STS-135 - The Final Space Shuttle Mission

Cosimo · 12 Jun 2011 at 12:05

Edit: Landing is set for Thursday 21 July at 10:56 BST (05:56 EDT).

Edit: We are now set to go Friday 8 July at 16:26 BST (11:26 EDT).

After thirty years of space shuttle missions STS-135 is the final mission. It will be the 33rd and final flight for space shuttle Atlantis.

Space shuttle Atlantis' 12-day mission to the International Space Station will deliver the Raffaello multi-purpose logistics module filled with supplies and spare parts to sustain station operations once the shuttles are retired. The mission also will fly the Robotic Refueling Mission (RRM), an experiment designed to demonstrate and test the tools, technologies and techniques needed to robotically refuel satellites in space, even satellites not designed to be serviced. The crew also will return an ammonia pump that recently failed on the station. Engineers want to understand why the pump failed and improve designs for future spacecraft.

The final launch is targeted for launch on Friday, 8th of July at 12:06 BST (07:06 EDT).

Here is where to watch it:

The new NASA TV link

NASA TV in HD on UStream

The Spaceflight Now link

Another 1200kbps stream

Mission information:

STS-135: Mission Summary

STS-135: Atlantis Fact Sheet

Atlantis leaves the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) for the last time:

On its six hour journey from the VAB to the pad:

Atlantis secured at launch pad 39A:

Join me in following this historic mission and looking back at the space shuttle era.

Fireskull · 12 Jun 2011 at 12:13

I will hopefully be on holiday in Florida during the launch so will be watching! Have applied for tickets for the NASA viewpoints but so have probably millions of others

Marine Iguana · 12 Jun 2011 at 12:15

Sweet

Combat squirrel · 12 Jun 2011 at 12:37

ITS THE FINAL COUNTDOWN !!! NERRR NERRR NER, NER NE NE NE NERRRR

Sorry had that in my head, Sad face though

the shuttle is awesome and id like to own one, haha, as ever shall be following this, it seems so strange now there is only a 4 person crew, and when Orion flys I bet it will be 1 or 2 people only at 1st to test it, I wish developing space tech didnt take so long

PermaBanned · 12 Jun 2011 at 13:54

I think there is a four person crew because it means that, if worst comes to worst, they can use a Soyuz for emergency evac rather than having another shuttle ready to go in a reasonable amount of time (even though that is a contingency that thankfully has never happened).

nutcase · 12 Jun 2011 at 14:26

Sad to see

Glad I managed to see a launch (albeit from a distance) year before last. I doubt any future craft will hold the same fascination. The Apollo missions were the first real space flights, but the shuttle made it feel like real achievement.

PermaBanned · 12 Jun 2011 at 14:33

nutcase_1uk said:
Sad to see Glad I managed to see a launch (albeit from a distance) year before last. I doubt any future craft will hold the same fascination. The Apollo missions were the first real space flights, but the shuttle made it feel like real achievement.

I wouldn't have said that, especially since the Russians essentially got all the firsts (satellite, man in space, spacewalk, first to the moon etc.) apart from that one. Still, it is a beautiful craft, one of humanities greatest achievements

Drake5 · 12 Jun 2011 at 14:37

Shame it's the last launch for this shuttle, but amazing non the less.

Greenlizard0 · 12 Jun 2011 at 14:51

Epic craft with such a history.

Any ideas as to what they're replacing it with?

PermaBanned · 12 Jun 2011 at 14:51

Greenlizard0 said:
Epic craft with such a history.

Any ideas as to what they're replacing it with?

A gaping funding gap?

Greenlizard0 · 12 Jun 2011 at 14:52

Oh right - are they bringing everybody home and leaving it up there?

Nikumba · 12 Jun 2011 at 14:52

I will be on holiday in Florida during the planned launch window, so will be going to see this, just so I can say I was there at the last shuttle launch

Kimbie

PermaBanned · 12 Jun 2011 at 14:57

Greenlizard0 said:
Oh right - are they bringing everybody home and leaving it up there?

