Space shuttle Commander Chris Ferguson and his three crewmates are on their way to the International Space Station after launching from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center at 11:29 a.m. EDT Friday. STS-135 is the final mission of NASA’s Space Shuttle Program that will end the multi-purpose spaceplane programme’s three-decade era of human spaceflight.
On 8 July 2011, Space Shuttle Atlantis lifted off from Kennedy Space Center to the International Space Station on a mission that will end the spaceplane programme’s three-decade era of human spaceflight. Liftoff of the Space Shuttle Atlantis took place at 17:29 CEST (15:29 GMT). Credits: NASA / KSC
“With today’s final launch of the space shuttle we turn the page on a remarkable period in America’s history in space, while beginning the next chapter in our nation’s extraordinary story of exploration,” Administrator Charles Bolden said. “Tomorrow’s destinations will inspire new generations of explorers, and the shuttle pioneers have made the next chapter of human spaceflight possible.”
The STS-135 crew consists of Ferguson, Pilot Doug Hurley, Mission Specialists Sandy Magnus and Rex Walheim. They will deliver the Raffaello multi-purpose logistics module filled with more than 8,000 pounds of supplies and spare parts to sustain space station operations after the shuttles are retired.
“The shuttle’s always going to be a reflection to what a great nation can do when it dares to be bold and commits to follow through,” Ferguson said shortly before liftoff. “We’re not ending the journey today…we’re completing a chapter of a journey that will never end.”
The mission includes flying the Robotic Refueling Mission, an experiment designed to demonstrate and test the tools, technologies and techniques needed for robotic refueling of satellites in space, even satellites not designed for servicing. The crew also will return with an ammonia pump that recently failed on the station. Engineers want to understand why the pump failed and improve designs for future spacecraft.
The Mission
Atlantis will dock after about 2 days with the orbital outpost on Sunday at 17:09 CEST (15:09 GMT) and the four new astronaut arrivals will float into the Station about two hours later where currently the ISS Expedition 28 crew consisting of two American and one Japanese astronauts and 3 Russian cosmonauts permanently live and work in space.
Atlantis is carrying the Italian-built Raffaello pressurized logistics module filled with vital supplies and spares. On the journey down, it will return a range of items to Earth. Also all the samples from the on-board MELFI freezers will be returned to Earth in thermally conditioned state for analysis by the scientists.
Raffaello will be berthed at the Node-2 port on Monday and, after unloading its precious cargo, it will be detached again on Sunday 17 July and put back by the Space Station robotic arm into the Shuttle cargo bay.
Two of the Shuttle astronauts will make a spacewalk on Tuesday 12 July to recover a Station ammonia pump that recently failed. It will be returned to Earth for engineers to probe the causes.
Atlantis will leave the Station again on Monday 18 July at 07:59 CEST (05:59 GMT).
The final Shuttle landing at the Kennedy Space Center is planned for Wednesday 20 July at 13:06 CEST (11:06 GMT).
STS-135 is the 135th shuttle flight, the 33rd flight for Atlantis and the 37th shuttle mission dedicated to station assembly and maintenance. NASA’s Web coverage of STS-135 includes mission information, a press kit, interactive features, news conference images, graphics and videos.
Mission Coverage
Mission coverage, including the latest NASA Television schedule, is available on the main space shuttle website.
NASA is providing continuous television and Internet coverage of the mission. NASA TV features live mission events, daily status news conferences and 24-hour commentary. For NASA TV streaming video, downlink and schedule information.
Live updates to the NASA News Twitter feed will be added throughout
the mission and landing.
All four of Atlantis’ crew members are posting updates to Twitter. You can follow them at:
Christopher Ferguson
Douglas Hurley
Sandy Magnus
Rex J. Walheim
Connect with NASA on Twitter and other social networking sites
More information about space shuttle Atlantis’ STS-135 mission.
More information about the space station.
European Space Agency’s Tribute To The Space Shuttle.
Filed under: Manned Space Flight
I think society gets so caught up in its own present worries it dampens people's optimistic views of the future. Unfortunately, "news" doesn't 'sell' if it's not horrible so a lot of this good stuff goes by the wayside.
It's left to specialty magazines like Popular Science, and Air & Space to do these 'special interest' stories which is unfortunate because I think they are truly mainstream stories!
Here are some MORE neat space things happening!
Space "tourism" is already underway. Private citizens have hitched space rides to the (now defunct) Russian space station as well as the international space station. Scaled Composites
(winner of the 10 million dollar X-Prize for being the 1st privately funded company to place a man in space) along with a handful of other companies is planning to offer sub orbital (and later orbital) 'rides' into space for anyone willing to pay (and they have orders already).
Reuters is a company that has plans to open the first hotel in space says it's goal is to have its first paying guests by 2012.
Future plans by various start up companies include expansion of this tourism industry to include trips to the moon!
Spaceport America now being built in New Mexico is the first privately funded space launching facility to be constructed.
The real barrier to space has always been Earth's gravity well. It takes so much brute force to get anything into and beyond earth orbit! Over 90% of a rocket's fuel is spent just getting a payload to Earth orbit. From there it's easy to go to the Moon, Mars or anywhere in the solar system.
For space tourism and space exploration to really take off, we must find a much cheaper way to get into orbit. Things are looking hopeful here too!
The US Air Force's experimental scram jet X-51a Waverider offers promise as theoretically it (or a next generation scramjet) could boost a payload (with a much much smaller rocket) into orbit much more efficiently because, unlike a rocket, a scramjet doesn't have to carry it's own oxidizer for the fuel it burns.
Another promising technology (although farther away) is development of the so called "Space
which is literally an elevator that reaches all the way into Earth orbit! It would take incredibly long and STRONG tethers but new materials research says that nanotubes (20 times tougher than steel)would be strong enough.
Another promising technology in the works is the so called "Magnetoplasma Rocket" which could cut a journey from Earth to Mars to just 39 days (instead of the 6-9 months it now takes).
When all of this comes together, you will not only start to see interplanetary exploration, you might be the one going!