NASA's space shuttle fleet began setting records with its first launch on April 12, 1981, and continued to set high marks of achievement and endurance through 30 years of missions. Starting with Columbia and continuing with Challenger, Discovery, Atlantis and Endeavour, the spacecraft has carried people into orbit repeatedly, launched, recovered and repaired satellites, conducted cutting-edge research and built the largest structure in space, the International Space Station. The final space shuttle mission, STS-135, ended July 21, 2011, when Atlantis rolled to a stop at its home port, NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
I am sad to see the shuttle missions come to an end. It has been an exciting part of my life for 30 years. I will miss it!
Photo Above:
Space Shuttle Discovery, mounted atop a NASA 747 Shuttle Carrier Aircraft, makes its way past Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport on today in Arlington, VA. (Photo by NASA/Bill Ingalls.)
I really, really, really wish I had taken this photograph!!!!
This is my photograph. It was taken on August 28, 2009, at 11:59 p.m. when Discovery was blasting off from the Kennedy Space Center.
