Space Shuttle on Final Mission

NASA's space shuttle Atlantis was launched from Kennedy Space Center in Florida on July 8, 2011, commencing Mission STS-135, the final mission of NASA's space shuttle program.

On Sunday, July 10, Atlantis docked with the International Space Station for the last time.

Atlantis carries a crew of four astronauts - Chris Ferguson, the commander, Doug Hurly, the pilot, and Sandra Magnus and Rex Walheim, both mission specialists.

On Monday, July 11, crewmembers installed the Raffaello Multi-Purpose Logistics Module (MPLM) on the earth-facing port of the ISS's harmony mode.  The Raffaello MPLM is filled with more than 9,00 pounds of supplies and spare parts that are needed to keep the space station functioning.

For the next few days, shuttle crewmembers will be moving items from the Raffaello MPLM to the ISS and placing discarded equipment to be returned to Earth into the MPLM.

As part of it 12-day mission, STS-135 is also bringing the Robotic Refueling Mission (RFM) to the space station.  The RFM is an experiment to test and demonstrate the tools and methods required to refuels satellites in space.

The space shuttle will be taking back an ammonia pump that failed on the ISS, so engineers can study what was wrong with it and develop a better design.

STS-135 is the 135^th space shuttle mission and Atlantis' 33^rd mission.

NASA launched its first space shuttle on April 12, 1981. Atlantis, the fourth space shuttle to be built, flew for the first time on Oct 3, 1985.

After the space shuttle is retired, American astronauts will continue to live and work on the ISS. Russia's Soyuz spacecraft will ferry them to and from the station.

NASA is looking for private American companies to take over the function of carrying astronauts to and from the ISS.

NASA is also planning to develop a Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle (MPCV), based on the Orion capsule. The MPCV will take human beings to Mars.