CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — On the eve of NASA’s historic, wheel-stopping end to the shuttle program, the four astronauts making the final journey completed one last task.
They released the very last satellite to be launched from a space shuttle. It popped out of a can Wednesday: a little 8-pound box covered with experimental solar cells.
Over the three decades of the shuttle era, 180 satellites and other spacecraft have been deployed by the entire fleet - from tiny ones like Wednesday’s PicoSat to mega-ton whoppers like the Hubble Space Telescope.
As soon as the mini-satellite was on its way, astronaut Rex Walheim read a poem that he wrote to mark the occasion. It was the first of many tributes planned over the next few days; on Wednesday evening, the Empire State Building in New York was going to light up in red, white and blue in honor of the space shuttle program.
Mr. Walheim read: “One more satellite takes its place in the sky, / the last of many that the shuttle let fly. / Magellan, Galileo, Hubble and more / have sailed beyond her payload bay doors. / They’ve filled science books and still more to come. / The shuttle’s legacy will live on when her flying is done.”
Flight controllers applauded back in Houston.
On this last full day of this last mission, shuttle commander Christopher Ferguson told the controllers, “I’d love to have each and every one of you to stand up and take a bow, a round of applause. Then there would be no one to applaud and there would be nobody to watching the vehicle … but believe me, our hearts go out to you.”
Mr. Ferguson and his three crewmates checked their critical flight systems for Thursday’s planned 5:56 a.m. landing at Florida’s Kennedy Space Center, not quite an hour before sunrise. Everything worked perfectly. Excellent weather was forecast to wind up the 135th flight of the space shuttle program.
The astronauts and the flight controllers who will guide them home said Wednesday they were starting to feel a rush of emotions.
“It’s going to be tough,” Mr. Ferguson said in a series of TV interviews. “It’s going to be an emotional moment for a lot of people who have dedicated their lives to the shuttle program for 30 years. But we’re going to try to keep it upbeat.”
Flight director Tony Ceccacci, who was slated to preside over Atlantis’ return to Earth, refrained from publicly sharing his sentiments - until Wednesday.
“You guys must know that we do have a motto in the Mission Control Center that flight controllers don’t cry,” Mr. Ceccacci told reporters. “So we’re going to make sure we keep that.”
Atlantis departed the International Space Station on Tuesday, after restocking it with a year’s worth of supplies. Among the shuttle highlights noted Wednesday was the construction of the station, a nearly 1-million-pound science outpost that took 12 1/2 years and 37 shuttle flights to build.
NASA already is shifting gears. It’s working with private companies eager to take over cargo runs and astronaut flights to the space station. The first supply trip is expected to take place by the end of this year. Astronaut trips will take more time to put together, at least three to five years.
Atlantis is the last of the shuttles to be retired. It will remain at Kennedy Space Center, eventually going on public display at the visitors complex. Discovery is bound for the Smithsonian Institution in suburban Washington, and Endeavour for the California Science Center in Los Angeles.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.