Shuttle Atlantis docks with the ISS for the last time
July 11, 2011 Category: Astronautics Leave a commentShuttle Atlantis on its final space voyage and with four astronauts aboard, has been docked successfully with the International Space Station (ISS) for the last time. It was in a last 12-day mission that shut down for good the age of the US shuttles.
The shuttle docked at 11:07 am (1507 GMT), just over an hour after the spacecraft performed its habitual slow backflip so that the ISS crew could take pictures of its heat shield before clasping onto the lab, NASA said.
“Welcome to the International Space Station for the last time,” said ISS flight engineer Ron Garan, after the linkup took place 240 miles (386 kilometres) high just over New Zealand. “It’s great to be here station, see you shortly,” said Atlantis commander Chris Ferguson.
Shuttle Atlantis. Credit: NASA/Troy Cryder
Shuttle Atlantis was launched at Cape Canaveral (Florida) last Friday, and it docked with the ISS when they flew about 386 km above the eastern coast of New Zealand, according to the US space agency.
Ferguson and his crewmates, pilot Doug Hurley, and mission specialists Sandra Magnus and Rex Walheim, currently plan to remain at the space station until July 18, when they are due to undock Atlantis and head home to Earth.
On Saturday, the Atlantis crew performed the first inspection of the craft’s thermal protection system, the outer barrier that protects it from the searing heat upon re-entry into the Earth’s atmosphere.
Nasa itself hopes to invest in a new spaceship and rocket that can take humans beyond the space station to destinations such as the Moon, asteroids and Mars.