it's true! I remember as I kid I aspired to be an astronaut.. It didn't happen but eh.. What do kids aspire to be these days!
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- Atlantis and four astronauts returned from the International Space Station in triumph Thursday, bringing an end to NASA's 30-year shuttle journey with one last, rousing touchdown that drew cheers and tears.
Thousands gathered near the landing strip and packed Kennedy Space Center, and countless others watched from afar, as NASA's longest-running space flight program came to a close.
"After serving the world for over 30 years, the space shuttle's earned its place in history. And it's come to a final stop," commander Christopher Ferguson radioed.
"Job well done, America," replied Mission Control.
With the space shuttles retiring to museums, it will be another three to five years at best before Americans are launched again from U.S. soil, as private companies gear up to seize the Earth-to-orbit-and-back baton from NASA.
The long-term future for American space exploration is just as hazy -- a huge concern for many at NASA and all those losing their jobs because of the shuttle's end. Asteroids and Mars are the destinations of choice, but NASA has yet to settle on a rocket design to get astronauts there.
Thursday, though, belonged to Atlantis and its crew: Ferguson, copilot Douglas Hurley, Rex Walheim and Sandra Magnus, who completed a resupply mission to the International Space Station.
Atlantis touched down at 5:57 a.m., with wheels-stop less than a minute later.
"The space shuttle has changed the way we view the world, and it's changed the way we view our universe," Ferguson radioed from Atlantis. "There's a lot of emotion today, but one thing's indisputable. America's not going to stop exploring."
For the landing, there wasn't nearly the hoopla that surrounded Atlantis' launch July 8 -- when an estimated 1 million people packed the Cape Canaveral area. The darkness robbed virtually all views of the approaching shuttle.
Still, Atlantis was greeted with cheers, whistles and shouts from the record 2,000 who had gathered near the runway -- astronauts' families and friends, as well as shuttle managers and NASA brass.
"The things that we've done have set us up for exploration of the future," said NASA Administrator Charles Bolden Jr., a former shuttle commander. "But I don't want to talk about that right now. I just want to salute this crew, welcome them home."
It was the 135th mission for the space shuttle fleet, which altogether flew 542 million miles and circled Earth 21,152 times in the past three decades. The five shuttles carried 355 people from 16 countries, and spent 1,333 days in space -- almost four years.
Two vehicles and their crews lost in 30 years. Definitely a loss but exploration comes with a price. I don't think any of those involved would choose differently if they could.
On January 28, 1986, Challenger disintegrated 73 seconds after launch due to the failure of the right SRB, killing all seven astronauts on board. The disaster was caused by low-temperature impairment of an O-ring, a mission critical seal used between segments of the SRB casing. The failure of a lower O-ring seal allowed hot combustion gases to escape from between the booster sections and burn through the adjacent external tank, causing it to disintegrate. Repeated warnings from design engineers voicing concerns about the lack of evidence of the O-rings' safety when the temperature was below 53 °F (12 °C) had been ignored by NASA managers.
STS-51-L crew:
* Francis R. Scobee—Mission Commander
* Michael J. Smith—Pilot
* Gregory B. Jarvis—Payload Specialist 1
* Christa McAuliffe—Payload Specialist 2
* Judith A. Resnik—Mission Specialist 1
* Ellison S. Onizuka—Mission Specialist 2
* Ronald E. McNair—Mission Specialist 3
On February 1, 2003, Columbia disintegrated during re-entry, killing its crew of seven, because of damage to the carbon-carbon leading edge of the wing caused during launch. Ground control engineers had made three separate requests for high-resolution images taken by the Department of Defense that would have provided an understanding of the extent of the damage, while NASA's chief thermal protection system (TPS) engineer requested that astronauts on board Columbia be allowed to leave the vehicle to inspect the damage. NASA managers intervened to stop the Department of Defense's assistance and refused the request for the spacewalk, and thus the feasibility of scenarios for astronaut repair or rescue by Atlantis were not considered by NASA management at the time
* Commander: Rick D. Husband, a U.S. Air Force colonel and mechanical engineer, who piloted a previous shuttle during the first docking with the International Space Station (STS-96).
* Pilot: William C. McCool, a U.S. Navy commander
* Payload Commander: Michael P. Anderson, a U.S. Air Force lieutenant colonel and physicist who was in charge of the science mission.
* Payload Specialist: Ilan Ramon, a colonel in the Israeli Air Force and the first Israeli astronaut.
* Mission Specialist: Kalpana Chawla, an Indian-born aerospace engineer was on her second space mission.
* Mission Specialist: David M. Brown, a U.S. Navy captain trained as an aviator and flight surgeon. Brown worked on a number of scientific experiments.
* Mission Specialist: Laurel Clark, a U.S. Navy captain and flight surgeon. Clark worked on a number of biological experiments.
Although I'm sure mismanagement from NASA they'd probably change. Both of those accidents could have been prevented.
