Final shuttle mission to replay live on 10th anniversary

Final shuttle mission anniversary

Today – July 8, 2021 – is the 10th anniversary of the launch of the final space shuttle mission. And today NASA will live stream a program called 10th Anniversary Replay: Launch of Atlantis on Final Shuttle Mission, STS-135. The live video will begin at 11:10 a.m. EDT (15:10 UTC) on NASA TV, the agency’s website, and its mobile app. Watch here.

STS-135 – the last flight of space shuttle Atlantis and the final space shuttle mission – launched on July 8, 2011, and landed later that month on July 21. The iconic spacecraft launched from Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center with a crew of four astronauts: commander Chris Ferguson, pilot Doug Hurley, and mission specialists Sandy Magnus and Rex Walheim.

Atlantis flew 33 missions in its 25-year career. It’s been on display at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex since 2013.

Daring and dangerous

The first space shuttle launch was April 12, 1981. At that time, the space shuttle was a brand new idea and was considered to be a kind of “truck” that could cart necessary items to and from Earth orbit. During its 30-year history, the space shuttle flew many different types of missions. It launched satellites and served as an orbiting science laboratory. Its crews spacewalked in servicing missions, such as with the Hubble Space Telescope. The shuttle also flew missions for the military.

On its later missions, the space shuttle was mostly used to work on the International Space Station.

Discovery was another space shuttle previously used by NASA, now on display at the Smithsonian’s Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center in Chantilly, Virginia. Endeavour space shuttle resides in the California Science Center of Los Angeles.

The other two orbiters – Columbia and Challenger – were sadly lost during accidents, but are also remembered to this day.

#OTD 10 Years Ago – The space shuttle Atlantis is revealed as the rotating service structure is rolled back at pad 39a on July 7, 2011 @NASAKennedy. Photo: (NASA/Bill Ingalls). https://t.co/D26U0TGllj pic.twitter.com/urQffMW2kT

— Bill Ingalls (@ingallsimages) July 7, 2021

Bottom line: On July 8, 2021, NASA will live stream a program called 10th Anniversary Replay: Launch of Atlantis on Final Shuttle Mission, STS-135. The live video will begin at 11:10 a.m. EDT (15:10 UTC) on NASA TV, the agency’s website, and its mobile app. Watch here.

Via NASA