The exhaust plume from space shuttle Atlantis is seen through the window of a Shuttle Training Aircraft (STA) as it launches from launch pad 39A at the Kennedy Space Center on the STS-135 mission, Friday, July 8, 2011 in Cape Canaveral, Fla. Atlantis launched on the final flight of the shuttle program on a 12-day mission to the International Space Station. The STS-135 crew will deliver the Raffaello multipurpose logistics module containing supplies and spare parts for the space station. Photo Credit: (NASA/Dick Clark)
Atlantis liftoff signals end of shuttle era. Photo: courtesy of ESA
KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, Florida – Space Shuttle Atlantis roared off its launch pad here, crackling its way skyward into orbit.
The flawless countdown leading to the Atlantis liftoff was slightly delayed for 2 ½ minutes as engineers assured themselves that part of the pad’s infrastructure – a gaseous vent arm — had swung safely into place.
Troublesome weather that plagued the final shuttle takeoff finally settled down – enough to allow a “go” for Atlantis to head spaceward.
It’s a bittersweet event.
Thousands and thousands of onlookers, both here at the center and in neighboring public viewing sites, cheered as the craft shot off its pad.
“Final liftoff of Atlantis…America will continue the dream,” a voice from mission control declared.
The solid rocket boosters and engines of Atlantis quickly drowned out applause and whoops. Due to low cloud cover, the vibrating sound rolled over the press site.
“It’s so beautiful…I hate to see it go. Just unbelievable,” said one witness to the liftoff.
Headed for space station
Atlantis left a huge, billowing plume of smoke – then disappeared from ground view as it broke through the cloud deck.
The four-person crew of space shuttle Atlantis – Chris Ferguson, commander, Doug Hurley, pilot; Rex Walheim and Sandra Magnus, both mission specialists — are headed for the International Space Station (ISS).
Once attached to the ISS, tons of supplies are to be transferred to the huge orbiting complex from the Raffaello multi-purpose logistics module tucked inside Atlantis.
Twelve days later, the crew of four will steer the venerable space workhorse back to Earth and into retirement. It marks an end to a lengthy list of flights by Atlantis, along with Endeavour, Discovery, Columbia and Challenger – albeit a track record that, sadly, includes the loss of Challenger and Columbia and their respective crews.
The Atlantis STS-135 mission is slated to roll to a stop back here on July 20, the 42nd anniversary of the first human landing on the Moon – the Apollo 11mission in July 1969.
Soaring successes
Over the past thirty years, the space shuttle has had soaring successes including sending more than 350 astronauts from 20 nations into space, servicing the Hubble Space Telescope, linking up with the then Soviet Union’s Mir Space Station and building the International Space Station.
“It’s worth recalling that in 1972, when the shuttle program was approved, the war in Vietnam was raging and our nation was on the verge of both stagflation and the energy crisis,” said Aerospace Industries Association (AIA) President and CEO Marion C. Blakey.
“Our leaders at the time wisely continued to invest in developing the shuttle and these investments have paid off handsomely. NASA comprises less than one half of one percent of the federal budget, yet it’s an enormous benefit to our nation,” she noted in a press statement.
By Leonard David