Yesterday was a noteworthy day for the United States and those interested in the space program. We always remember the anniversary of the first Moon landing. Today, July 21 happens to also be a noteworthy day in the field of space exploration. It’s almost as signifiant at the Moon landing, but much sadder, and it also involves a landing.
On July 21, 2011, the Space Shuttle Atlantis landed at Kennedy Space Center. It was the final flight of NASA’s space shuttle program. The final shuttle mission was STS-135.
Atlantis was the fourth shuttle built and obviously the last one to fly into space. It was in service for 25 years and flew 33 missions.
Atlantis was named after a ship that did work for Massachusetts’ Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute between 1930 and 1966. That sailing ship was the first to image the ocean floor using electronic sounding devices.
Atlantis had an impressive list of accomplishments during it’s lifetime, including being the last shuttle to visit the Hubble Space Telescope. During a mission in May of 2009, the Atlantis crew made 5 spacewalks to repair and add equipment to the Hubble.
The first flight of Atlantis was October 3-7, 1985 (STS-51J) — it’s last flight was July 8-21, 2011 (STS-135.) During it’s 33 missions, Atlantis spent 306 days, 14 hours, 12 minutes and 43 seconds in space.
To this day, Atlantis’ first flight is shrouded in secrecy. We know that mission STS-51J took five people into space and lasted four days — the payload was, obviously, classified. Today’s anniversary marks the end of an era and the last time a spaceship landed in Florida. RIP Atlantis — you had a good run.
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