Why last shuttle launch

In looking back at the month of July, space milestones and events took center stage. Not only did July see the most important American accomplishment in space — the Apollo XI landing on the Moon on July 20th, — but it also saw the successful launch of two private industry human spaceflight operations. But this July commemorated another historically important, albeit somewhat bittersweet, space event as well — it was the 10 year anniversary of the last U.

Space Shuttle flight. It was the 37 th flight to dock at the space station, with the primary objective being to deliver supplies and spare parts to the International Space Station. After several days in orbit, Atlantis successfully returned to Earth on July 21, touching down at Kennedy Space Center for the last time. Over those three decades — which also saw the tragic Columbia and Challenger disasters — the shuttle kept Americans moving up into space and allowed us to secure new gains in scientific advancement, exploration and understanding.

And in the 10 years since that last mission, we have learned — and perhaps relearned — some painful lessons regarding space. On one level, after STS, we would be completely without an American-owned and operated human spaceflight system. After the retirement of the shuttle, the Russian Soyuz served as the only mode of human space transport to reach the International Space Station — literally leaving American astronauts, their safety, and our role in space at the hands of the Russians.

And while we are now, thankfully, moving seriously forward on reestablishing our own serious space transport system, having to seek favor from Russia seems compromising at best and lacks dignity at worst.

Happily, at least the STS crew was able to leave the space station on schedule on Atlantis, which today is on display at the Kennedy Space Center. If pre-departure inspections had revealed problems with the shuttle's heat-shield tiles, Walheim said, the plan was to bring down the crew members one at a time on Soyuz spacecraft over the ensuing months. Such inspections became routine after it was determined that tile damage incurred during launch was responsible for the loss of Columbia.

Hurley would have been stuck up there the longest, he said, making him the first American to go about a year in space, long before Scott Kelly marked that milestone in Less publicized at the time of STS's flight was the huge network of ground personnel who supported the mission, with many of those people facing unemployment due to the end of the space shuttle program once processing of Atlantis' landing was completed.

Leinbach added that one of the safety lessons he tried to impart to his team was how "signing off" on mission items during planning and operations meant taking responsibility, and not just agreeing with colleagues or managers. Joining Leinbach during the interview was Charlie Blackwell-Thompson, who served as the chief of launch and landing through the retirement of the space shuttle program.

Blackwell-Thompson is also the launch director of Artemis 1. Knowing STS was the last mission, she recalled, "you couldn't quite bring yourself to leave" after the mission safely touched down. She recalled walking back to the Orbiter Processing Facility a few hours after landing, while Atlantis was being towed there from the runway. The program was coming to an end. It had been a great program; it's been a great run. To be able to walk Atlantis back was just a really special, special thing for me.

Follow Elizabeth Howell on Twitter howellspace. Follow us on Twitter Spacedotcom and on Facebook. Join our Space Forums to keep talking space on the latest missions, night sky and more! And if you have a news tip, correction or comment, let us know at: community space. Elizabeth Howell is a contributing writer for Space. It wasn't until several years later Russia complained that, in fact, they were getting an unfair deal because they were being forced into providing vehicles that they hadn't budgeted for," Barry said.

So now, it is important that the United States has an independent capability of being able to launch people to space. Demo-2 will be the first time that the Dragon spacecraft takes astronauts into space, and if the demonstration mission goes to plan, SpaceX is contracted to supply six more flights to the ISS.

The return of launches to U. Boeing is slightly behind SpaceX though, with the company hoping to conduct a manned test flight of the Starliner in Read more. Newsweek magazine delivered to your door Unlimited access to Newsweek.