The best images from Space Shuttle Endeavour

Some 20 years after its first mission, Space Shuttle Endeavour is due to make its final journey on Tuesday, 18 September.  Though retired from space flight for just over a year, the space shuttle will travel with the aid of a specially modified Boeing 747 jet from NASA’s Kennedy Space Centre in Florida, to a permanent resting place on show at the California Science center. The trip had been planned for Monday, only for adverse weather conditions to interrupt.

Created following the tragic Space Shuttle Challenger disaster in 1986, Endeavour was the fifth and final shuttle built as part of NASA’s shuttle program. The craft successfully completed 25 missions to space, and was able to capture some truly breathtaking images along the way.

Click through our gallery to discover 50 of the best images of Endeavor and its missions…