"Magnus (Mission Specialist 1), and Rex Walheim (Mission Specialist 2); they conducted the 135th and last space Shuttle mission on board ""Atlantis"", which launched on July 8, 2011, and landed safely at the Kennedy Space Center on July 21, 2011, at 5:57 AM EDT (09:57 UTC). NASA announced it would transfer orbiters to education institutions or museums at the conclusion of the Space Shuttle program. Each museum or institution is responsible for covering the cost of preparing and transporting each vehicle for display. Twenty museums from across the country submitted proposals for receiving one of the retired orbiters. NASA also"
"of ""Atlantis""s final flight on July 21, 2011. The U.S. has since relied primarily on the Russian Soyuz spacecraft to transport astronauts to the International Space Station. The Space Shuttle was a partially reusable human spaceflight vehicle capable of reaching low Earth orbit, commissioned and operated by the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) from 1981 to 2011. It resulted from shuttle design studies conducted by NASA and the U.S. Air Force in the 1960s and was first proposed for development as part of an ambitious second-generation Space Transportation System (STS) of space vehicles to follow the Apollo program"
"changes before it could be completed, the retirement of the Space Shuttle was delayed several times until 2011, serving at least 15 years longer than originally planned. ""Discovery"" was the first of NASA's three remaining operational Space Shuttles to be retired. The final Space Shuttle mission was originally scheduled for late 2010, but the program was later extended to July 2011 when Michael Suffredini of the ISS program said that one additional trip was needed in 2011 to deliver parts to the International Space Station. The Shuttle's final mission consisted of just four astronauts—Christopher Ferguson (Commander), Douglas Hurley (Pilot), Sandra"
"out of 28 flights have not been to the ISS, and only the planned Hubble Space Telescope servicing mission in 2009 will not be ISS-related out of 13 planned missions until the end of the Space Shuttle program in 2010). The Space Shuttle was retired from service upon the conclusion of Atlantis' final flight on July 21, 2011. NASA was reliant even at the time on some of the resupply contracts being fielded out to Soyuz and Progress and the other unmanned tugs, but it had launched a few years earlier into a program of aggressive development of commercial US"
"supported the final manifested shuttle flights, starting with STS-117 in June 2007 until the retirement of the shuttle fleet in July 2011. Prior to the SpaceX lease agreement, the pad remained as it was when Atlantis launched on the final shuttle mission on July 8, 2011, complete with a mobile launcher platform. In 1997 the pad was the proposed as the site of the first machine for the film Contact. Talks for use of the pad were underway between NASA and Space Florida—the State of Florida's economic development agency—as early as 2011, but no deal materialized by 2012 and NASA"
"funding was found and a decision was taken to fly STS-135 as the final Space Shuttle mission, with Atlantis as the orbiter. The STS-135 mission launched in July 2011, just over a year after Atlantis's launch on the STS-132 mission. The crew members aboard ""Atlantis"" began their first full day in space at 08:20 UTC. The day was primarily devoted to inspecting ""Atlantis's"" thermal protection system, using the shuttle's robotic arm and the Orbiter Boom Sensor System (OBSS) to look for any signs of launch damage. Before the thermal protection checkout began, the crew encountered a problem with the Laser"
"Shuttle ""Columbia"" disaster. The Shuttle fleet lost two orbiters and 14 astronauts in two disasters: ""Challenger"" in 1986, and ""Columbia"" in 2003. While the 1986 loss was mitigated by building the Space Shuttle ""Endeavour"" from replacement parts, NASA did not build another orbiter to replace the second loss. NASA's Space Shuttle program had 135 missions when the program ended with the successful landing of the Space Shuttle ""Atlantis"" at the Kennedy Space Center on July 21, 2011. The program spanned 30 years with over 300 astronauts sent into space. The International Space Station (ISS) combines NASA's ""Space Station Freedom"" project"
"launched on September 29, 1988. The longest Shuttle mission was STS-80 lasting 17 days, 15 hours. The final flight of the Space Shuttle program was STS-135 on July 8, 2011. Since the Shuttle's retirement in 2011, many of its original duties are performed by an assortment of government and private vessels. The European ATV Automated Transfer Vehicle supplied the ISS between 2008 and 2015. Classified military missions are being flown by the US Air Force's unmanned space plane, the X-37B. By 2012, cargo to the International Space Station was already being delivered commercially under NASA's Commercial Resupply Services by SpaceX's"
