So Long Atlantis
Bitter sweet morning here in Central Florida as Space Shuttle Atlantis has now returned to Earth for the final time. It was a fabulous sight as Atlantis and its six man crew swept in over Florida and made a picture perfect landing.
Atlantis was commissioned to be built on 29 January 1979 and it’s first flight was on 3rd October 1985. It’s first mission was just four days as it returned on 7th October. Here we are 25 years later and the mission that began on 14 May has now ended at 8.48am on 26th May 2020 some 32 missions later.
In that time Atlantis has docked with MIR on 7 occasions and with the International Space Station on 11 occasions and has spent some 294 days in space in total.It has also completed over 120 million miles
Only two shuttle missions now remain unless the Government gives the shuttle program a reprieve. Discovery is scheduled for a 16 September flight and Endeavor has a date in November that is yet to be decided.
