Get ready to say goodbye to the space shuttle program. NASA just announced that the Atlantis launch is scheduled for Friday, July 8. This will mark the very last flight of the program.
Space shuttle Atlantis — seen here at its first launch October 3, 1985 — is expected to lift off for the last time July 8. // Photo by NASA/KSC
I haven’t followed the space flight program extensively. Perhaps that’s because the shuttle era began before I was even born. (I guess that just gave away my age.) But, watching the launch of
Endeavour last week sent chills down my spine. It’s a pretty amazing accomplishment to launch humans into space, and to do science in orbit.
I truly hope — for our country’s pride, and its current state of science and technology — that we can follow the shuttle era with an even better program. There’s a lot more to explore out there. Perhaps we’ll see the program come to fruition in the next decade.
What do you think? When do you expect to see the next generation of space flight launch?
Related blog
Beginning of the end of the shuttle program, by Brenda Culbertson, guest blogger