'Atlantis is home!'

Lets hope that the U.S Government can pull its collective head out of its ass long enough to get on with the next phase of space exploration, So we may see events like this again !


USA Today
Atlantis lands at Kennedy Space center on the final U.S. shuttle mission after 30 years.

Update at 6:05 a.m. ET: NASA notes that Atlantis, the youngest of the shuttles, has flown 33 missions and traveled more than 125 million miles. It will now go on display at the Kennedy Space Center.

Update at 5:58 a.m. ET: NASA control: "Atlantis is home. Its journey complete. A moment to be savored."

Update at 5:56 a.m. ET: Atlantis touches down.

Update at 5:47 a.m. ET: Shuttle is 10 minutes from touchdown.

Endeavour space shuttle makes last touch-down

One more to go and that is it, no more space shuttle.


BBC
Space shuttle Endeavour has brought its 19-year operational career to a close with a textbook landing in Florida.

The vehicle swept into a night-time touch-down at the Kennedy Space Center after a successful trip to the International Space Station (ISS).

The US space agency (Nasa) is retiring its shuttle fleet and Endeavour will now be prepared for public display at a science museum in Los Angeles.

Only the Atlantis ship has yet to make a final outing.

It was moved to Kennedy's one active launch pad late on Tuesday night to get it ready for that swansong, which is expected to occur next month.

Endeavour's rear wheels touched the runway at Kennedy at 0234 local time (0634 GMT).

http://www.businessweek.com/news/2010-01-28/nasa-to-get-6-billion-to-outsource-crew-ferry-official-says.html

Outsourcing is the way to go for NASA , they have been doing it for years (With American Companies )
For NASA to Accomplish this within A "Government" Structure , it Total Well over the Amount for the Obamacare Plan !


Jan. 28 (Bloomberg) -- NASA would receive a $6 billion boost in funding over five years to spur companies to develop rockets capable of taking astronauts to the International Space Station, an administration official said.

In total, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration would receive $100 billion over five years under President Barack Obama’s fiscal year 2011 budget, the official said.

“My initial impression is that this is a real significant indication of support for NASA in a time of tight budgets,” said former astronaut Sally Ride in an interview.

Space shuttle Atlantis lands at Biggs Army Airfield

I could not get any closer to the shuttle than about 3/4 of a mile ( rough guess ) they keep the thing parked way back from everybody !

click for larger picture !
ElPasoTimes
EL PASO -- U.S. space shuttle Atlantis, riding atop a modified 747 shuttle carrier aircraft, landed at Biggs Army Airfield shortly after 11:15 a.m. Monday.

Atlantis, which landed May 24 at Edwards Air Force Base in California after a 5.3 million mile journey in space, is headed to NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

"The pair will fly to Biggs Army Airfield in El Paso, Texas and spend the night there before resuming the cross-country trip tomorrow," according to a NASA news release.

NASA officials said that while in the region, Atlantis will conduct a flyover of the White Sands test facility.

The astronauts aboard the shuttle recently finished a 13-day trip in space to repair the Hubble space telescope.

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