Before docking with the International Space Station, Atlantis – which took off on the final Space Shuttle mission today – performed a Roll Pitch Maneuver, or back flip, for the last time, so the station’s crew can photograph the orbiter’s underside. (Though the shuttle and station are traveling at 17,500 miles per hour above earth, the video is sped up here.) The view helped the STS-135 mission team in Houston assess the status of Atlantis’ critical thermal protective tiles, which protect the orbiter from the 3000 °F heat of atmospheric reentry.

NASA increased its inspection regime for the Shuttle’s delicate underbelly after the burn-up of Space Shuttle Columbia during its reentry in 2003. That disaster might have been prevented, had one concerned engineer’s request to photograph Columbia’s wing with a Dept. of Defense spy satellite been granted by NASA management. But no photography request was ever passed along.

Photographer Thomas Struth captured some great images of NASA workers replacing tiles on space shuttle Endeavor. See a slideshow.