CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- Shuttle Launch Director Mike Leinbach proudly displays a space shuttle Atlantis banner for STS-135 Commander Chris Ferguson, front right, and Pilot Doug Hurley. Four astronauts brought Atlantis home to the Shuttle Landing Facility's Runway 15 at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida at 5:57 a.m. EDT bringing a close NASA's Space Shuttle Program. Atlantis' final return from space completed a 13-day, 5.2-million-mile journey to the International Space Station. STS-135 delivered spare parts, equipment and supplies in the Raffaello multi-purpose logistics module that will sustain station operations for the next year. STS-135 was the 33rd and final flight for Atlantis, which has spent 307 days in space, orbited Earth 4,848 times and traveled 125,935,769 miles. For more information visit, www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/shuttle/shuttlemissions/sts135/index.html. Photo credit: NASA/Kim Shiflett KSC-2011-5678
Summary
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- Shuttle Launch Director Mike Leinbach proudly displays a space shuttle Atlantis banner for STS-135 Commander Chris Ferguson, front right, and Pilot Doug Hurley. Four astronauts brought Atlantis home to the Shuttle Landing Facility's Runway 15 at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida at 5:57 a.m. EDT bringing a close NASA's Space Shuttle Program. Atlantis' final return from space completed a 13-day, 5.2-million-mile journey to the International Space Station. STS-135 delivered spare parts, equipment and supplies in the Raffaello multi-purpose logistics module that will sustain station operations for the next year. STS-135 was the 33rd and final flight for Atlantis, which has spent 307 days in space, orbited Earth 4,848 times and traveled 125,935,769 miles. For more information visit, www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/shuttle/shuttlemissions/sts135/index.html. Photo credit: NASA/Kim Shiflett
The Space Shuttle program was the United States government's manned launch vehicle program from 1981 to 2011, administered by NASA and officially beginning in 1972. The Space Shuttle system—composed of an orbiter launched with two reusable solid rocket boosters and a disposable external fuel tank— carried up to eight astronauts and up to 50,000 lb (23,000 kg) of payload into low Earth orbit (LEO). When its mission was complete, the orbiter would re-enter the Earth's atmosphere and lands as a glider. Although the concept had been explored since the late 1960s, the program formally commenced in 1972 and was the focus of NASA's manned operations after the final Apollo and Skylab flights in the mid-1970s. It started with the launch of the first shuttle Columbia on April 12, 1981, on STS-1. and finished with its last mission, STS-135 flown by Atlantis, in July 2011.
Tags
Date
Location
Source
Copyright info