Space Shuttle Atlantis Has Landed, Ending an Era

SCIENCE -- July 21, 2011 at 5:15 AM EDT

Space Shuttle Atlantis Has Landed, Ending an Era

Commander Chris Ferguson controlled the spacecraft as it entered the earth's atmosphere, traversing over Central America and to the east of the Yucatan Peninsula. It then passed over the Caribbean Sea and near Western Cuba before moving into the Florida airspace over Naples and touching down on the Kennedy Space Center's three-mile runway.

The shuttle rolled a stop at 5:57 am ET. It was the 135th and final mission of NASA's shuttle program.

Moments later, NASA tweeted this:

Atlantis landed at NASA's Kennedy Space Center after 200 orbits around Earth and a journey of 5,284,862 miles on STS-135less than a minute ago via web Favorite Retweet ReplyNASA
NASA

And then this:

It was the 25th night landing, the 78th landing at Kennedy and the133rd landing in shuttle history.less than a minute ago via web Favorite Retweet ReplyNASA
NASA

We take a look back at the history and milestones of the shuttle era below:

Atlantis undocked from the International Space Station on Tuesday. During its 13-day mission, the shuttle hauled 8,000 pounds -- a year's worth of food and supplies -- to the International Space Station, including filter tanks, clothes, water sampling kits, a power unit and laptop computers. The crew also delivered a 650-pound module equipped with tools designed for refueling orbiting satellites.

Judy Woodruff spoke on the day that Atlantis launched with science correspondent Miles O'Brien on shuttle Atlantis, the space community and the legacy of the program. And Ray Suarez discussed NASA's future and space exploration in the post shuttle era with Miles, former astronaut Mae Jemison and former NASA official Eric Sterner.

Atlantis will soon enter retirement, taking up residence alongside shuttles Endeavour and Discovery in museums around the country. Private companies like Boeing and SpaceX are expected to eventually step in to ferry humans to and from low-earth orbit.

Earlier this month, science correspondent Miles O'Brien reflected back on his near 20-year career covering 41 space shuttle launches in an interview with Hari Sreenivasan. You can also view the shuttle's launch here.

Correction: An earlier version of this post incorrectly identified the number of NASA space shuttle missions.

Beginning October 24, 2012, PBS NewsHour will allow open commenting for all registered users. We hope that the elimination of our moderation process will enable a more organic discussion amongst you, our audience. However, if a commenter violates our terms of use or abuses the commenting forum, their comment will be removed. We reserve the right to remove posts that do not follow these basic guidelines: comments must be relevant to the topic of the post; may not include profanity, personal attacks or hate speech; may not promote a business or raise money; may not be spam. Anything you post should be your own work. The PBS NewsHour reserves the right to read on the air and/or publish on its website or in any medium now known or unknown the comments or emails that we receive. By submitting comments, you agree to the PBS Terms of Use and Privacy Policy, which include more details.

Space Shuttle Atlantis and her four-member crew landed just before sunrise this morning, marking the historic final landing of the space shuttle program and closing out the shuttle era's 30 years of manned spaceflight. Commander Chris Ferguson controlled the spacecraft as it entered the earth's atmosphere, traversing over Central America and to the east of the Yucatan Peninsula. It then passed over the Caribbean Sea and near Western Cuba before moving into the Florida airspace over Naples and touching down on the Kennedy Space Center's three-mile runway.
The shuttle rolled a stop at 5:57 am ET. It was the 135th and final mission of NASA's shuttle program. Moments later, NASA tweeted this:

Atlantis landed at NASA's Kennedy Space Center after 200 orbits around Earth and a journey of 5,284,862 miles on STS-135less than a minute ago via web Favorite Retweet ReplyNASA
NASA

And then this:

It was the 25th night landing, the 78th landing at Kennedy and the133rd landing in shuttle history.less than a minute ago via web Favorite Retweet ReplyNASA
NASA

We take a look back at the history and milestones of the shuttle era below:
Atlantis undocked from the International Space Station on Tuesday. During its 13-day mission, the shuttle hauled 8,000 pounds -- a year's worth of food and supplies -- to the International Space Station, including filter tanks, clothes, water sampling kits, a power unit and laptop computers. The crew also delivered a 650-pound module equipped with tools designed for refueling orbiting satellites. Judy Woodruff [spoke on the day that Atlantis launched](http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/science/july-dec11/shuttle_07-08.html) with science correspondent Miles O'Brien on shuttle Atlantis, the space community and the legacy of the program. And Ray Suarez discussed NASA's future and space exploration in the post shuttle era with Miles, former astronaut Mae Jemison and former NASA official Eric Sterner. Atlantis will soon enter retirement, taking up residence alongside shuttles Endeavour and Discovery in museums around the country. Private companies like Boeing and SpaceX are expected to eventually step in to ferry humans to and from low-earth orbit. Earlier this month, science correspondent Miles O'Brien reflected back on his near 20-year career covering 41 space shuttle launches in an [interview ](http://www.pbs.org/newshour/rundown/2011/07/miles-obrien-readies-for-his-last-shuttle-launch.html)with Hari Sreenivasan. You can also view the shuttle's launch [here](http://www.pbs.org/newshour/rundown/2011/07/watch-live-atlantis-launch-1126-am-et.html). *Correction: An earlier version of this post incorrectly identified the number of NASA space shuttle missions.*