Chris Ferguson, Sandra Magnus, Doug Hurley and Rex Walheim, left to right, stand before Atlantis after landing at NASA's Kennedy Space Center. Photo Credit/NASA photo
The crew of NASA’s final shuttle mission completed the last leg of their mission on Friday, as they returned to Houston, where hundreds from the Texas city welcomed them back as colleagues and neighbors.
Neither the rush hour traffic nor the high heat seemed an obstacle as they gathered in a NASA hangar at Ellington Field for a “Crew Return Ceremony” a tradition for space shuttle astronauts the day after they touchdown at the Kennedy Space Center or Edwards Air Force Base, Calif.
Many at the gathering for Atlantis commander Chris Ferguson, pilot Doug Hurley, Sandra Magnus and Rex Walheim were parents with children determined to see an astronaut and perhaps get an autograph. While NASA continues to manage the International Space Station and send U. S. astronauts to the orbiting science laboratory aboard Russian rockets, it’s not clear when America will have a launch vehicle of its own to succeed the winged orbiters.
“We are here now at the end of an era, but not the end of America’s flying into space,” vowed U. S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, a Texas lawmaker who was instrumental in the legislative process that made the 13-day re-supply mission to the space station possible.
“This is a celebration,” Walheim assured the crowd that also included Houston Mayor Annise Parker. “Smile because it happened,” he added. “We’re going to have another program coming down the line that we’re going to be just as proud of.”
In all, the space shuttle launched 135 times. The missions launched commercial satellites and planetary probes. The shuttle launched and upgraded the Hubble Space Telescope. Shuttle astronauts visited Russia’s former Mir space station and carried out the challenging assembly and outfitting of the International Space Station.
“There wil be some challenges as we go forward from there,” Ferguson told the gathering.
“The challenge will be not only to keep our focus on where we are headed, but to try to keep the American public focused as well.
“The overall attention paid by the American public is waning,
“What we need to do is focus.
“We need a 10 or 20 year focus, a plan that cannot deviate. We need a very clear objective to go forward from this point,” said Ferguson to loud applause.
“Once we get that objective and once we start building that next vehicle — and that vehicle is not too far away, We will get the interest of the American public.
“I believe if we build it, they will come,” said Ferguson, borrowing a phrase from the 1989 film “Field of Dreams.”
Houston’s ties to the human space program reach back five decades.
And a banner carried into orbit aboard Atlantis said it all, “Houston. Always the first word in space. Thank you!” it reads.
The fliers presented the banner to the city’s mayor.
“We know the lives of those of us at the Johnson Space Center, and those of the City of Houston are so intertwined, we wanted to express our thanks for everything you have done for us,” said Ferguson. “Houston is always, was and will remain the first word in space.”
Apollo 11 commander Neil Armstrong made it so 42 years ago this week, when he stepped to the lunar surface with Buzz Aldrin to become the first humans to explore another world.