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The Space Shuttle has landed safely for the last time in Florida today. The shuttle touched down at 5:56am Eastern Time. This marks the end of the shuttles amazing history of space travel. The crew of four is extremely thrilled to have been part of this last mission.
NASA ended its shuttle program with Atlantis' successful space station resupply mission. It was the 135th flight in shuttle history. This grand finale came 50 years to the day that Gus Grissom became the second American in space, aboard Liberty Bell 7.
It was to be a true homecoming for Atlantis, which first soared in 1985. The next-to-youngest in NASA's fleet will remain at Kennedy Space Center as a museum display. Atlantis — the last of NASA's three surviving shuttles to retire — performed admirably during the 13-day flight. It dropped off a full year's worth of food and other supplies at the International Space Station, just in case upcoming deliveries get delayed.
The space station's international partners — Russia, Europe and Japan — will continue to carry up cargo loads. And Russia will keep launching American astronauts to the orbiting lab until private industry is ready to fly people up in three to five years.
Several private companies are vying for the cargo runs and astronaut ferry flights. The front-runner hopes to make its first shipment of supplies by the end of this year. A U.S. flag that flew on the first shuttle flight in 1981 and returned to orbit aboard Atlantis, is now at the space station. The first company to get astronauts there will claim the flag as a prize.
For over 30 years the shuttle missions have taken mankind into space....although this is the end of the shuttle missions -- it's not the end of American space travel.
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