Space Shuttle Atlantis On Its Last Mission
May 15th, 2010 - 6:42 pm ICT by GDBy Ranjan Bhaduri
Florida, May 15, (THAINDIAN NEWS) NASA’s famous space shuttle Atlantis set off for what is supposedly its last space voyage yesterday at the Kennedy Space Center of Florida around afternoon. A large crowd gathered on the nearby roads and they waited for the massive rockets to launch the shuttle into the sky. The weather was quite nice with a clear sky and no possibility of rain or lightening. Everything went as planned and the launch took place successfully. This time the space shuttle has 6 astronauts including the pilot on board and they are on a 12 day long mission. All of them including the pilot Tony Antonelli are veteran space flight astronauts.
In its 25 year long history Atlantis has taken over 200 astronauts into space and played a pivotal role in NASA’s space research and exploration. The shuttle is going to reach the International Space Station. The space shuttle may also undertake two more space journeys but if they do happen these will be in 2010 itself. After that NASA will not press the shuttle into service any more. After this year NASA will keep it in the museum in all likelihood. The shuttle launch director of NASA, Mike Leinbach encouraged the mission crew before the take off and said they should enjoy the flight.
The shuttle launched into the orbit without any hiccup yesterday and the main engines were shut off after a few minutes of the launch as planned. It would dock with the ISS possibly on the third day of the mission. The US government and NASA are keen to build new space shuttles with more capabilities in future.
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- Atlantis docks for last time with International Space Station - Jul 11, 2011
- NASA sets farewell shuttle launch July 8 - Jun 29, 2011
- NASA final shuttle launch scheduled for July 8 - May 21, 2011
- Atlantis docks with space station one last time - Jul 10, 2011
- Atlantis' landing ends final mission after 30 years of space shuttle era - Jul 21, 2011
- NASA calls off Endeavour launch attempt due to technical problem - Apr 30, 2011
- Atlantis takes off for final flight to space station - May 15, 2010
- North Carolina astronaut to board NASA's next space shuttle flight - Apr 28, 2010
- Shuttle Atlantis returns safely to end its last mission - May 26, 2010
- Shuttle Discovery heads to International Space Station on its final mission - Feb 25, 2011
- NASA's Space Shuttle Atlantis lifts off on final voyage - May 15, 2010
- NASA's space shuttle Endeavour ends final mission - Jun 01, 2011
- Atlantis starts home journey - May 23, 2010
- NASA transfers shuttle Discovery to museum - Apr 20, 2012
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