Space Shuttle Atlantis: INCREDIBLE Images From Space (PHOTOS)

12/6/09| Huffington Post

This image was taken by a crew member on the International Space Station shortly after the Shuttle undocked. Undocking of the two spacecraft occurred at 3:53 a.m. (Central Daylight Time). This is six hours behind GMT. The area of Earth below is unspecified

The space shuttle Atlantis and its astronauts returned safely to Earth after a seven-day mission resupplying the International Space Station.

They chronicled their stay in space with some incredible, high-quality photographs that capture the astronauts at work, breathtaking views of the earth, and detailed portraits of the space shuttle and ISS.

These sharp images, which were released by NASA almost immediately after they were snapped in space, are testament to how far tech has come. As the Daily Mail notes, “Previously when images were released by Nasa they were soon after the event but still very fuzzy. It is only on recent missions that images of this quality of image were released almost as soon as they had happened.”

Check out the incredible images from the Atlantis mission in the slideshow below.

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