APOD 1.1

Dark Shuttle Approaching

The spaceship shown in this silhouetted image is the Space Shuttle Endeavour approaching the International Space Station (ISS) on February 16, 2010.  The colors in the background are effects of the layers of Earth's atmosphere reflecting different frequencies of light.  The blue layer is the mesosphere, the white layer is the stratosphere, and the orange layer is the troposphere.  As the image is taken from the ISS, parts of the black sections of the photo are actually blocked by the window of the station rather than showing the dark emptiness of space.  The shuttle was delivering new components for the station such as the Tranquility Module (aka the Node 3 Module) and the Cupola observation window, which was attached to the Tranquility module.

This page led me to a picture that I strongly suggest you check out of the nighttime shuttle launch from the Kennedy Space Center taken on February 9th.