Final Launch, Space Shuttle History

The “sentimental journey into history” has lifted off, marking the last launch of the Atlantis, and the 135^th and final mission of America’s 30-year-old space shuttle program.

Here’s five things to know and remember as the space shuttle program ends its era of flight, drawn from the NASA website:

1. (MUCH) FASTER THAN A SPEEDING BULLET

The space shuttle is the fastest winged vehicle ever to fly. Its orbital velocity (17,500 miles per hour) is 10 times the speed of a high-powered rifle bullet.

2. REUSABLE

The space shuttle is the only winged vehicle to reach orbit and the only reusable space launch and landing vehicle.

3. MASSIVE LOADS

Space shuttles have taken into space more than half the mass of all payloads launched by all nations since Sputnik in 1957. Collectively shuttles have launched 3,450,143 pounds (through the 132^nd mission, and counting).

4. RETURN PAYLOADS

Even more dramatic, the shuttle returns payloads from space. Back from orbit, and through the 132^nd mission, the shuttle has carried 97 percent of all mass returned to earth, 225,574 pounds (through the 132nd mision).

5. HUMAN MATTERS

The shuttle program has launched 802 crew members, including the 14 astronauts who died on the Challenger (Jan. 28, 1986) and the Columbia (Feb. 1, 2003). Flying the final, and 135th mission of the space shuttle program, are Chris Ferguson, commander; Doug Hurley, pilot; and mission specialists Sandra Mangus and Rex Walheim. Liftoff for the 12-day mission is scheduled July 8, at 11:26 a.m., from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

John Young and Robert Crippen flew the first shuttle mission: Columbia lifted off from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida on April 14, 1981. It returned to earth, to the Edwards Air Force Base, two days, six hours, 20 minutes and 53 seconds later.