It's a fairly common photographic technique to splice together multiple different exposures of the same shot. Yes, technically faked, but common.

Yeah, it's a composite. There's a follow up[1]. (btw, the article is a send up of conspiracy theories.)

[1]http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/badastronomy/2009/01/29/ok...

The sad thing is: I was fairly sure the cockpit was a bad rendering, but it turned out to be a photograph.

Poorly done HDR often looks that way. Search for HDR on flickr and leap down a few pages, you'll see some ugly, ugly stuff.

Mostly offtopic, but I thought I'd share the "NASA Water on Mars" picture for those who hadn't seen it:

http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/0504/WaterOnMars2_gcc_big.jp...

I totally wanted to upmod you for posting that picture, because I actually laughed out loud. However this is not Reddit/Digg, nor do I want it to be, so I'll just leave your comment be.

Please look at the picture before downvoting josefresco.

First that would make him want to downmod it even more, second it's obvious by his reaction that he has looked at it...

What I meant was, before anyone downvotes josefresco's comment, please look at the picture.

Satire is a difficult art to master. Doubly so on the Internet.

Probably the best I've read in quite a while, especially the ending where he demands that NASA shut down at the exact moment the STS is slated for retirement. Made my day. :)

I would never have got it was sarcasm without it coming from Phil Plait.

I never thought of it as a real shot - it looked as a promo shot with nice lighting from the start, why all the fuss?

It looked like a full-size simulator to me. Programs like these often create full-size mock-ups/simulators which look just like the real thing but aren't functional or are only used for training. It's also easier to take photos of them.

The NASA caption never mentioned anything about the photo actually being from the shuttle in space, so this is my guess as to what really happened.

This was on Reddit a couple of days ago and people pointed this out. This is about the hundredth time I've seen a link get tossed around, and then a blog post that regurgitates things already remarked upon from various discussions...

Someone might as well start a blog that just does exactly that... browser for URLs and read comments from Reddit, then create blog posts reposting the URL and rewording the most popular comments. Probably would get a lot of traffic, especially if done quickly before the link gets tossed from Reddit to Digg et al... then the blog could submit itself to Digg et al, and get traffic because the link has already proven itself to be valuable (and comments presumably add more value to the URL).

I've often thought about taking advantage of this "popular URL" arbitrage: links get popular within days of each other across Reddit, Digg, et al... why not automate this for one's benefit? Aggregate links from Reddit, Digg, et al and figure out where the link has been "underrated." If the link has tons of upmods on Reddit and has not yet been submitted to Digg, for example, you have yourself a winner. Just create a blog post about that URL, rephrase some popular Reddit comments, submit to Digg, and profit from the traffic.

Those aren't stars. Those are dead bugs.

I took a quick look at this yesterday. I was not aware that this was supposed to be real, it looks like a rendering to me. If it is real... ummm shouldn't someone be driving the boat?

In space, Sir Isaac Newton is your co-pilot. He's pretty happy to let you take a lot of breaks.

He's your co-pilot on earth too, just doesn't let you take any breaks :)

When in orbit, there is rarely anyone "driving", because once you're in an orbital trajectory, there is no "driving" needed until a change in trajectory is needed. When the shuttle, or any spacecraft for that matter, is in orbit, the only times the controls are needed are when changing orbital inclination, changing orbital altitudes, rendezvous and docking, or for the final de-orbital burn. Other than that, especially with the level of ground-based control used by modern space agencies, there is hardly a need for someone to stay in command of the craft during "idle" periods.

Too many people believe that NASA is fake for this to be funny :-p.

It's true. I've never seen a NASA. Has anyone? I'm inclined to believe that they don't exist.

You know, they could have shot it using High Dynamic Range (HDR) techniques as well.

Of course, there would be other tell-tale signs then, like flaring or clumping. But at least it wouldn't be a composite.

Fake, it doesn't have a wheel. How are you supposed to drive that space truck?

Now you know why one of the shuttle commanders said that landing is a shuttle is like landing a brick.

that guy is a crackpot. it's a great image, who cares if its been enhanced. kids probably love it, and they need kids to love NASA.

Houston this is the Space Shuttle Humor, we're currently set to pass approximately 1000 miles over weegee's head.

Humor, you are clear for orbit.