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KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, Fla. -- In the waning light after sunset, Endeavour’s main gear touches down on Runway 15 at the Shuttle Landing Facility at 6:03 p.m. EST. At the controls is Commander Brent Jett, completing the successful 10-day, 19-hour and 58-minute-long STS-97 mission. Other crew members on board are Pilot Michael Bloomfield and Mission Specialists Joseph Tanner, Carlos Noriega and Marc Garneau of Canada. On the 4.4-million-mile mission, Endeavour carried the P6 Integrated Truss Structure with solar arrays to power the International Space Station. The arrays and other equipment were installed during three EVAs that totaled 19 hours, 20 minutes. Endeavour was docked with the Space Station for 6 days, 23 hours, 13 minutes. This is the 16th nighttime landing for a Space Shuttle and the 53rd at Kennedy Space Center KSC-00pp1874
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- Space shuttle Atlantis backs through the open door of Orbiter Processing Facility-2 on its move to the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Atlantis will be stored temporarily in the VAB while transition and retirement processing resumes on shuttle Endeavour in the processing hangar. Endeavour is being prepared for public display at the California Science Center in Los Angeles. A groundbreaking was held Jan. 18 for Atlantis' future home -- a 65,000-square-foot exhibit in Shuttle Plaza at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex. For additional information, visit http://www.nasa.gov/shuttle. Photo credit: NASA/Jim Grossmann KSC-2012-1090
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. – Space shuttle Discovery, mounted to a Shuttle Carrier Aircraft, flies over the Shuttle Landing Facility at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida after making a flyby of Cocoa Beach and Patrick Air Force Base. The duo is beginning its ferry flight to the Washington Dulles International Airport in Virginia that also includes a flyby of the Space Coast and Washington, D.C. Also flying along with the pair is a T-38 training jet. Discovery is leaving Kennedy after more than 28 years of service beginning with its arrival on the space coast Nov. 9, 1983. Discovery first launched to space Aug. 30, 1984, on the STS-41D mission. Discovery is the agency's most-flown shuttle with 39 missions, more than 148 million miles and a total of one year in space. Discovery is set to move to the Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center on April 19 where it will be placed on public display. For more information on the SCA, visit http://www.nasa.gov/centers/dryden/news/FactSheets/FS-013-DFRC.html. For more information on shuttle transition and retirement activities, visit http://www.nasa.gov/transition. Photo credit: NASA/Kenny Allen KSC-2012-2439
STS-124 landing, NASA Space Shuttle Landing Facility
KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. - The orbiter Atlantis rolls toward the open doors of the Vehicle Assembly Building after leaving the Orbiter Processing Facility. In the VAB, the orbiter will be lifted into high bay 3 for mating to the external fuel tank and solid rocket boosters. Atlantis' launch window begins Aug. 28. During its 11-day mission to the International Space Station, the STS-115 crew of six astronauts will install the Port 3/4 truss segment with its two large solar arrays. Photo credit: NASA/Jim Grossmann KSC-06pd1646
Space shuttle STS-135 Atlantis Landing
STS-131 - EOM - Public domain NASA photogrpaph
Space Shuttle Atlantis, STS-122 - EOM
STS-121 - EOM - Public domain NASA photogrpaph
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CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. – Space shuttle Atlantis is ready to roll out of the Orbiter Processing Facility bay 1 at NASA's Kennedy Space Center for transfer to the Vehicle Assembly Building. In the VAB, Atlantis will be attached to its external fuel tank and twin solid rocket boosters. After additional preparations are made, the shuttle will be rolled out to Launch Pad 39A to prepare for launch on the STS-125 mission targeted for Oct. 8. Photo credit: NASA/Jack Pfaller KSC-08pd2475
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. – After rollover from the Orbiter Processing Facility bay 1 at NASA's Kennedy Space Center, space shuttle Atlantis arrives in the transfer aisle of the Vehicle Assembly Building. The shuttle arrived in the VAB by 11:05 p.m. EDT. Atlantis will next be attached to its external fuel tank and twin solid rocket boosters. After additional preparations are made, the shuttle will be rolled out to Launch Pad 39A to prepare for launch on the STS-125 mission targeted for Oct. 8. Photo credit: NASA/Jack Pfaller KSC-08pd2482
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. – After rolling out of the Orbiter Processing Facility bay 1 at NASA's Kennedy Space Center, space shuttle Atlantis rolls to the Vehicle Assembly Building. In the VAB, Atlantis will be attached to its external fuel tank and twin solid rocket boosters. After additional preparations are made, the shuttle will be rolled out to Launch Pad 39A to prepare for launch on the STS-125 mission targeted for Oct. 8. Photo credit: NASA/Jack Pfaller KSC-08pd2480
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. – After rolling out of the Orbiter Processing Facility bay 1 at NASA's Kennedy Space Center, space shuttle Atlantis rolls to the Vehicle Assembly Building. In the VAB, Atlantis will be attached to its external fuel tank and twin solid rocket boosters. After additional preparations are made, the shuttle will be rolled out to Launch Pad 39A to prepare for launch on the STS-125 mission targeted for Oct. 8. Photo credit: NASA/Jack Pfaller KSC-08pd2479
