Space Shuttle Pictures: Final Flight of Atlantis

Well Suited
Photograph courtesy Smiley N. Pool, Houston Chronicle/NASA
U.S. astronaut Sandra Magnus participates in a fit check of her Russian Sokol spacesuit in Moscow on March 29. Magnus was a mission specialist for STS-135, the final flight of the space shuttleAtlantis. The shuttle's successful landing today at 5:57 a.m. ET wrapped up the very last mission of the U.S. space shuttle program.
During the 13-day mission, Magnus and her three crewmates delivered supplies and spare parts to the International Space Station, ran an experiment for robotically refueling spacecraft, and retrieved a failed ammonia pump module. Each of the shuttle astronauts had to be fitted for a Russian spacesuit in case they needed to evacuate the station via a Soyuz capsule.
"Every vehicle has its life," Magnus said in a Reuters interview shortly after landing. "We've known the shuttle is going to retire for a very long time."
Still, she added, "it's hard to say goodbye. It's like saying goodbye to an old friend."
(Also see "The Most Unforgettable Space Shuttle Pictures.")
Published July 21, 2011
The Last Crew
Photograph courtesy Smiley N. Pool, Houston Chronicle/NASA
From left to right, STS-135 crew members Rex Walheim, Sandy Magnus, Doug Hurley, and Chris Ferguson wave to the crowds on July 8 as they head into the Astrovan, the vehicle that ferries astronauts from quarantine to the launch pad. Atlantis lifted off that day from Launch Pad 39A at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida at 11:29 a.m. ET.
(Related blog: "Final Chapter—Diary of a Shuttle Launch Enthusiast.")
Published July 21, 2011
Climbing High
Photograph courtesy Dick Clark, NASA
The space shuttle Atlantis is seen climbing through the atmosphere from the window of a Shuttle Training Aircraft on July 8. The special plane was designed so shuttle pilots could feel what it's like to land an orbiter, which was designed to glide back to Earth.
(Video: Watch the final shuttle launch.)
Published July 21, 2011
Ready to Dock
Photograph courtesy NASA
The space shuttle Atlantis flies past the Bahamas in a picture taken just before the shuttle docked with the International Space Station on July 10. The Raffaello multipurpose logistics module, a pressurized cargo container, is visible inside the shuttle's open payload bay.
(Related pictures: "Space Shuttle Discovery's Milestone Moments.")
Published July 21, 2011
Ground Crew
Photograph courtesy Mark Sowa, NASA
Shannon Lucid—one of the first six women in NASA's astronaut corps—talks to fellow members of mission control at Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas, on July 12. Lucid was serving as the "voice" for communications between ground-based managers and flight controllers and the space-based astronauts during the STS-135 mission.
(See space shuttle pictures: "Rare Behind-the-Scenes Views.")
Published July 21, 2011
Fuel Can
Photograph courtesy NASA
Secured to the International Space Station's robotic arm, astronaut Mike Fossum carries the Robotics Refueling Mission payload, part of a test for robotically refueling spacecraft, during a July 12 spacewalk. Although Fossum is part of the ISS crew, his spacewalk was the last one to be conducted while a shuttle was visiting the station.
(Related: "Shuttle Astronaut's Four Most Extraordinary Moments.")
Published July 21, 2011
Atlantis and the Aurora
Photograph courtesy NASA
Part of Atlantis, the shuttle's robotic arm, and a section of the International Space Station's solar array hang over Earth in a picture taken by an astronaut July 16. The green glow is from the aurora australis, or southern lights.
(Related pictures: "Twenty Stunning Shots of Earth From Space.")
Published July 21, 2011
Stocking Feet
Photograph courtesy NASA
Outfitted in casual clothes, astronaut Sandy Magnus enjoys the view from the cupola, a multiwindowed module on the International Space Station, on July 16. The cupola is a new addition to the station since Magnus's last visit in 2008-09, when she spent four and a half months in space as part of the ISS Expedition 18 crew.
(See some of the first photos taken from the space station's observation deck.)
Published July 21, 2011
Last Looks
Photograph courtesy NASA
Atlantis and the Raffaello multipurpose logistics module are framed by a space station window in a July 18 photograph. The picture was taken from the ISS cupola on the last day the shuttle was docked to the station.
(Related pictures: "Space Shuttle Endeavour's Final Mission.")
Published July 21, 2011
Touchdown
Photograph by Joe Skipper, Reuters
The space shuttle Atlantis glides down the runway at Kennedy Space Center after an early morning landing July 21. The retired space shuttle will now be cleaned and prepared for display at the KSC Visitor Complex in Florida.
(See pictures from the start of the shuttle program, published in the March 1981 issue of National Geographic magazine.)
Published July 21, 2011
Saying Goodbye
Photograph by David J. Philip, AP
Jan Campbell, an employee at Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas, watches an outdoor video monitor (not pictured) as the crew of the space shuttle Atlantis is greeted after landing at Kennedy Space Center July 21.
With the final landing of a space shuttle, the work is over for mission control at JSC. As he passed shuttle operations back to the technicians at Kennedy, JSC flight director Tony Ceccacci took a moment to salute the Johnson team.
"The work done in this room, in this building, will never be duplicated," he said, according to the Houston Chronicle.
"Hold your heads up high as we close out the space shuttle program. You have earned it. ... Work here has made America and the world a better place."
(Also see "After Space Shuttle, Does U.S. Have a Future in Space?")
Published July 21, 2011