REUTERS/NASA TV
After 120 million miles and 25 years in orbit, the space shuttle Atlantis is ready for retirement.
Just before 9 a.m. EST, Atlantis touched down in Florida, ending a week-long mission to the International Space Station in which astronauts brought a fresh batch of supplies and installed new equipment during a series of space walks. The mission was Atlantis’s 32nd. The shuttle blasted off for the first time in 1975.
“Houston, Atlantis, we have wheels stopped,” shuttle captain Kenneth Ham said after touching down at Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
There are two more missions planned before NASA scraps the Space Shuttle program entirely. Each of the two shuttles left will get one more flight each: Discovery in the fall and Endeavour after that. However, NASA is petitioning to add one more flight to Atlantis’s schedule, although no decision has been reached by the Obama administration.