Shuttle Remembered: Stunning images of Endeavour's last journey against the Sun and the Moon

By Daily Mail Reporter
Updated: 02:58 EDT, 6 June 2011

Endeavour's last journey may be over but the shuttle continues to provide a wealth of stunning images courtesy of photographers entranced by the magic of space flight.

These incredible images, taken by Spanish photographer Dani Caxete, show the Endeavour connected to the International Space Station silhouetted against the Sun.

A second image shows how Caxete was able to produce a multiple-exposure image of the Endeavour passing the Moon.  

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Final flight: Endeavour can be seen connected to the International Space Station silhouetted against the Sun

Close up: The ISS shows up as a kind of Formula One car shape, with 'wheels' at each corner, and Endeavour is the detail between the 'wheels' on the right hand side

Post-docking: The International Space Station, backdropped by the blackness of space, photographed by a crew member on the space shuttle Endeavour after the station and shuttle had separated

In the first set of pictures, Caxete had just a half of a second window of opportunity to make the shot using a 5-inch Celestron C5 spotting scope worth around £250, he revealed on his Paranoias Nocturnas blog. 

At distance, the ISS shows up in a similar shape to a Formula 1 car, as if with 'wheels' at each corner, and the Endeavour provides the detail between the 'wheels' on the right.

Although the ISS and Endeavour look to be very close to the Sun, they were actually nowhere near it and the image is created largely by perspective.

It passed about 220 miles above Caxete's position in Spain's Madrid-Guadalajara corridor, while the Sun is around 93 million miles further away.

'I think the best parameters that are C5 1/1000sec. and 250 ISO at prime focus,' said Caxete of his technical specifications.

Cheap shot: This multiple-exposure shot of the space shuttle Endeavour passing across the face of the Moon was taken using affordable equipment

Touchdown: Endeavour lands at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida on June 1

Slow down: The amateur video footage below captures the moments just prior to this landing as the shuttle lights up the sky on re-entry

The multiple-exposure shot of Endeavour zooming past the Moon was taken with a telescope that cost that he said cost about £45, proving that expensive equipment is not always required to produce stunning space photography.

Due to the shape of the Endeavor seen at this distance, the image looks similar to one of the TIE Fighter spaceships from the film Star Wars speeding through space. You can see more of Caxete's photography at www.flickr.com/photos/danicaxete

And as fans of space travel and amateur photographers and film-makers produce their own images of Endeavour's historic flight, this video of the shuttle's final moments in flight has emerged. 

Shot by Noe Castillo from his base at Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula, it shows how the shuttle's ionization trail lit up the sky en route to landing at Nasa's Kennedy Space Center.