CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — Atlantis and four astronauts rocketed into orbit Friday on NASA's last space shuttle voyage, dodging bad weather and delighting hundreds of thousands of spectators on hand to witness the end of an era. It will be at least three years -- possibly five or more -- before astronauts launch again from U.S. soil, and so this final journey of the shuttle era packed in crowds and roused emotions on a scale not seen since the Apollo moon shots.
After days of gloomy forecasts full of rain and heavy cloud cover, the spaceship lifted off at 11:29 a.m. (1529 GMT) -- just 2 1/2 minutes late -- thundering away on the 135th shuttle mission 30 years and three months after the very first flight. The four experienced space fliers rode Atlantis from the same pad used more than a generation ago by the Apollo astronauts.
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Some of Canada's contribution to the Space Shuttle Atlantis:
July 8 to 20, 2011 (11 :26 a.m. EDT)
Mission STS-135 will mark a turning point in space history as Shuttle Atlantis performs the last flight of the Space Shuttle Program. Atlantis will launch from the Kennedy Space Center with four astronauts on board.
The 12-day mission to the International Space Station will deliver the Raffaello multi-purpose logistics module containing supplies, logistics and spare parts. During this mission, Dextre will receive a payload to demonstrate the potential for refueling spacecraft robotically in flight. The TriDAR technology, the science experiment Hypersole as well as the education project Tomatosphere will also be carried aboard the Shuttle.
The Canadarm will be retired after 30 years of service to the Space Shuttle Program when STS-135 is complete.
Mission
Mission Overview
Fast Facts
Canada's contribution
Robotics
Technology
Science
Education
http://www.asc-csa.gc.ca/eng/missions/sts-135/default.asp?open&fromICslide=yes
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