Desi🪻

Desi Prins

Mr. De Groot

English 6

March 13, 2024

The last shuttle launched to space

NASA takes the shuttle out of its barn one last time, dust it off, and tries it one last time.    

As the engine starts, the fire blows out of the bottom of the shuttle. The shuttle shoots up, and launches into space. NASA knows it could maybe end once it launches, but they have faith. NASA has surely kept it for a reason, even if they told us or not. The STS-135, which is its name, was beaten up and didn’t have very many days left to “live.” The STS-135 had a different name, though – it was Atlantis. 

The Atlantis was a very long construction, starting on Sunday, March 30, 1980. But, the first launch of the Atlantis was on   October  5, 1985. Then, the construction began rolling out of the assembly plant in California, and would launch it very soon. The Atlantis held 203 people, and Christopher Ferguson, Douglas Hurley, Sandra Magnus, and Rex Walheim were the last people to ride along. Finally, they rode on July 8, 2011.

Atlantis was a very special shuttle. Starting construction in 1980, the Atlantis was starting to fall apart and getting old by 2011. The STS was the most damaged space shuttle of the STS’s. On July 8th,  Atlantis launched into space. In one flight in 2011, the crew took Atlantis 5.2 million miles, and the flight took 12 days.

The Atlantis was so damaged, everyone knew it would have to be the last launch. After 12 years, NASA still has not announced a new shuttle or launch plan, which might mean they might never do a launch again. This is going to be the last STS going to space after 30 years!  But, after Atlantis, there will still be some history stuck to us like glue. Because of the long flight, they had to have plenty of food, and they sure had plenty. Since they needed a lot, they took 2,671 pounds of food. 

As a result of this last launch in 2011, the STS-135 had come to an end, and had been flown a total of 120,650,907 miles. Atlantis had deported 14 satellites and spent about 293 days in space. In the end, the STS-135 was displayed in the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex. Now, you may visit this historical shuttle in Merritt Island, Florida.

Bibliography 

Deiss, Heather, “STS-135,” NASA.gov, NASA, 23 October 2023, https://www.nasa.gov/mission/sts-135/  5 February 2024

National Aeronautics and Space Administration, “STS-135” NASA.gov 30 June 2011, https://www.nasa.gov/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/2011.06.30-atlantis.pdf?emrc=2bfe17 5 February 2024