The space shuttle Atlantis and four astronauts returned from the International Space Station on Thursday, bringing to an end NASA’s 30-year shuttle program.
A record crowd of 2,000 gathered near the landing strip and thousands more packed the space centre to watch history unfold as the the longest-running spaceflight program came to a close.
The pre-dawn landing came 30 years and three months after the very first shuttle flight in 1981. IT will be another three to five years at least before American astronauts are once again launched from U.S. soil, with private companies gearing up to seize the Earth-to-orbit-and-back baton from NASA.
The long-term future of American space exploration is just as hazy; asteroids and Mars are the destinations of choice, yet NASA has yet to settle on a rocket design to get astronauts there.
The decision to cease shuttle flight was made seven years ago, just short of a year after the Colombia tragedy.
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