know," said Bach.  "I've seen it 30 times, I'm sure, through the years from Orlando or from some place off the Cape. But this is just another level."
But Bach is a painter, a man well versed in images and details, and he describes the seconds after Atlantis disappeared above the clouds.

"The plume is amazing, and it's cast a shadow across the bottom of the cloud layer which is just astounding," Bach added.  "It's almost as impressive as the launch, but in a different way.  You can see the yellow coming through the inside of the plume.  It's just a very remarkable sight.  It's nothing like you picture it when you watch it on TV.  It's just tenfold better, you know.  Amazing."

As Bach still gazed at the plume, barely able to look away, his painting of Atlantis taking flight garnered another shuttle watcher's attention.  The landscape painter who turned his talents to the sky had an offer to buy, before the plume had even vanished.

New Experiments Headed to Station on STS-134/ULF6

 
The Space Shuttle Endeavour launched to the International Space Station on May 16, carrying with it a mix of research that will be performed on the station during and after the shuttle mission. Nearly 150 experiments are continuing aboard the station as the transition from assembly work to expanded research on the international laboratory progresses. They span the basic categories of biological and biotechnology, human research, physical and materials sciences, technology development, Earth and space science and educational activities.

Among the new experiments flying will be several experiments, flown by NASA in cooperation with the Italian Space Agency, including one that looks at how the same kind of memory shape foam used in beds on Earth might be useful as a new kind of actuator, or servomechanism that supplies and transmits a measured amount of energy for mechanisms. The U.S.-Italian experiments also will look at cellular biology, radiation, plant growth and aging; how diet may affect night vision, and how an electronic device may be able used for air quality monitoring in spacecraft.

One NASA experiment known as Biology will use, among other items, C. elegans worms that are descendants of worms that survived the STS-107 space shuttle Columbia accident. The Rapid Turn Around engineering proof-of-concept test will use the Light Microscopy Microscope to look at three-dimensional samples of live organisms, tissue samples and fluorescent beads.

A NASA educational payload will deliver several toy Lego kits that can be assembled to form satellites, space shuttles and a scale model of the space station itself to demonstrate scientific concepts, and a Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency experiment called Try Zero-G that will help future astronauts show children the difference between microgravity and Earth gravity.

Research activities on the shuttle and station are integrated to maximize return during station assembly. The shuttle serves as a platform for completing short-duration research, while providing supplies and sample-return for ongoing research on station. For a full list of investigations available on this flight, see the STS-134 

NASA TV: Space Shuttle Endeavor Launch

 
Even though the launch happened later than it was supposed to a lot of people were there the morning of May 16 to see the launch. The launch was supposed to happen days ago but was canceled because of mechanical difficulties. There were thousands of people there and waiting on the launch. This crowd included President Obama and family.
NASA TV showed the launch on live streaming. There were thousands of viewers watching the Space Shuttle Endeavor launch on living stream. This is the last launch of this shuttle so everyone wanted to be able to see it. Did you watch on NASA TV?