Atlantis and the STS-135 crew touched down at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida just before dawn today, wrapping up the final mission of the 30-year space shuttle program. After 200 orbits around Earth and a journey of 5,284,862 miles on STS-135, Atlantis’ main gear touched down at 5:57 a.m.
But even as pride filled the hearts of many–NASA’s workers and Americans alike, there is great uncertainty as some 4,000 more employees are expected to receive pink slips on Friday, as the shuttle program comes to an end.
NASA Administrator Charles Bolden said, despite the winding down of the space shuttle program, NASA will continue to work toward major future endeavors. In the immediate term, there are plans to use American commercial spacecraft for cargo and crew transportation to low Earth orbit. The space agency also has plans to design and develop a heavy lift rocket with a multi-purpose crew vehicle to enable deep space exploration with humans.
Bolden said that NASA will continue an astronaut training program in Houston, rather than rely on the private sector to provide astronauts.
It is not clear how many of those workers being laid off would be absorbed in the private sector. Over the last several months, thousands of employees have seen their jobs disappear and overall more than 8,000 are expected to be terminated.
The STS-135 crew consisted of Commander Chris Ferguson, Pilot Doug Hurley, Mission Specialists Sandra Magnus and Rex Walheim. They delivered more than 9,400 pounds of spare parts, spare equipment and other supplies in the Raffaello multi-purpose logistics module – including 2,677 pounds of food – that will sustain space station operations for the next year. The 21-foot long, 15-foot diameter Raffaello brought back nearly 5,700 pounds of unneeded materials from the station.
