End of an Era: The Last Shuttle Lands in Florida

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Atlantis completes 135th Space Shuttle mission

The last space shuttle flight rolled to a stop just before 6 a.m. on Thursday, closing an era of the nation’s space program.

the last shuttle

Space shuttle Atlantis lands at Kennedy Space Center on Thursday

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. – Atlantis and four astronauts returned from the International Space Station in triumph Thursday, bringing an end to NASA’s 30-year shuttle journey with one last, rousing touchdown that drew cheers and tears.

A record crowd of 2,000 gathered near the landing strip, thousands more packed the space center and countless others watched history unfold from afar as NASA’s longest-running spaceflight program came to a close.

“After serving the world for over 30 years, the space shuttle’s earned its place in history. And it’s come to a final stop,” radioed commander Christopher Ferguson.

“Job well done, America,” replied Mission Control.

The twilight landing, just before dawn, came 30 years and three months after the very first shuttle flight in 1981. It will be another three to five years at best before Americans are launched again from U.S. soil, with private companies gearing up to seize the Earth-to-orbit-and-back baton from NASA.

The long-term future for American space exploration is just as hazy, a huge concern for many at NASA and all those losing their jobs because of the shuttle’s end. Asteroids and Mars are the destinations of choice, yet NASA has yet to settle on a rocket design to get astronauts there.

Thursday, though, belonged to Atlantis and its crew: Ferguson, co-pilot Douglas Hurley, Rex Walheim and Sandra Magnus, who completed a successful space station resupply mission.

Atlantis’ main landing gears touched down at 5:57 a.m., with “wheels stop” less than a minute later.

“The space shuttle has changed the way we view the world and it’s changed the way we view our universe,” said Ferguson. “There’s a lot of emotion today, but one thing’s indisputable. America’s not going to stop exploring.

“Thank you Columbia, Challenger, Discovery, Endeavour and our ship Atlantis. Thank you for protecting us and bringing this program to such a fitting end.”

Born with Columbia, it was NASA’s longest-running space exploration program.

The decision to cease shuttle flight was made seven years ago, barely a year after the Columbia tragedy. President Barack Obama nixed President George W. Bush’s lunar goals, however, opting instead for astronaut expeditions to an asteroid and Mars.

Last-ditch appeals to keep shuttles flying by such NASA legends as Apollo 11’s Neil Armstrong and Mission Control founder Christopher Kraft landed flat.

It comes down to money.

NASA is sacrificing the shuttles, according to the program manager, so it can get out of low-Earth orbit and get to points beyond. The first stop under Obama’s plan is an asteroid by 2025; next comes Mars in the mid-2030.

An American flag that flew on the first shuttle flight and returned to orbit aboard Atlantis on July 8, is now at the space station. The first commercial company to get astronauts there will claim the flag as a prize.

“Thank you shuttle workers,” read a sign outside Cape Canaveral City Hall.

After months of decommissioning, Atlantis will be placed on public display at the Kennedy Space Center Visitors Complex. Discovery, the first to retire in March, will head to a Smithsonian hangar in Virginia. Endeavour, which returned from the space station on June 1, will go to the California Science Center in Los Angeles.

Here is a table of the shuttle flights thanks to Wikipedia:

Flight statistics

Shuttle Atmospheric
test flights
Flight days Longest flight First flight Last flight
ALT Date ALT Date
Enterprise 5 00d 00h 19m 00d 00h 05m ALT-12 Aug 12, 1977 ALT-16 Oct 26, 1977
Shuttle Flights Flight days Orbits Longest flight First flight Last flight
STS Launched STS Launched
Columbia 28 300d 17h 40m 22s 4,808 17d 15h 53m 18s STS-1 Apr 12, 1981 STS-107 Jan 16, 2003
Challenger 10 62d 07h 56m 15s 995 08d 05h 23m 33s STS-6 Apr 04, 1983 STS-51-L Jan 28, 1986
Discovery 39 365d 12h 53m 34s 5,830 15d 02h 48m 08s STS-41-D Aug 30, 1984 STS-133 Feb 24, 2011
Atlantis 33 306d 14h 12m 43s 4,848 13d 20h 12m 44s STS-51-J Oct 03, 1985 STS-135 July 8, 2011
Endeavour 25 296d 03h 18m 35s 4,677 16d 15h 08m 48s STS-49 May 07, 1992 STS-134 May 16, 2011
Total 135 1331d 8h 1m 29s 21,158

† Destroyed

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