Ten years ago to the day, 21 July 2011, the Space Shuttle Atlantis O.V.-104 landed at Florida's Kennedy Space Center, concluding S.T.S.-135, the final flight of the Space Shuttle program. CDR Christopher Ferguson, Pilot Doug Hurley, Mission Specialist 1 Sandra Magnus, & Mission Specialist 2 Rex Walheim ferried the Raffaello Multi-Purpose Logistics Module to & from the International Space Station, delivery supplies & hauling away refuse.
S.T.S.-135 launched on 8 July 2011, the last time a manned spacecraft would lift off from the United States until the launch of the Crew Dragon Endeavour C206 on30 May 2020, the beginning of the SpaceX Demo-2 mission. That nearly nine-year gap between liftoffs was the longest since Alan Shepard became the first American in space on 5 May 1961. At the time, I was disconsolate, my despair masked by inarticulate rage. President Obama had increased N.A.S.A.'s budget, but cancelled the Constellation Program & retired the Shuttle fleet; Constellation's replacement, the Space Launch System (S.L.S.), would not be announced until September 2011, & still has not flown a single piece of hardware as of this writing. (Artemis I, the uncrewed test flight of the S.L.S. rocket, is scheduled for launch in November 2021.) The future of American manned spaceflight looked bleak, & remained uncertain for years.
The Space Shuttle Atlantis landed, concluding S.T.S.-135, the final flight of the Space Shuttle, ten years ago today, 21 July 2011.
Bonus! Space Age Song o' the Day: S.T.S.-135
They Might Be Giants, "The End of the Tour" from John Henry (Space Cadet Mike Papa Whiskey)
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