Friday, July 8, 2011

Atlantis - The Final Flight of the Space Shuttle Program

Space shuttle Atlantis at the launch pad 39A.
Kennedy Space Center, Cape Canaveral - July 7, 2011.

Space shuttle Atlantis is scheduled to liftoff today, July 8 on its final flight, STS-135, a 12-day mission to the International Space Station. The liftoff will mark the end of the 30-year old space shuttle program.

Atlantis will carry a crew of four and the Raffaello multipurpose logistics module containing supplies and spare parts for the space station. The STS-135 astronauts are: Commander Chris Ferguson, Pilot Doug Hurley, and Mission Specialists Sandy Magnus and Rex Walheim. 

The final U.S. space shuttle flight may, however, be postponed due to thunderstorms, but according to NASA officials the countdown was still under way hours before the scheduled launch.

We wish the entire team best of luck for this historic mission. And of course, good weather for the liftoff!

Article source NASA
Image by Chip Somodevilla
Image source here