STS-135 video: Docking

Two days after blasting off on a Long March rocket, a Shenzhou spaceship carrying two Chinese astronauts linked up with China’s Tiangong 2 space lab nearly 250 miles above Earth Tuesday to begin a one-month stay inside the mini-station.

A timelapse video shot inside the Vehicle Assembly Building at the Kennedy Space Center chronicles the stacking of the final shuttle mission’s booster, external fuel tank and the addition of the orbiter Atlantis. (Membership Required)

Making a brief pit shop in San Diego to clear customs today, the museum-bound space shuttle external fuel tank will reach Los Angeles for offloading from the transport barge on Wednesday, just days after a serendipitous rescue of the passengers from a sunken boat in the Pacific.