Final Atlantis Landing Brings End to NASA's Space Shuttle Era
Posted on July 21, 2011
NASA's amazing 30-year-long Space Shuttle era came to an end early this morning with the final landing of Atlantis at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The STS-135 crew consisted of Commander Chris Ferguson, Pilot Doug Hurley, Mission Specialists Sandra Magnus and Rex Walheim.
Commander Chris Ferguson said, "Although we got to take the ride,, we sure hope that everybody who has ever worked on, or touched, or looked at, or envied or admired a space shuttle was able to take just a little part of the journey with us."
The end of the shuttle program is also the end of jobs for some NASA employees. Nearly 2,000 NASA employees will be handed pink slips tomorrow. The Miami Herald says as many as 8,000 jobs will be lost for Florida's Space Coast. Take a look:
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