If you missed missed today's launch of the space shuttle Atlantis--or just want to relive the culmination of 35 years of shuttle launches--there are plenty of ways to make the moment last. Here are our favorites.

• The Washington Post set the stage and filled in any gaps in your NASA knowledge with a visual history of the shuttle program.

• Here are the final two minutes from the launching pad at Cape Canaveral

• The Washington Post's Jason Samenow live-blogged the perilous pre-launch weather conditions.
• CNN's live-blog impressed us by being thorough, and also for starting at 2:30 a.m. eight hours before the launch and was  thorough.
• At The Awl, Brent Cox explained why he wasn't buying the day's space race nostalgia.
• At ABC, Matt Gutman got up early and mingled with the shuttle watchers who descended on Florida to pay their respects.
• For all the fanfare, there's a purpose to this mission beyond just closing out 35 years of shuttle launches, as NASA's Robert Mase explains.

• The Houston Chronicle called out Washington politicians in real time for post-launch flip flops on the space program.
• The Orlando Sentinel posted this fascinating Reuters video report about the economic impact of the program's cancellation on the central Florida economy.

• This Getty photo of the astronauts before the launch is guaranteed to result in Right Stuff flashbacks.

• What the launch looked like from the Port Everglade Locks.

• Retired NASA flight director Wayne Hale offered another handshot launch video.

• On Twitter, the Kennedy Space Center passed along a photo of the launch taken from inside the Shuttle Training Aircraft, NASA's space shuttle simulator.

• Space.com snagged NASA's 64-person VIP launch guest list, which included incongruous (and delightful) names like Joe Gibbs, Alan Parsons, Eric Holder, Geraldo Rivera, Kevin Sorbo, and Jimmy Buffet.

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Ray Gustini