The Last Space Shuttle Launch


By Douglas Messier


On the morning of July 8, 2011, between 750,000 and 1 million people crammed into every available viewing area near the Kennedy Space Center to witness the last space shuttle launch and the end of an era. Miles away, Atlantis stood on Pad 39A, ready to take four astronauts on the last space shuttle mission ever.  The 135th flight of the program would end 30 years of shuttle missions - an era marked by both triumphs and tragedies.


For commander Christopher Ferguson, pilot Douglas Hurley, and mission specialists Sandra Magnus and Rex Walheim, being selected to fly this historic mission was not only a great honor, it was largely unexpected.

Last space shuttle launch crew

NASA had originally planned to stop the space shuttle program with the 134th flight by Endeavour. Given extended Congressional wrangling over NASA’s budget, this last space shuttle launch was not officially placed on the manifest until six months before the flight.


Two factors combined to make an additional flight possible. One was a desire by Congress to extend the program longer to continue to employ shuttle workers who would be laid off. An extra flight would help to close the human space flight gap until new vehicles began flying.


The second reason was operational:  two private companies, SpaceX and Orbital Sciences Corporation, hired to deliver equipment and supplies to the International Space Station (ISS) also had fallen behind schedule. Atlantis could bring up supplies and spare parts to keep the orbiting base operational until the companies got on track.


Tension built as the countdown dipped under 1 minute. And then at 31 seconds, the clock stopped. Controllers had to confirm that a gaseous oxygen vent hood had retracted as planned. It had, and the countdown resumed.  At 11:29:04 EDT time, Atlantis roared off the pad on a pillar of smoke and flames for the final time.


From then on, this last space shuttle flight became a textbook example of how to fly a space mission. Atlantis docked at the ISS two days after launch. For nearly nine days, the shuttle and station crews unloaded vital supplies, equipment and experiments for the orbiting outpost.


Atlantis’s crew also brought up an American flag that had flown on the first space shuttle mission by Columbia 30 years earlier. The flag will remain on the ISS until the next American crew flying a new vehicle retrieves it.


The crew undocked Atlantis on July 19 and flew around the station. Two days later, Ferguson and Hurley guided the orbiter to a pre-dawn landing at the Kennedy Space Center on July 21. Illuminated by spotlights, the orbiter cut a ghostly figure as it touched down at 5:57 a.m. and rolled to a stop. The space shuttle program was over.


THE LAST SPACE SHUTTLE MISSION

Space shuttle: Atlantis
Launch pad: 39A
Launch date:  8 July 2011 11:29:03 EDT (15:29 UTC)
Landing date:  21 July 2011 05:57:54 EDT (09:57 UTC)
Mission duration:  12 days, 18 hours, 28 minutes, 50 seconds
Orbital altitude:  122 nautical miles
Total miles traveled:  5,284,862 miles
Time docked at ISS:  8 days, 15 hours, 21 minutes 

Link for "The Last Space Shuttle Launch":

NASA Space Shuttle Website: http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/shuttle/flyout/index.html

 

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