NASA regularly shares photos on its social media handles of missions presently underway. But often, it takes us down the reminiscence lane too. On Thursday, July 8, the American house company shared photographs of a mission from a decade in the past on its Twitter and Instagram handles. It was on this present day again in 2011 that house shuttle Atlantis lifted off from the John F. Kennedy Space Center in Florida. In a four-slide put up on Instagram, NASA shared photographs of Atlantis lifting off, “riding a plume of fire,” to the International Space Station.
The third image within the put up reveals the spacecraft within the house, and the fourth touchdown again after finishing the mission. That was additionally the final flight of the Atlantis. “Exactly 10 years ago today, the final mission of our American Space Shuttle Program lifted off from @NASAKennedy at 11:29 a.m. EDT en route to the International Space Station (@ISS),” learn the caption to the put up.
NASA it was an emotional finish to an period for a lot of. “This launch was the final chapter in a 30-year history of space shuttle flights from the Florida Space Coast,” the put up additional learn.
Aboard the shuttle Atlantis was a crew of 4 NASA astronauts — Commander Chris Ferguson, Pilot Doug Hurley, together with Mission Specialists Sandy Magnus and Rex Walheim — who set on the STS-135 mission. During this ultimate house shuttle mission, the crew delivered payloads and provides to help the International Space Station for a couple of yr, stated NASA.
Here’s a GIF of the Orbiter Atlantis lifting off from the Keneddy Space Centre, posted on Twitter by NASA.
The Grand Finale ???? Space shuttle Atlantis lifted off from Kennedy Space Center 10 years in the past at the moment, marking the final launch of the Space Shuttle Program.
The STS-135 mission delivered payloads & provides to help the @Space_Station for greater than 1 yr: https://t.co/E50rCaKbZE pic.twitter.com/pVWY3nMrQ7
— NASA’s Kennedy Space Center (@NASAKennedy) July 8, 2021
On July 15, 2011, Barack Obama, the then-US President, held a radio dialog with the mixed shuttle and station crews. “We’re all watching as the 10 of you work together as a team,” Obama stated. Your instance means a lot not simply to your fellow Americans, but additionally your fellow residents on Earth, the previous President added. The house programme has at all times embodied our sense of journey and explorations and braveness, he additional stated.
On July 21, 2011, as seen within the final image of the put up, Atlantis dropped out of the predawn darkness and landed at Kennedy’s Shuttle Landing Facility Runway 15.
“Caught in the last seconds by the runway lights, a space shuttle rolled to a stop for the final time,” stated the company.