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. – Space shuttle Atlantis rolls out of the Orbiter Processing Facility bay 1 at NASA's Kennedy Space Center for transfer to the Vehicle Assembly Building. In the VAB, Atlantis will be attached to its external fuel tank and twin solid rocket boosters. After additional preparations are made, the shuttle will be rolled out to Launch Pad 39A to prepare for launch on the STS-125 mission targeted for Oct. 8. Photo credit: NASA/Jack Pfaller KSC-08pd2476
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. – Space shuttle Atlantis rolls out of the Orbiter Processing Facility bay 1 at NASA's Kennedy Space Center for transfer to the Vehicle Assembly Building. In the VAB, Atlantis will be attached to its external fuel tank and twin solid rocket boosters. After additional preparations are made, the shuttle will be rolled out to Launch Pad 39A to prepare for launch on the STS-125 mission targeted for Oct. 8. Photo credit: NASA/Jack Pfaller KSC-08pd2477
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. – Space shuttle Atlantis rolls into the Vehicle Assembly Building at NASA's Kennedy Space Center. The shuttle arrived in the VAB by 11:05 p.m. EDT. Atlantis will next be attached to its external fuel tank and twin solid rocket boosters. After additional preparations are made, the shuttle will be rolled out to Launch Pad 39A to prepare for launch on the STS-125 mission targeted for Oct. 8. Photo credit: NASA/Jack Pfaller KSC-08pd2481
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. – In the Vehicle Assembly Building transfer aisle at NASA's Kennedy Space Center, an overhead crane attached to space shuttle Atlantis lifts the shuttle from its transporter. Atlantis will be lifted to vertical for transfer to high bay 3 to be stacked with its external fuel tank and twin solid rocket boosters. After additional preparations are made, the shuttle will be rolled out to Launch Pad 39A to prepare for launch on the STS-125 mission targeted for Oct. 8. Photo credit: NASA/Jack Pfaller KSC-08pd2486
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. – In the Vehicle Assembly Building transfer aisle at NASA's Kennedy Space Center, workers detach space shuttle Atlantis from its transporter. An overhead crane will lift Atlantis to vertical for transfer to high bay 3 to be stacked with its external fuel tank and twin solid rocket boosters. After additional preparations are made, the shuttle will be rolled out to Launch Pad 39A to prepare for launch on the STS-125 mission targeted for Oct. 8. Photo credit: NASA/Jack Pfaller KSC-08pd2484
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. – After rolling out of the Orbiter Processing Facility bay 1 at NASA's Kennedy Space Center, space shuttle Atlantis begins the short transfer to the Vehicle Assembly Building. In the VAB, Atlantis will be attached to its external fuel tank and twin solid rocket boosters. After additional preparations are made, the shuttle will be rolled out to Launch Pad 39A to prepare for launch on the STS-125 mission targeted for Oct. 8. Photo credit: NASA/Jack Pfaller KSC-08pd2478
Summary
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. – After rolling out of the Orbiter Processing Facility bay 1 at NASA's Kennedy Space Center, space shuttle Atlantis begins the short transfer to the Vehicle Assembly Building. In the VAB, Atlantis will be attached to its external fuel tank and twin solid rocket boosters. After additional preparations are made, the shuttle will be rolled out to Launch Pad 39A to prepare for launch on the STS-125 mission targeted for Oct. 8. Photo credit: NASA/Jack Pfaller
The Space Shuttle program was the United States government's manned launch vehicle program from 1981 to 2011, administered by NASA and officially beginning in 1972. The Space Shuttle system—composed of an orbiter launched with two reusable solid rocket boosters and a disposable external fuel tank— carried up to eight astronauts and up to 50,000 lb (23,000 kg) of payload into low Earth orbit (LEO). When its mission was complete, the orbiter would re-enter the Earth's atmosphere and lands as a glider. Although the concept had been explored since the late 1960s, the program formally commenced in 1972 and was the focus of NASA's manned operations after the final Apollo and Skylab flights in the mid-1970s. It started with the launch of the first shuttle Columbia on April 12, 1981, on STS-1. and finished with its last mission, STS-135 flown by Atlantis, in July 2011.
Space Shuttle Atlantis was a space shuttle that was operated by NASA as part of the Space Shuttle program. It was the fourth operational shuttle built, and the last one to be built before the program was retired in 2011. Atlantis was named after the first research vessel operated by the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, and it made its first flight in October 1985. Over the course of its career, Atlantis completed 33 missions and spent a total of 307 days in space. Its last mission was STS-135, which was the final mission of the Space Shuttle program. Atlantis is now on display at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex in Florida. Space Shuttle Atlantis (Orbiter Vehicle Designation: OV-104) was one of the four first operational orbiters in the Space Shuttle fleet of NASA, the space agency of the United States. (The other two are Discovery and Endeavour.) Atlantis was the fourth operational shuttle built. Atlantis is named after a two-masted sailing ship that operated from 1930 to 1966 for the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute. Atlantis performed well in 25 years of service, flying 33 missions.