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| July 22, 2011 |
Space shuttle era ends with Atlantis
When Atlantis touched down yesterday at Cape Canaveral, Fla., the high-flying era of the space shuttles came down to earth as well. After 30 years, the shuttle program, which began on April 12, 1981 with Colombia, has ended with the 135th mission. Atlantis delivered the Raffaello multi-purpose logistics module packed with supplies and spare parts to the International Space Station, and retrieved a failed pump unit and other items for the return trip. Atlantis went aloft 33 times, logging over 125 million miles. The last shuttle will become a museum exhibit at the Kennedy Space Center. -- Lane Turner (41 photos total)

ATK engineers take a look at the company's final booster motor for the space shuttle program in Box Elder County, Utah. For more than 30 years, NASA's space shuttle program has been a cornerstone of Utah's economy. That era ended with Atlantis, which ends the shuttle program. The Salt Lake Tribune reports that it stops the flow of hundreds of millions of dollars that came to Utah from NASA for tests and construction of the solid-fuel rocket booster motors that launch the spacecraft into orbit. Gone, too, are thousands of jobs from Alliant Tech Systems, known as ATK, and other northern Utah companies that supported the industry. (Al Hartmann/The Salt Lake Tribune/AP) #

The nose of Atlantis in Earth orbit is seen during a Rendezvous Pitch Maneuver, or back flip to enable space station crew members to take high resolution digital pictures of the shuttle's heat shield before docking for the last time with the International Space Station on July 10, 2011. (NASA via Getty Images) #

Astronaut Ronald Garan leaves the Quest airlock on the International Space Station during a planned six-and-a-half-hour spacewalk along with astronaut Mike Fossum on July 12, 2011. This is the 160th spacewalk devoted to station assembly and maintenance since construction began in 1998. (NASA via Getty Images) #

Astronaut Mike Fossum carries a Robotics Refueling Mission payload from Atlantis' cargo bay to a platform used by the space station's famous robot DEXTRE. Above on the far left, DEXTRE prepares to help move a failed space pump back to Atlantis. Visible behind the astronaut is the space station's Kibo Experimental Module. (HO/AFP/Getty Images) #
More links and information
Space Shuttle - NASA.gov
Space shuttle's science brought payoffs to earth - Guardian.co.uk, 7/18
The Shuttle Ends Its Final Voyage and an Era in Space - NYTimes.com, 7/21




