"on 21 June 2011 to resupply and deliver equipment to the International Space Station. Progress M-11M transferred more than 2.5 tons of cargo to the Space Station, including food, water, scientific hardware, propellant, and cargo. The cargo ship docked with the Zvezda service module of the Space Station at 16:37 UTC on 23 June 2011. The docking occurred 245 miles above eastern Kazakhstan. On 8 July 2011, Space Shuttle ""Atlantis"" launched on the STS-135 mission, the final mission in NASA's Space Shuttle program. ""Atlantis"" docked to the ISS on 10 July 2011 at 15:07 UTC. The mission was crewed by"
"years until the STS-114 launch on July 26, 2005. The shuttle program experienced five main engine shutdowns at LC-39, all within four seconds before launch; and one abort to orbit, STS-51-F on July 29, 1985. Shuttle missions during nearly 30 years of operations included deploying satellites and interplanetary probes, conducting space science and technology experiments, visits to the Russian MIR space station, construction and servicing of the International Space Station, deployment and servicing of the Hubble Space Telescope and serving as a space laboratory. The shuttle was retired from service in July 2011 after 135 launches. On October 28, 2009,"
"STS-135 STS-135 (ISS assembly flight ULF7) was the 135th and final mission of the American Space Shuttle program. It used the orbiter ""Atlantis"" and hardware originally processed for the STS-335 contingency mission, which was not flown. STS-135 launched on 8 July 2011, and landed on 21 July 2011, following a one-day mission extension. The four-person crew was the smallest of any shuttle mission since STS-6 in April 1983. The mission's primary cargo was the Multi-Purpose Logistics Module (MPLM) ""Raffaello"" and a Lightweight Multi-Purpose Carrier (LMC), which were delivered to the International Space Station (ISS). The flight of ""Raffaello"" marked the"
"contingency mission program that could launch a rescue orbiter on short notice, similar to the Skylab Rescue that was planned during the Skylab program. NASA retired the Space Shuttle fleet on July 21, 2011 after completing the ISS and the final flight and subsequent landing of ""Atlantis"". The Shuttle's replacement, Orion, was to have consisted of an Apollo-derived spacecraft launched on the Ares I rocket, which would use a Space Shuttle Solid Rocket Booster as its first stage. Orion would not face the dangers of either an O-ring failure (due to the presence of a launch escape system) or shedding"
"on the band's last studio album, ""The Story"", ends with a recording of her voice introducing the song. Space Shuttle Columbia Space Shuttle ""Columbia"" (Orbiter Vehicle Designation: OV-102) was the first space-rated orbiter in NASA's Space Shuttle fleet. It launched for the first time on mission STS-1 on April 12, 1981, the first flight of the Space Shuttle program. Over 22 years of service, it completed 27 missions before disintegrating during re-entry near the end of its 28th mission, STS-107 on February 1, 2003, resulting in the deaths of all seven crew members. Construction began on ""Columbia"" in 1975 at"
"STS-125 STS-125, or HST-SM4 (Hubble Space Telescope Servicing Mission 4), was the fifth and final space shuttle mission to the Hubble Space Telescope (HST). The launch of the Space Shuttle ""Atlantis"" occurred on 11 May 2009 at 2:01 pm EDT. Landing occurred on 24 May at 11:39 am EDT, with the mission lasting a total of just under 13 days. The crew of STS-125 included three astronauts who had previous experience servicing Hubble. Scott Altman visited Hubble in 2002 as commander of STS-109, the fourth Hubble servicing mission. John Grunsfeld, an astronomer, has serviced Hubble twice, performing a total of"
"to turn it into the Permanent Multipurpose Module (PMM) and was permanently attached to the ISS during the STS-133 mission in March 2011. The ""Raffaello"" module in July 2011 was the last ever payload of a NASA Space Shuttle. It returned with the Shuttle and was stored at the Kennedy Space Center. The ""Donatello"" module never launched. There were 37 Space Shuttle missions to the ISS. MPLMs were flown twelve times, with SPACEHAB modules flown nine times to ISS, and 25 Shuttle missions delivering construction elements, in various combinations. An MPLM is a large cylinder equipped with a common berthing"
"2011 in spaceflight The year 2011 saw a number of significant events in spaceflight, including the retirement of NASA's Space Shuttle after its final flight in July 2011, and the launch of China's first space station module, Tiangong-1, in September. A total of 84 orbital launches were conducted over the course of the year, of which 78 were successful. Russia, China and the United States conducted the majority of the year's orbital launches, with 35, 19 and 18 launches respectively; 2011 marked the first year that China conducted more successful launches than the United States. Seven manned missions were launched"
