Atlantis has landed, ending NASA's shuttle era

[onehandle]

Source: Reuters



CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida (Reuters) - The space shuttle Atlantis glided home through a clear moonlit sky on Thursday to complete a 13-day cargo run to the International Space Station and a 30-year odyssey for NASA's shuttle program.

Commander Chris Ferguson gently steered the 100-tonne spaceship high overhead, then nose-dived toward the swamp-surrounded landing strip at the Kennedy Space Center, a few miles (kilometers) from where Atlantis will go on display as a museum piece.

Double sonic booms shattered the predawn silence around the space center, the last time residents will hear the distinctive sound of a shuttle coming home.

Ferguson eased Atlantis onto the runway at 5:57 a.m. EDT, ending a 5.2 million-mile (8.4 million-km) journey and closing a key chapter in human space flight history.

Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/astronauts-close-shuttle-doors-last-flight-home-063209748.html

---

America's manned space program is over.

When a Teabagger is elected in 2016, we will cut off payments to the Russians for rides and America will be Earthbound for a long, long time.

The war on science and progress continues.

[Blue_Tires]

sad but proud kick

job well done

[Roland99]

1. :-(

[Joe Bacon]

2. China is going to the moon.

We're not, and we won't. American space exploration is ending, thanks to religious fanatics who keep forcing their book of fractured fairy tales on us.

[enlightenment]

3. Very sad.

I remember being frustrated with the shuttle program, because I believed (and still do) that our talents, efforts, and funding should be more focused on manned deep space exploration. After Apollo, the shuttles seemed so very tame. I grew to appreciate the scientific experiments they carried, and appreciated their usefulness in helping build the international space station - but it always felt like the kiddy ride after you've been on the grown-up roller coaster.

Still, it got Americans into space - even if it was only the most local space - and now we don't even have that. It is, indeed, a very sad day.

:(

[ixion]

4. And the end of US leadership in space

very, very sad. We seem much more content bombing people overseas than exploring space. :( :cry:

[gateley]

5. Farewell to a golden era.

Beautiful shot - just put it up as my wallpaper. A reminder of how great America used to be. :(

[onehandle]

6. Link to hi-res version of photo in OP --->

Add:

http://

to front of:

media.zenfs.com/en_us/News/ap_webfeeds/ba4fcda443809310f30e6a70670061b6.jpg

[gateley]

11. Thanks so much!! nt

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

19. I haz noo wallpaypur.

[gateley]

22. Wow! nt

[onehandle]

23. Supercool. The dual monitor setup is the only way to fly. nt

[RobinA]

35. I'm Taking

a "to everything, turn, turn turn..." approach. Somebody else will pick up. Our day is over, but exploration of many realms will continue elsewhere. Ultimately it doesn't have to be us, just so it's someone.

It's either that attitude or deep depression.

[disndat]

7. Thank Bush for running the U.S.

economy into the ground for this.

[No Elephants]

12. And thank Obama for the recovery.

[guardian]

8. Finally! Now NASA can get on with its "top priority"

Muslim outreach

http://www.sfexaminer.com/politics/nasa039s-muslim-outreach-al-jazeera-told-first
Lawmakers across Capitol Hill, both Democrats and Republicans, were surprised to learn recently that the Obama administration has made reaching out to Muslim nations a top priority for the space agency NASA. They will probably be more surprised to learn that administration officials told the Middle East news organization Al Jazeera about it before they told Congress.

Just makes me warm and tingly all over.

[MilesColtrane]

13. Really?

You're posting an "article" from Phil Anschutz's rag?

The right wing lies spewed in the Washington Examiner are laughable.

[R Merm]

9. As much as the Repugs talk about American exceptionalism

they are unwilling to fund projects such as the space program, building the hover dam, the Panama Canal, or building and now maintaining our highway system. This are projects and accomplishments that never would have been done using private funds. We will start seeing a brain drain from our space program to the European Space Agency, and our country will slowly slip away from being a leader to a non participant.

[Volaris]

30. yeah, and the IDIOTS in this country will still somehow

manage to claim that we're the GREATEST NATION ON EARTH, apparently just 'cause we love God and stuff...yeah... "idiots" is definitely the right word for it.

I'm sad today. I'm 35, and I remember the first time I heard about the Space Shuttle Program was watching a whole week-long special on it that aired on PBS (3-2-1 Contact, IIRC, that Trine chick was kinda cute hahaha), when I was like 6? and being damn impressed with the fact that there was a whole new era of technology and manned space flight that I would get to bear witness to through-out the course of my life.....I was not old enough to have a memory of the successes of Apollo the way my parents were, the shuttle program was the next step.. (it was the GenerationX step)...it was OUR STEP..

