Just about one hour ago, space shuttle Atlantis lifted off from the Kennedy Space Center for the final time.
It was a textbook launch into a beautiful cerulean sky, and the shuttle is now safely on orbit and chasing after the International Space Station for a rendezvous two days from now. Mission STS-132 is scheduled to last 12 days; in its payload bay, Atlantis carries a Russian laboratory module — the first time a Russian-built ISS component has flown on an American spacecraft — as well as an assortment of replacement parts and batteries for the station.
Atlantis, the second youngest of the shuttles, flew for the first time in October 1985, and has racked up an impressive list of “firsts” in the 25 years since. Here’s a fairly nifty video produced by NASA to commemorate her life:
***VIDEO MISSING***
(And yes, I know I was just bitching about not having any time to blog, let alone watch space shuttle videos. So I’m rebelling a little, give me a break…)
Jason, is this the last shuttle flight altogether? Or is Discovery going to have another go?
Do you know where the retired shuttles are going? Perhaps we’ll get to see one at the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum!
Two more flights are scheduled after this, Robert: I believe it’s Endeavour next, and then the very final shuttle mission will belong to Discovery. Or it might be the other way round, but you get the idea. They each get one more.
As far as I know, no museum assignments have been announced yet, but it’s a sure bet the Smithsonian will get one of them. The Enterprise, the glide-test prototype that never flew in space, is currently housed at the Smithsonian’s Udvar-Hazy Center. I’ve heard some talk that the Smith would prefer to get a shuttle that’s been in space, and it would then loan the Enterprise to another museum. I know the Intrepid Musuem in New York has also applied to get one. And it seems like I’ve heard the Evergreen Museum in Oregon, the place that houses Howard Hughes’ H-4, wants one as well. How would that be, to see a space shuttle sitting alongside the Spruce Goose? 🙂
I saw the Enterprise at the Udvar-Hazy center. At the time, a section of its wing was missing, having been cut off by NASA to use for research into the (then) recent Columbia explosion. It was quite the impressive sight, and yes – I’d love to see/walk inside a real one (especially if they put one on/near the Intrepid – it’s not the Spruce Goose, to be sure, but that would put a Space Shuttle next to the Concorde Supersonic Jet).
Also of note (really just to me, but as long as everyone’s reading): a guy I went to college with is on the Atlantis right now – Garrett Reisman, University of Pennsylvania, Class of 1990. This past Saturday was his 20th College Reunion, and he officially had the best excuse for being absent (“not currently on the planet”)
Check him out on YouTube – last time he was up, he did some very cool video-blogging from space.