Hundreds of thousands crowded into Brevard County on Friday to watch space shuttle Atlantis lift off on its final mission, bringing an end to a 30-year program of exploration. As Atlantis left the launch pad and its three engines powered the shuttle toward lift off, shouts of “USA, USA” were heard from the mammoth crowd.
Atlantis lifted off just before 11:30 a.m., est, on a 12-day mission to the International Space Station, despite some uncertainty arising from thunderstorms near that rolled over Kennedy Space on Thursday.
Atlantis will carry a crew of four and the Raffaello multipurpose logistics module containing supplies and spare parts for the space station.
The STS-135 astronauts are: Commander Chris Ferguson, Pilot Doug Hurley, and Mission Specialists Sandy Magnus and Rex Walheim.
Among the many who gathered there was a feeling of sadness for a three-decade program which had launched great observatories, built an International Space Station, and provided insights into how humans can live and work in space.
The final space shuttle mission also would lead to thousands of jobs being lost in Brevard and surrounding areas, making an already bad employment situation worse.  Notwithstanding the immediate job losses, there is optimism that commercial space flights in the coming years will fill the void thus, creating new employment for skilled workers.
Atlantis’ launch today is the 135th and final space mission in the history of the program.
