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Cassini 10 Years at Saturn Top Images


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Cassini 10 Years at Saturn Top Images

The Cassini team is proud to celebrate 10 years since arriving at Saurn with this collection of images selected by members of the team.

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Enceladus North Pole Montage

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Peering Through Titan’s Haze

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Water World

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Created with GIMP

Enceladus Up-Close

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Saturnian Snowman

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A Fractured Pole

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Imminent Approach to Dione

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Red Arcs on Tethys

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Spongy Surface

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Serene Saturn

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Simulations of the Tendrils

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      Left: The International Space Station as seen from Atlantis during the rendezvous and docking maneuver. Middle: Atlantis as seen from the space station, showing the two EXPRESS Logistics Carriers (ELC) in the payload bay. Right: View of the space station from Atlantis during the rendezvous pitch maneuver, with the Shuttle Remote Manipulator System grasping ELC-1 in preparation for transfer shortly after docking.
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      Left: Space station crew member Jeffery N. Williams assists STS-129 astronaut Leland D. Melvin in operating the space station’s robotic arm to transfer and install the second EXPRESS Logistics Carrier (ELC2) on the S3 truss. Middle: The station robotic arm installs ELC2 on the S3 truss. Right: Michael J. Foreman, left, and Randolph J. Bresnik during the mission’s second spacewalk.
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      Left: Randolph J. Bresnik during the third STS-129 spacewalk. Middle: Robert “Bobby” L. Satcher during the third spacewalk. Right: The MISSE 7 exposure experiment suitcases installed on ELC2.
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      Left: An early Thanksgiving meal for 12 aboard the space station. Right: After the meal, who has the dishes?
      Thanksgiving Day fell on the day after undocking, so the joint crews celebrated with a meal a few days early. The meal represented not only the largest Thanksgiving celebration in space with 12 participants, but also the most international, with four nations represented – the United States, Russia, Canada, and Belgium (representing the European Space Agency).

      Left: The 12 members of Expedition 21 and STS-129 pose for a final photograph before saying their farewells. Right: The STS-129 crew, now comprising seven members.

      A selection of STS-129 Earth observation images. Left: Maui. Middle: Los Angeles. Right: Houston.
      Despite their busy workload, as with all space crews, the STS-129 astronauts made time to look out the windows and took hundreds of photographs of their home planet.

      Left: The space station seen from Atlantis during the flyaround. Middle: Atlantis as seen from the space station during the flyaround, with a now empty payload bay. Right: Astronaut Nicole P. Stott looks back at the station, her home for three months, from the departing Atlantis.
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      The astronauts used the shuttle’s arm to pick up the OBSS and perform a late inspection of Atlantis’ thermal protection system. On flight day 11, Hobaugh and Wilmore tested the orbiter’s reaction control system thrusters and flight control surfaces in preparation for the next day’s entry and landing. The entire crew busied themselves with stowing all unneeded equipment.

      Left: Atlantis about to touch down at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Middle: Atlantis touches down. Right: Atlantis deploys its drag chute as it continues down the runway.

      Left: Six of the STS-129 astronauts pose with Atlantis on the runway at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Right: The welcome home ceremony for the STS-129 crew at Ellington Field in Houston.
      On Nov. 27, the astronauts closed Atlantis’ payload bay doors, donned their launch and entry suits, and strapped themselves into their seats, a special recumbent one for Stott who had spent the last three months in weightlessness. Hobaugh fired Atlantis’ two Orbital Maneuvering System engines to bring them out of orbit and head for a landing half an orbit later. He guided Atlantis to a smooth touchdown at KSC’s Shuttle Landing Facility.
      The landing capped off a very successful STS-129 mission of 10 days, 19 hours, 16 minutes. The six astronauts orbited the planet 171 times. Stott spent 90 days, 10 hours, 45 minutes in space, completing 1,423 orbits of the Earth. After towing Atlantis to the OPF, engineers began preparing it for its next flight, STS-132 in May 2010. The astronauts returned to Houston for a welcoming ceremony at Ellington Field.
      Enjoy the crew narrate a video about the STS-129 mission.
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