"released from stand-by status on Thursday, 21 May. STS-125 STS-125, or HST-SM4 (Hubble Space Telescope Servicing Mission 4), was the fifth and final space shuttle mission to the Hubble Space Telescope (HST). The launch of the Space Shuttle ""Atlantis"" occurred on 11 May 2009 at 2:01 pm EDT. Landing occurred on 24 May at 11:39 am EDT, with the mission lasting a total of just under 13 days. The crew of STS-125 included three astronauts who had previous experience servicing Hubble. Scott Altman visited Hubble in 2002 as commander of STS-109, the fourth Hubble servicing mission. John Grunsfeld, an astronomer,"
"journey, the shuttle was secured on the launch pad at 03:29 EDT on 1 June 2011. Large crowds, including the families of NASA's workforce, were present during the rollout. The STS-135 crew was also at the Kennedy Space Center to witness the last-ever rollout of a Space Shuttle. The crew participated in an informal Question & Answer session with news media, which was aired live on NASA TV. While ""Atlantis"" was rolled out to the launch pad, ""Endeavour"" was landing a few miles away at the Shuttle Landing Facility, touching down on Kennedy Space Center's Runway 15 at 02:34 EDT"
"PSSC-2 PSSC-2, or Pico-Satellite Solar Cell Testbed 2, also known as PSSC-Testbed 2, is a miniaturised satellite which will be operated by the United States Air Force as part of a technology demonstration programme. It was the last satellite to be deployed from a Space Shuttle. PSSC-2 was launched aboard on its final mission, STS-135. The launch took place from Launch Complex 39A at the Kennedy Space Center, at 15:29 UTC on 8 July 2011. PSSC-2, along with a deployment mechanism, was carried to orbit in the payload bay of the Shuttle, attached to the right wall behind the Orbiter"
"first space shuttle to land at night at the SLF. A total of 78 shuttle missions landed at the SLF. The final landing of a space shuttle occurred on July 21, 2011 by ""Atlantis"" for STS-135. ""Discovery"" and ""Endeavour"" took off from the SLF on top of the Shuttle Carrier Aircraft for museums in Washington, D.C. and Los Angeles. In 2012, NASA's Johnson Space Center's Project Morpheus's first vehicle arrived at KSC. Prior to arrival at KSC and throughout the project, Morpheus vehicle tests were performed at other NASA centers; KSC was the site for advanced testing. Multiple tests, including"
"Space Shuttle Discovery Space Shuttle ""Discovery"" (Orbiter Vehicle Designation: OV-103) is one of the orbiters from NASA's Space Shuttle program and the third of five fully operational orbiters to be built. Its first mission, STS-41-D, flew from August 30 to September 5, 1984. Over 27 years of service it launched and landed 39 times, gathering more spaceflights than any other spacecraft to date. ""Discovery"" became the third operational orbiter to enter service, preceded by ""Columbia"" and ""Challenger"". It embarked on its last mission, STS-133, on February 24, 2011 and touched down for the final time at Kennedy Space Center on"
"2009. On September 14, 2010, NASA announced Magnus to be one of four astronauts assigned to the STS-135 ""launch on need"" crew that was, if needed, to fly a rescue mission for STS-134, which was originally the last scheduled shuttle flight. Other members assigned to that crew were commander Christopher Ferguson, pilot Douglas G. Hurley, and fellow mission specialist Rex J. Walheim. In January 2011, NASA added STS-135 to the manifest as the final space shuttle mission, scheduled to launch in July 2011; STS-134 was conducted successfully in May 2011, requiring no rescue flight. The mission launched successfully on 8"
"of the retirement of the Space Shuttle following the STS-135 mission in July 2011—and the resultant loss of the Space Shuttle's ability to return payload mass—an increasing concern became returning downmass cargo from low-Earth orbit to Earth for subsequent use or analysis. During this period of time, of the four space vehicles capable of reaching and delivering cargo to the International Space Station, only the Russian Soyuz vehicle could return even a very small cargo payload to Earth. The Soyuz cargo downmass capability was limited as the entire space capsule was filled to capacity with the three ISS crew members"
"final mission, STS-134. During this mission, the crew of ""Endeavour"" installed on the station's exterior the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer and several spare parts to aid in station operations after the retirement of the Space Shuttle. STS-134 was the 36th Space Shuttle mission to the International Space Station. ""Endeavour"" and her crew, consisting of Mark Kelly, Gregory Johnson, Michael Fincke, Roberto Vittori, Andrew Feustel, and Gregory Chamitoff, returned to Earth on 1 June 2011, at 6:34 UTC. STS-134 was the second-to-last mission of the Space Shuttle. The remainder of the Expedition 28 crew (Sergey Volkov, Michael E. Fossum, and Satoshi Furukawa)"
"Soyuz and three Space Shuttle missions – were launched in 2011, carrying a total of 28 astronauts and cosmonauts into orbit. At the beginning of the year, the Expedition 26 crew was aboard the International Space Station (ISS). The first manned flight of 2011 was STS-133, the final flight of the Space Shuttle , which launched from the Kennedy Space Center on 24 February. STS-133 carried ""Leonardo"", the final American pressurised module of the ISS, for installation. ""Discovery"" returned to Earth on 9 March. On 16 March, Expedition 27 began aboard the ISS with the departure of the Soyuz TMA-01M"
