Atlantis made its “backflip” maneuver earlier this morning, allowing the crew in the International Space Station to take high-resolution photos of her belly to check for any damage to the heat-shield tiles. The actual Rendezvous Pitch Maneuver, its formal name, takes about nine minutes. Here’s a time-lapsed version:

The RPM was instituted, of course, following the Columbia disaster, when a damaged section along Columbia‘s leading wing edge allowed superhot plasma generated during re-entry to melt delicate systems and structures inside the wing. So there is a certain grim overtone to the proceedings. But it is nevertheless a beautiful sight, like a woman turning 360 degrees to show off her new dress. But once again, the voice of Mission Control reminds us… this is the last time this woman will ever show off for us. Savor every moment with her, because soon she’ll be gone.

Atlantis docked with the station at 11:07 EDT, about one hour after this maneuver began, and the hatches between them were opened at 12:47, only about 10 minutes ago as of the time of this writing. If you’re keeping track of the trivia, this
is the 12th time Atlantis has docked with the ISS, and the 46th
time a space shuttle has docked to any space station. Nine of those occasions were to Russia’s old Mir station,  37
to the ISS.

And now I think it’s time for breakfast…I really should have eaten before I went down the rabbit-hole of mission updates and related videos!