Shuttle Era Ends With Atlantis Landing

July 22, 2011 — Space shuttle Atlantis touched down at Kennedy Space Center on Thursday morning, bringing to a close 30 years of space shuttle flights. "Although we got to take the ride," said Commander Chris Ferguson on behalf of his crew, " we sure hope that everybody who has ever worked on, or touched, or looked at, or envied or admired a space shuttle was able to take just a little part of the journey with us." The STS-135 crew consisted of Ferguson, Pilot Doug Hurley, Mission Specialists Sandra Magnus and Rex Walheim. On the 13-day mission, the crew delivered to the International Space Station more than 9,400 pounds of spare parts, spare equipment and other supplies in the Raffaello multi-purpose logistics module, including 2,677 pounds of food. The supplies will sustain space station operations for the next year. The 21-foot long, 15-foot diameter Raffaello brought back nearly 5,700 pounds of unneeded materials from the station. It was an emotion-filled day for those who worked on the shuttle. "I saw grown men and grown women crying today, tears of joy to be sure," said launch director Mike Leinbach told the Miami Herald. "Human emotions came out on the runway today, and you couldn't suppress them." In Houston, flight director Tony Ceccacci choked up while signing off from Mission Control for the final time. "The work done in this room, in this building, will never again be duplicated," he told his team before the doors opened and the center filled with dozens of past and present flight controllers, the Miami Herald also reported. "I'm unbelievably proud to be here representing the Space Shuttle Program and the thousands of people across the country who do the work," said Mike Moses, space shuttle launch integration manager. "Hearing the sonic booms as Atlantis came home for the last time really drove it home to me that this has been a heck of a program." A welcome home ceremony for the astronauts will be held today a 4 p.m. CDT and will be broadcast live on NASA Television. While there was reason to celebrate the last successful mission, the landing amounted to a pink slip for another 2,300 workers. The Miami Herald reported that they’re the latest in what has been continuing waves of shuttle-related layoffs expected to eventually add up to some 9,000 lost jobs for Florida’s Space Coast.

Space shuttle Atlantis lands for the final time at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Image credit: NASA/Bill Ingalls Workers at Kennedy Space Center in Florida accompany shuttle Atlantis as it is towed back to its processing hangar after landing at Kennedy's Shuttle Landing Facility, completing its 13-day mission to the International Space Station and the final flight of the Space Shuttle Program. Photo Credit: NASA/Bill Ingalls Atlantis spent 307 days in space and traveled nearly 126 million miles during its 33 flights. Atlantis, the fourth orbiter built, launched on its first mission on Oct. 3, 1985. Image credit: NASA

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