An exhaust plume forms around the base of Launch Pad 39A as space shuttle Atlantis lifts off on the STS-132 mission

---

Cape Canaveral, Florida, May 14, 2010 - An exhaust plume builds on Launch Pad 39A as space shuttle Atlantis lifts off on the STS-132 mission. The Russian-built Mini Research Module-1 known as Rassvet, or dawn, is inside the shuttle's cargo bay. It will provide additional storage space and a new docking port for Russian Soyuz and Progress spacecraft. The laboratory will be attached to the bottom port of the station's Zarya module.

---

Size: 3393px × 5100px
Photo credit: © Stocktrek Images / Alamy / Afripics
License: Royalty Free
Model Released: No

Keywords: action, aircraft, ascent, atlantis, billows, blastoff, blue, boosters, canaveral, cape, center, complex, day, exhaust, facility, florida, kennedy, launch, launcher, leaving, lifting, liftoff, mission, mobile, motion, nasa, outdoors, pad, photography, platform, plumes, propulsion, rocket, shuttle, sky, smoke, space, spacecraft, spaceport, spaceship, sts-132, takeoff, thrust, tower, transportation, travel, twin, vehicle, vertical