Today in history: July 8, 2011: Space Shuttle Atlantis is launched in the final mission of the U.S. Space

Megan Barreto
Updated
Shuttle's Final Mission Highlights
Shuttle's Final Mission Highlights


According to History.com, on this day in 2011, NASA's space shuttle program completed its final, and 135th, mission, when the shuttle Atlantis landed at Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

During the program's 30-year history, its five orbiters—Columbia, Challenger, Discovery, Atlantis and Endeavour—carried more than 350 people into space and flew more than 500 million miles, and shuttle crews conducted important research, serviced the Hubble Space Telescope and helped in the construction of the International Space Station, among other activities.

NASA retired the shuttles to focus on a deep-space exploration program that could one day send astronauts to asteroids and Mars.

Check out some pictures from the epic final mission of Atlantis:

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