APOD 4.8

I am writing about the launch of the space shuttle Endeavour. This Monday the spacecraft was launched from Cape Canaveral in Florida. It is on a docking mission with the International Space Station. The space shuttle is carrying a variety of detectors for dark matter and antimatter that have strong evidence supporting their existence. This is the second to last space shuttle launch that NASA will conduct as the project is being scrapped because of budget cuts and other factors. This picture clearly shows how large the shuttle is and gives some kind of an idea of how much energy is required to launch this and to get it up to escape velocity, which is about 8 kilometers per second. Overall this picture captures the awesome power that can be harnessed right here on Earth.