Only four astronauts flew on the mission, instead of the usual six or seven, to accommodate the smaller Russian capsules the crew would use if Atlantis was too damaged to return to Earth. NASA had no more shuttles to mount a rescue mission. The shuttle carried a technology demonstration project to test how a robot can refuel and service satellites in orbit. The two-year experiment using the station's Dextre robot was to begin after the shuttle left. Among the tons of old equipment and trash coming back from the station on the shuttle was a broken ammonia cooling system. Engineers want to take it apart and figure out why it failed. Collectively, NASA's space shuttles spent about 40 weeks over 37 missions, helping to assemble the football-field sized laboratory. "The International Space Station now enters the era of utilization," Atlantis commander Chris Ferguson said. On this mission, Atlantis spent 8 days, 15 hours and 21 minutes docked to the outpost.
Atlantis Crew During Their Last Space Walk
Atlantis blasted off on NASA's last space shuttle launch. The historic liftoff occurred Friday morning, July 8th, 2011, 30 years and three months after the very first shuttle flight. Hundreds of thousands of spectators jammed Cape Canaveral and surrounding towns for the farewell trip. Kennedy Space Center itself was packed with shuttle workers, astronauts and 45,000 invited guests, the maximum allowed. The flight lasted 12 days as planned. Space program's final shuttle flight resonates in Cape Canaveral, Fla., t he home of NASA, who stands to lose thousands of jobs after Atlantis completes its final mission in space.
The Four Crew Members of the Atlantis before entering the Shuttle
Communities around the country are feeling the effects of the end of NASA's manned space program, particularly Houston, home to NASA Mission Control. The end of the space shuttle program is hitting its Florida launch home in the pocketbook with some areas practically becoming economic ghost towns. But Houston, home of Mission Control, is getting hit somewhere else: in the ego. Aerospace ranks only fourth among booming industries, far, far behind king oil, Mayor Annise Parker said. It's a pride thing for a city whose baseball team is the Astros and whose basketball team is the Rockets. Space is "part of our psyche here," Parker said. "It's how we view ourselves as a city." This is a metropolis of 4 million people that has tied its identity to space and to the shuttle specifically. But that identity has taken three hard hits and the loss of thousands of jobs is just one of them. Atlantis' final astronaut crew included commander Chris Ferguson, pilot Doug Hurley and mission specialists Sandra Magnus and Rex Walheim. With the shuttle program's impending end in sight, NASA officials also highlighted their admiration for the ground teams' hard work to round out the program on a high note. "That professionalism and their dedication to the program over many, many years comes an internal commitment to do the job right," said shuttle launch director Mike Leinbach. "I know they're going to do their job as perfectly as they have in the past. Yes, they know the end is coming. We've known this is coming for a long time, but nevertheless, the end of the program is just weeks away instead of years away. It's getting more somber."
Orion: The Future of NASA?
The Orion, or Multi Purpose Crew Vehicle, looks much like the Apollo, that familiar cone-shaped capsule which rides on top of a rocket. However, it is much more advanced technically and, most importantly for NASA, it is cheaper, safer and more flexible than the shuttle. Tests are already being carried out on Orion in the desert ready for a possible launch by 2015 or 2016.
But America is still unsure where it wants to go next with its space programme in these financially uncertain times. Orion, however, is still being developed as a vehicle which could one day take man to deep space destinations. The talk in NASA labs and control rooms is of exploring "deep space" - but without the political, or perhaps even public appetite, there is no time frame.
A model of the Orion Vehicle
With the shuttle program ending and many NASA employees losing their jobs, there is a lack of confidence around the testing warehouses of the Johnson Space Centre in Houston. Nasa astronauts, perhaps blushing with embarrassment as they strap themselves in, must now hitch rides with the Russians to the International Space Station (ISS). America's space exploration seems to be heading for a black hole, a void which may be filled by the Chinese who could overtake the US and become the first to land humans on Mars
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