The space shuttle Atlantis is currently in flight on the program’s final voyage after launching from Cape Canaveral a few days ago, and NASA is providing some excellent tools to help track the shuttle in space.
Fist, they’ve provided a replay of the STS-135 ascent
, including quite a lot of data about the shuttle as it lifted off.
Even better, they’ve also provided a live tracking file
that updates every few seconds so you can follow the exact location of the shuttle.
While this is the end of the shuttle program, NASA has a variety of missions planned for the next six months, including unmanned journeys to Jupiter and Mars. Hopefully they’ll provide this kind of data for those flights as well.
On a side note, I was made aware of this by Rob Mayeda on Google+. While Google Earth Blog isn’t yet allowed to create a profile over there (only humans for now), I share Google Earth-related material fairly often and I’d love to connect with you on there. If you need an invitation to access Google+, you can request one from this site.
About Mickey Mellen
Mickey has been using Google Earth since it was released in 2005, and has created a variety of geo-related sites including Google Earth Hacks. He runs a web design firm in Marietta, GA, where he lives with his wife and two kids.
Cool, first time that I was faster on my blog (http://www.mister-foley.com/blog/en/27) then GEBlog. But you are still awesome! Great News every time! To the Tracker: Launch and Start of this Tracker is the best. Its a pitty, that you cannot see booster and tank separation and you cant see the shuttle docked with the ISS. In the tracker it looks like its flying alone all the time. Maybe one time we see more action in space.
Great blog, Axel. You certainly did beat us to this one. Keep up the good work!