Last Space Shuttle Comes Home

Atlantis landed safely today, before dawn in Florida, with four astronauts aboard, bringing down the curtain on the program of the U.S. space shuttles, thirty years after the first flight of these aircraft.

“We feel many emotions today but one thing is indisputable, the United States will not stop exploring” space, said the commander of the flight to end the thirty-third and final shuttle mission.

The Atlantis crew and four mission completed nearly 13 days on the International Space Station (ISS, for its acronym in English), which aimed to bring supplies and materials to the space laboratory for a period of one year.

Throughout its career, the aircraft remained 307 days in space and made 4848 orbits around the Earth.

Source: AFP