International

Atlantis came back to home forever

FLORIDA: The 30-year-old American space shuttle programme calling to an end- Space shuttle Atlantis returned to Earth on Thursday finally at the Kennedy Space Centre in Florida. Now the Atlantis will remain at Kennedy Space Centre, where it will be displayed at the visitors’ complex.

Consisting four crew members, Atlantis spent 13 days in orbit restocking the International Space centre for a year, with several tons of supplies.
According to sources, it has been an incredible and fantastic journey for manned space explorations – it is truly an end of an era.

Commander of Atlantis, Chris Ferguson says, “To the Expedition 28 crew, again, thank you very much for your hospitality, on behalf of the 135 crew.”

Now the US will have to rely on Russia’s Soyuz capsules to send astronauts to space until future spacecraft take over. Twin sonic booms were heard over Florida moments before the shuttle glided home to perfect summer weather.

The shuttle disengaged from the space station on Monday. But before they departed, the Atlantis crew joined the ISS team for a farewell ceremony.

The shuttle’s final landing was an emotional moment for those who worked on the programme.

“We’ve known that the shuttle programme is going to be shut down since 2004, but obviously it truly will be the last day of work,” said NASA spokesman Allard Beutel.

Ron Garan Jr., International Space Station (ISS) Engineer, says: “Well thanks, Fergie, it’s been an honour having you guys on board.”

The astronauts have left behind a historic US flag and a commemorative shuttle model to mark the end of the 30-year space shuttle era.

Atlantis alone has made 33 flights, carried 191 space fliers, spent 307 days in orbit, circled Earth 4,848 times and travelled 125,935,769 miles.

Show More

Related Articles

Back to top button

Adblock Detected

Please consider supporting us by disabling your ad blocker