STS-135: Final Space Flight By Atlantis Space Shuttle On 28 June

NASA's STS 135 will be the last flight by space shuttle Atlantis and it will be on June 28, 2011. The Atlantis is one of the three operational space shuttles NASA has, the other two being 'Discovery' & 'Endeavor'. The Atlantis has already done over 5200 round the Earth trips with over 120 million miles in flight. The STS -135 would add 5 million miles to Atlantis' credit. Apart from engineering, it's going to be the NASA's budget that will finally decide whether Atlantis takes off for its final flight. The Atlantis was scheduled to retire in 2010 with the end of the space program. However, it was decided to use it for one more flight because of economic reasons. If everything goes right as per the plan, the shuttle will take off exactly on 28 June 2011 at 15:38 hours from the Kennedy Space Center.


Atlantis SA 135

STS-135 plans to take Atlantis in space for 12 days accompanied by ET-138 (an external tank) in order to minimize chances of foam loss. NASA announced STS 135 crew in September 2010 as follows:

Commander: Christopher Ferguson (Third spaceflight)
Pilot: Douglas Hurley (Second spaceflight)
Mission Specialist 1: Sandra Magnus (Third spaceflight)
Mission Specialist 2: Rex Walheim (Third spaceflight)