No, manned transport to and from the station will be done on Russian Soyuz craft, which are essentially what they've been using since the beginning of time (and i believe what they were planning to go to the moon in):

Not completely relevant, i just think it's amazing that this was done during a time when the USA and Russia had thousands of nukes aimed at each other.

BlackDragon · 12 Jun 2011 at 15:20

Greenlizard0 said:
Epic craft with such a history.

Any ideas as to what they're replacing it with?

Last I heard it should be the Orion spacecraft. It's a long way off completion and I think Nasa are paying Russia to take things up to space for them. It's a bit disappointing that they couldn't have come up with something in time for the shuttle's retirement.

Metalface Mark · 12 Jun 2011 at 15:35

PermaBanned said:
I wouldn't have said that, especially since the Russians essentially got all the firsts (satellite, man in space, spacewalk, first to the moon etc.) apart from that one. Still, it is a beautiful craft, one of humanities greatest achievements

No offense, but the Russians got a few firsts, the Americans got most of them.

First docking in space, first docking of two manned craft in space, first vehicle in space with no return, first landing on another planet, first return of samples, etc etc etc. The russians were only ahead for a short space of time after which from Gemini onwards they were second to everything.

The Russians didnt do anything the americans couldnt, they just had a chief designer who was prepared to take risks, Von Braun also wanted to take risks but was not allowed.

PermaBanned · 12 Jun 2011 at 17:19

I don't know, the Soyuz crafts of the time were so much more advanced than the Apollo modules, and Buran had a ton of technical advantages over the shuttle, but you're right - and it's strange how different things could have played out if Sergei hadn't died when he did.

Spook187 · 12 Jun 2011 at 17:24

BlackDragon said:
Last I heard it should be the Orion spacecraft. It's a long way off completion and I think Nasa are paying Russia to take things up to space for them. It's a bit disappointing that they couldn't have come up with something in time for the shuttle's retirement.

Would that be for all payloads including military aswell.

BlackDragon · 12 Jun 2011 at 17:47

Spook187 said:
Would that be for all payloads including military aswell.

I think it is just that manned trips into space will be done using Russia's spacecraft.

I imagine NASA can launch everything else into space with its own rockets.

Metalface Mark · 12 Jun 2011 at 19:29

PermaBanned said:
I don't know, the Soyuz crafts of the time were so much more advanced than the Apollo modules, and Buran had a ton of technical advantages over the shuttle, but you're right - and it's strange how different things could have played out if Sergei hadn't died when he did.

The Soyuz was nothing near as advanced as Apollo, prior the Apollo Soyuz test project in 1975 the Americans assumed they would be able to learn some new things but there was really nothing, Apollo outshined the Soyuz of the time by quite some distance.

Thats the whole thing though, its quite possible if he hadnt died then they would have got to the moon first too, if the first Soyuz hadnt had the problem it did theres every chance Leonov would have gone round the moon on the next flight.

The technical differences are shown up quite well in Dave Scott and Alexei Leonov's book, Two Sides of the Moon, its a great read, ive read every astronaut autobiography and it was one of the few that let me learn some new things I hadnt heard before. Another is the revision of Walt Cunningham's autobiography, its the most technical of all the books.

PermaBanned · 12 Jun 2011 at 20:00

Metalface Mark said:
The Soyuz was nothing near as advanced as Apollo, prior the Apollo Soyuz test project in 1975 the Americans assumed they would be able to learn some new things but there was really nothing, Apollo outshined the Soyuz of the time by quite some distance.

And yet the Soyuz had more room and more advanced instruments, including a computer.

Ultimately, wasn't your initial question about Apollo v Shuttle? I think it comes down to the Shuttle being reusable, and thus a lot cheaper per launch than Apollo. In 135 missions what, five fully functional Shuttles have had to be built? With the SRBs being used on quite a few missions each. Each Apollo mission not only required a brand new CMD, LM (or whatever additional module was required) and ablative reentry heatshield, but also an entire Saturn V rocket. I think the price difference is somewhat monumental.