As a gorgeous full Moon rose above the eastern horizon [ http://antwrp.gsfc.…] on February 7, the Space Shuttle Atlantis streaked skyward towards an orbital rendezvous with the International Space Station [ http://antwrp.gsfc.…]. Watching from Orlando, Florida, about 60 miles west of the Kennedy Space Center [ http://www-pao.ksc.…tour.htm ] launch site, photographer Tony DeVito captured this digital image, one of a series [ http://www.thedevit…] of pictures of the shuttle's fiery climb. While foreground street lights flickered on and a clear evening sky grew dark, the shuttle's path just grazed the bright lunar disk. On this mission, STS-98, Atlantis carried the U.S. Destiny laboratory [ http://spaceflight.…index.html ] module to be added to the expanding orbital outpost. Atlantis [ http://science.ksc.…atlantis.html ] is currently scheduled to return to the space station next month.