I understand that the Shuttle was first designed over 30 years (many people my age don't have HOUSES that old) ago with the defined mission to deliver and assemble the parts of the I.S.S., that mission is now accomplished, and most people would have to say pretty competently so. But in my LIFETIME I would never have imagined that the U.S. Government OF THE PEOPLE (the same people who PUT A FREAKING HUMAN BEING ON THE MOON!!!!!) would be so short-sighted as to let the Crown Jewel of this country's popularization of Science and applied technology be polished by someone else. John Kennedy built America's manned space program through charisma, smarts, and sheer force of political will. And I think THEY still revile him for having that much power and influence. The manned space program is the last successful vestige of Kennedy's Presidency, and I know from personal conversations with a few conservative "friends" that they are quite happy to see it gone.

I am sad today. I am sad for my Country, and sad for my PEOPLE, and sad for Science.

This post was never meant to be this long, it just kinda all came out lol
Peace to all..

[humanityisfree]

10. I had a repub co-worker

say that NASA was a waste of money after I told him the stat about gov't spending more $$ on air-conditioning for the wars than on the total NASA budget. Priorities...

This is truly a sad day for American and no one cares. You hear - "we can't afford going into space..." Well guess what- after we completely sell out to the corporations and all regulation is given up to the invisible hand of capitalism we will all be frantically searching for a new planet to live on. Maybe not in my lifetime - but in my daughters'? And by that time because of this move all the space travel and exploration will be tied to turning a profit rather than any pure science.

Sad

[Kolesar]

14. So, where is Boeing going to get their gravy from now?

The Apollo program was exciting in a dreamy, philosophical manner, but the message was an expression that we hate the Russians a lot.

People need to love each other.

[Baclava]

15. Putin must be celebrating - Russia relishes chances created by end of shuttle

BAIKONUR, Kazakhstan (AP) - The mothballing of the space shuttle will be mourned by many astronauts, but Russia is relishing the prospect of serving as the only carrier to the International Space Station.

That honor will earn Russia hundreds of millions of dollars in fees for ferrying U.S. and other astronauts to the orbiting laboratory in its Soviet-vintage Soyuz spacecraft.

(snips)

Sergei Krikalyov, chief of the Russian cosmonaut training center, praised the shuttle program as a "grandiose achievement." It has been a big, complex and interesting program that has achieved a lot," said Krikalyov, who holds the world record for total time spent in space with 803 days on six space missions.

Sensing a commercial opportunity, Russia has regularly raised its prices for berths in what is described derisively by some as a "space cab." The Soyuz's imminent monopoly status has given Russia even more bargaining leverage. The $56 million price that the Russian Space Agency charges NASA to send up astronauts is set to go up to $63 million per passenger from 2014. A recent contract extension totals $753 million and covers trips for a dozen NASA astronauts from 2014 through 2016.

http://www.waff.com/story/15106379/russia-relishes-chances-created-by-end-of-shuttle

[Innoma]

16. Maybe the Saddest Thing I've Read All Day...

Every single person at our school in the 3rd grade spent the entire year wrapped up in the moon landing of 1969. We were, to a person, in a complete frenzy over the whole thing. Sad to see it all crumble away. Sure, it may have been expensive, but the the value in dreams alone was incalculable.

[Uncle Joe]

17. That's a nice pic, I'm happy they made it back safely and kudos to NASA for all their good work.

We're heading into a drought in re: to publicly funded manned space travel but I also believe that's we'll be back.

One point were I actually agreed with Bush, we should establish a base on the moon first, that would be a logical next step in living off Earth and we know there is ice/water at the poles.

Thanks for the thread, onehandle.

[July16th-20th]

18. Rec this for Ron!

McNair. He was the first flyer I delt with personally after signing on to the Agency in 1985.

[July16th-20th]

20. !

[edbermac]

21. Shuttle ends; and 42 years ago we first walked on the moon.

It is to weep. :cry:

[Baclava]

24. Space station crew watches Shuttle's final descent.

http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/imagegallery/image_feature_2014.html

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

25. Looks like Earth is spitting through the side of its mouth

and scratching its crotch.

[christx30]

26. I'm glad that that picture

is here. It's breathtakingly beautiful. For the past 60 years, kids across the US have been saying "I want to be an astronaut!" Now they are going to have to add "...but I don't want to move to Russia."
I've been watching youtube vids of shuttle launches. From Columbia in '81 to Challenger in '86 and beyond. I love the space program. We can't let it go away.

[Baclava]

27. That's the only pic I've ever seen of a shuttle descent from orbit.

It could be the first - and last.

[LetTimmySmoke]

28. What a fucking travesty.

This year is the 50th anniversary of Kennedy's space program announcement. We've gone from "not because they are easy, but because they are hard" to "too much of a hard-on for wars and tax breaks to the rich."

[totodeinhere]

29. Raise taxes on millionaires and use a small portion of that to fund keeping the shuttle flying

until a replacement is ready.

[WillyT]

31. K & R !!!

Way cool!!!

:bounce:

:hi:

[sarcasmo]

32. Kick!

[digitaln3rd]

33. Yes, but thank goodness the war era is still going strong.

After all, isn't that what REALLY counts?

:sarcasm:

[Demeter]

34. War is right, I'm afraid

against science, against logic, against rule of law, against true charity, against people in general.