Scene 2

The production of the second scene was started by selecting the space shuttle model and deleting the reference plane.

The Earth was created by selecting a sphere, clicking on diffuse and mapping / dragging the image of the Earth to the sphere.

A star background was downloaded from the internet and with environment / effects selected, the environment map of the star background was loaded enabling the background to appear in the rendered image.

Use of the Path Constraint

In the top viewport the line tool was first selected to draw a line projecting from the Earth. Clicking on Animation / Constraints / Path constraint, a dotted line appears which is then connected from the object (Space Shuttle) to the line. When the animation is played the Shuttle travels along the line path.

A Camera was placed at the end of the line that enabled the Space Shuttle to be viewed as it travelled from the Earth towards the Camera.