The Explorers' Club, № MLXXVII

Operation AXIOM: The Space Age—The 40th Anniversary of the Space Shuttle Atlantis
6 March 1985: The Space Shuttle Atlantis OV-104 rolled out of the North American Rockwell factory in Palmdale, California; she flew thirty-three missions from 1985-2011, launching the Magellan (to Venus) & Galileo (to Jupiter) interplanetary probes, launching the Compton Gamma Ray Observatory & servicing the Hubble Space Telescope, & flying the final flight of the Space Shuttle, S.T.S.-135.

Commentary: The Atlantis was the last Orbiter of the original Space Shuttle fleet; the sixth & final Orbiter, the Endeavour, was not commissioned until 1991, six years later. The Atlantis has been on display at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex since the retirement of the fleet in 2011.

Bonus! Space Age Song o' the Day: The Space Shuttle Atlantis
Super Boat Warp, "Farewell Atlantis" from the Fire All Weapons! E.P. (Space Cadet Mike Papa Whiskey)

Semper exploro.