UP CLOSE: Space Shuttle Atlantis on the Launch Pad, STS-132

Feeling extra nostalgic after today's DM-2 launch attempt, so I took a trip down memory lane. It was May 2010, and we piled onto an old bus for the three-mile trek to pad 39A, the same launch pad currently occupied by SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket. There waited Atlantis, on the eve of what was, at the time, her final scheduled launch.

I had none of the sophisticated equipment currently residing in my camera bag or even a smartphone; only a Canon handycam I'd borrowed from a friend and a rickety tripod. But it didn't matter. I'd dreamt of being this close to the space shuttle since I was in high school the better part of a decade earlier.

The weather was unseasonably cool and dry for Florida in May, so being out in the evening sun was surprisingly pleasant. With a slight breeze blowing at the 39A entry gate, the massive servicing gantry slowly rolled away from the shuttle stack. As she was revealed, Atlantis appeared calm and collected in the shadow of the launch tower, almost as if to say "Don't worry boys ... I've got this."

20 hours later, with a crew of six strapped in and yours truly watching from three miles away, she proved herself correct. At 2:20p EDT, she thundered off the launch pad, trailing a 600-foot pillar of flame as bright as the rising sun, taking aim on the International Space Station 220 statute miles above.

This video captures the journey to the launch pad (the same road used by the astronauts today), the unveiling of Atlantis and the revelry of the press at the pad gate. Far and away one of the greatest weeks of my life and not a day goes by that I'm not grateful for it.

[noahwarren]

Kind of brings a tear to my eye seeing this