Space Shuttle Atlantis Plays to a Sad, Proud Audience of Billions

Submitted by Nancy Smith on July 8, 2011 - 1:41pm

Space shuttle Atlantis displayed its breathtaking power, rocketing into space from Kennedy Space Center at 11:26 a.m. EST Friday. It marked the final launch after 30 years for NASA's storied fleet of shuttles -- and there were more than a few damp eyes watching.

"I wasn't prepared for this," said Mavis Shannon, 34, a tech support worker in Tallahassee, who watched the launch from Po'Boys restaurant on East College Avenue. "So soon it's gone. A couple of years ago, who knew we would have a president prepared to lose a national tradition like the shuttle program?"

"Yeah," she's right," agreed her friend, Don Maloney. "I know we have to move on, to Mars or wherever. But just to take it away from us and close the door. That's too much for Florida. It hurts."

Seven million pounds of thrust from the shuttle's rocket booster carried the vehicle into orbit one last time, at speeds of up to 19,000 miles per hour, for an expected meeting with the International Space Station on Sunday.

Before the launch. a Mission Control spokesman said, "The sense of history, the legacy of what has happened here over three decades, is palpable." He noted that "30 years and three months ago, it was Columbia on the launch pad awaiting lift off."

"America will continue the dream," the launch director said as Atlantis lifted-off on its 33rd and last flight.

The last shuttle crew: Commander Chris Ferguson, Pilot Doug Hurley, Mission Specialist Sandy Magnus and Mission Specialist Rex Walheim -- all had arrived at the launch pad's White Room at 8:06 a.m. in spite of the 30 percent chance they were given that the weather would be good enough to blast off on schedule.

"For the final time, good luck, Godspeed, and have a little fun up there," launch director Mike Leinbach told the shuttle crew.

Later, Leinbach would comment that "probably more than 2 billion people around the world were watching and weeping at 11:26 our time."

So far, so good on the last mission. Atlantis is a winner again.
--

Comments are now closed.