Pictures of NASA's last shuttle launch

Atlantis Launches

Photograph by Morry Gash, AP

Crowds gathered at NASA's Kennedy Space Center early Friday to witness the final launch of the space shuttle Atlantis. The liftoff—which took place slightly behind schedule at about 11:29 a.m. ET—marks the 135th and final space shuttle mission, capping off the 30-year-old U.S. space shuttle program.
Atlantis carried a four-member crew to the International Space Station for a 12-day mission. A stormy weather forecast had threatened to delay the launch, but clouds thinned an hour before the scheduled blastoff.
"On behalf of the greatest team in the world, good luck to you and your crew on the final flight of an American icon," NASA launch director Mike Leinbach told the crew just before launch.
Atlantis's commander Chris Ferguson responded: "We're not ending the journey today, we're completing a chapter of a journey that will never end. Let's light this shuttle one more time, Mike, and witness this nation at its best."

Leaving the Launch Pad

Photograph by Michael Berrigan, Reuters

The space shuttleAtlantis roared up from Launch Pad 39-A and was visible for 42 seconds before it disappeared into the clouds over Florida's Kennedy Space Center.
"It truly was an awesome, spectacular launch," space center director Bob Cabana said at a press conference Friday. "The only way it could've been better was if I had found a way to stow away on there somehow."
Atlantis is carrying more than 8,000 pounds (3,628 kilograms) of food, supplies, and scientific instruments to the space station as part of its mission. The space shuttle is scheduled to dock with the International Space Station on Sunday and return to Earth on July 20.

Shuttle's Pillars of Flame

Photograph by Denis Paquin, AP

Atlantis streaked into space Friday atop twin columns of fire and smoke that left a towering plume over the launch pad at Kennedy Space Center.
Upon its return, the shuttle will be retired and put on display at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex in Florida.

Last Goodbye

Still from NASA TV via Reuters

A still from NASA TV shows the moment when the space shuttle Atlantis jettisoned its external fuel tank shortly after launch on Friday. (Video: "Space Shuttle's Final Days.")
After Atlantis safely reached space, NASA commentator Rob Navias said from the Johnson Space Center in Houston: "For the last time, the shuttle's engines have fallen silent."
With the space shuttles out of commission, NASA will have to rely on Russian Soyuz vehicles to transport astronauts and supplies to the space station for the next several years. NASA Administrator Charles Bolden recently addressed concerns that the delay could threaten the U.S. space program.
"Some say that our final shuttle mission will mark the end of America's 50 years of dominance in human spaceflight," Bolden said in a NASA video.
"As a former astronaut and the current NASA administrator, I’m here to tell you that American leadership in space will continue for at least the next half century, because we have laid the foundation for success—and for NASA, failure is not an option."
Atlantis's sister shuttles—Endeavour, Discovery, and Enterprise—will find new homes at the California Science Center in Los Angeles, the National Air an Space Museum's Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center in Virginia, and the Intrepid Sea, Air, and Space Museum in New York City, respectively.

Record Spectators

Photograph by Hans Deryk, Reuters

Crowds clogged a bridge and halted traffic in Titusville, Florida, on Friday as they gathered to watch Atlantis's final send-off into space. NASA estimated that between 750,000 and a million people turned out to watch the last space shuttle launch.
"I think the shuttle program is ending exactly as it should," Mike Moses, chair of the pre-mission Mission Management Team, told reporters at a press conference Friday.
"We've built the International Space Station, we're stocking it up for the future and are ready to hand it off, and we finished really strong. That said, we're not ready to look back or forward—we still have this mission to complete. So we're going to stay very focused on the mission at hand."
(Related: "Last Chance to See Orbiting Shuttle With Naked Eyes.")

Shuttle "Early Birds"

Photograph by Brian Blanco, Reuters

Spectators recline in collapsible chairs and huddle in blankets in the early morning hours Friday at Jetty Park, Florida, as they await the final launch of Atlantis.
According to the space agency, the final space shuttle launch was also attended by luminaries such as Steve Wozniak, co-founder of Apple; 14 members of Congress; John Holdren, the U.S. President's science advisor; and two former NASA administrators.
Also in attendance was Robert Crippen, now 73, who was the first space shuttle mission pilot. Crippen flew the shuttle Columbia on its inaugural test flight in 1981. (Related: "Shuttle Astronaut's Four Most Extraordinary Moments.")

Closing the Doors on Atlantis

Photograph courtesy NASA

The space shuttle Atlantis's payload bay doors close around the Raffaello space station module on June 29.
As part of the final shuttle mission, Atlantis's crew will attach the module to the International Space Station and unpack supplies and spare parts.
(Related pictures: "Space Shuttle Discovery's Milestone Moments.")

Published July 8, 2011

Future Astronaut?

Photograph by Hans Deryk, Reuters

On Thursday five-year-old Freddy Porter pilots a toy space shuttle at NASA's Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex. The spacecraft behind him are part of the visitor center's "Rocket Garden," a collection of historic and retired missiles, rockets, and spacecraft.
Shortly after Atlantis's final liftoff, shuttle launch director Mike Leinbach recalled the mood in the control room Friday.
"It did take a while to clear the control room. A lot of us walked around and shook everybody's hands," Leinbach said at press conference.
"It seemed like we didn't want to leave. It was like the end of a party, and you just don't want to go. We wanted to hang around a little bit longer and relish our friends and what we've accomplished. So it was very special. A lot of pats on the back today."


Source National Geographic