This past week, something happened that I knew was coming, but I still wasn’t ready for. The Space Shuttle made its final flight. When Atlantis landed at Kennedy Space Center for the last time, it quietly brought to a close a program that had been part of my entire life. It’s strange how something can be so constant, so familiar, and then suddenly… it’s history.
I am going to miss the Space Shuttle. In my opinion it was the coolest spaceship we have ever created. From the cargo bay doors, to it looking like an airplane, to the awesome images of it in space, to each and every launch… all were incredible to behold.
It is hard to let go.
My generation is the generation of the Space Shuttle. We have really never known life without it. I remember the first launch. I remember watching the first accident take place on TV when I was in high school. I also remember more hopeful moments, like watching a documentary on the Shuttle’s mission to repair the Hubble Space Telescope—watching astronauts fix something in orbit so we could see deeper into space than ever before.
And now it’s over.
The final mission, Atlantis on STS-135, launched on July 8, 2011. It wasn’t sent up to deploy some new telescope or carry a massive new piece of the space station. Instead, it carried supplies—over 9,000 pounds of food, spare parts, and equipment inside the Raffaello logistics module. Those supplies helped sustain the International Space Station and the astronauts living there.
It also carried a robotic refueling module, technology designed to help extend the life of satellites already in orbit. Even on its last flight, the Shuttle was still helping build the future.
There were only four astronauts on board. Fewer than normal. And for the first time in many years, there was no rescue shuttle waiting on another launch pad. This was truly the last one.
When Atlantis landed for the final time on July 21, 2011, and rolled to a stop on the runway, it marked the end of thirty years of Shuttle missions.
Other than the accidents, which I wish would not have happened, it has been an exciting 30 years.
I wonder what the next space vehicle design will look like.
Will it look like an airplane again?
Or something completely different?
What do you think?
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