"15. Each track is specially chosen, often by the astronauts' families, and usually has a special meaning to an individual member of the crew, or is applicable to their daily activities. STS-4 STS-4 was the fourth NASA Space Shuttle mission, and also the fourth for Space Shuttle ""Columbia"". The mission launched on 27 June 1982 and landed a week later on 4 July. STS-4 was the final test flight for the shuttle; it was thereafter officially declared to be operational. ""Columbia"" carried numerous scientific payloads during the mission, as well as military missile detection systems. STS-4, being the last test"
"STS-4 STS-4 was the fourth NASA Space Shuttle mission, and also the fourth for Space Shuttle ""Columbia"". The mission launched on 27 June 1982 and landed a week later on 4 July. STS-4 was the final test flight for the shuttle; it was thereafter officially declared to be operational. ""Columbia"" carried numerous scientific payloads during the mission, as well as military missile detection systems. STS-4, being the last test flight of the Space Shuttle, was also the last to carry a crew of two astronauts. Commander Ken Mattingly had previously flown as Command Module Pilot on Apollo 16, and was"
"Space Shuttle program The Space Shuttle program was the fourth human spaceflight program carried out by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), which accomplished routine transportation for Earth-to-orbit crew and cargo from 1981 to 2011. Its official name, Space Transportation System (STS), was taken from a 1969 plan for a system of reusable spacecraft of which it was the only item funded for development. The Space Shuttle—composed of an orbiter launched with two reusable solid rocket boosters and a disposable external fuel tank—carried up to eight astronauts and up to of payload into low Earth orbit (LEO). When its"
"Shuttle fleet operated from April 1981 until July 2011. SpaceShipOne has conducted two human suborbital spaceflights. On a sub-orbital spaceflight the spacecraft reaches space and then returns to the atmosphere after following a (primarily) ballistic trajectory. This is usually because of insufficient specific orbital energy, in which case a suborbital flight will last only a few minutes, but it is also possible for an object with enough energy for an orbit to have a trajectory that intersects the Earth's atmosphere, sometimes after many hours. Pioneer 1 was NASA's first space probe intended to reach the Moon. A partial failure caused"
"members were assigned backups who could take their place within the prime crew. The decision on whether to appoint a reserve crew member was made on a per-flight basis by flight management teams at Johnson Space Center. Consequently, the last NASA flight to have a full-time backup crew was STS-3. STS-4 launched from Kennedy Space Center (KSC) on 27 June 1982 at 11:00 am EDT, with Ken Mattingly as commander, and Henry Hartsfield as pilot. This mission marked the first time the Space Shuttle launched precisely at its scheduled launch time. It was also the last research and development flight"
"flight engineer for three space shuttle's final voyages; flying the Discovery shuttle to Washington, D.C. (Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum Udvar-Hazy Center in Chantilly, Virginia) on April 17, 2012, the Enterprise to New York (Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum in Manhattan) on April 27, 2012, and the Endeavor to Edwards AFB and then Los Angeles (California Science Center) from September 19-21, 2012. This does not include the space shuttle Atlantis which touched down from its final mission on July 21, 2011 at Kennedy Space Center in Florida, where it remained. LaRose has also worked in other programs with"
"mission STS-125, while Gregory C. piloted STS-125 on ""Atlantis"". They are not related and can be distinguished by their call signs. Gregory H. Johnson is known as ""Box"", while Gregory C. Johnson is known as ""Ray J"". Johnson was the Pilot on STS-125, the final Space Shuttle mission to the Hubble Space Telescope. It lasted from May 11–24, 2009, traveling 5,276,000 miles in 197 Earth orbits. ""Atlantis"" carried two new instruments to the telescope, the Cosmic Origins Spectrograph and the Wide Field Camera 3. The mission also replaced a Fine Guidance Sensor, six gyroscopes, and two battery unit modules to"
"space during the last trip of the NASA Shuttle Endeavour, on May 16, 2011. His ""Fly High"" was one of the pieces chosen by the astronauts and technicians. During the last trip of the Endeavour Shuttle, with the mission of installing some equipment to receive radiation from outer space and investigate the origins of the universe; the six astronauts in the crew of the spaceship, along with numerous NASA technicians, selected 50 musical compositions to take and listen to during the trip. The trip itself had a very special meaning, not only because it was the final flight of the"