As NASA prepares to carry out the last Space Shuttle mission ever, Atlantis sits on Launch Pad 39A at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, waiting for liftoff. In this photograph taken on June 23, 2011, the sun rising over the Atlantic Ocean in the distance illuminates the Shuttle's solid rocket boosters and external fuel tank.
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Image: NASA.
Nicholas Jackson is an associate editor at The Atlantic, where he oversees the Health channel. A former media aggregator for Slate, he has also worked for Encyclopaedia Britannica, Texas Monthly and other publications.
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