NASA schedules final space shuttle mission

[alp227]

Source: CNN

(CNN) -- Thirty years after the space shuttle program began, the final space shuttle flight is slated to take place on July 8, NASA said Friday.

The Space Shuttle Atlantis will make the program's final voyage on a mission to deliver supplies and spare parts to the international space station, the agency said.

Chris Ferguson, a veteran of two shuttle missions, will command the flight, set to launch at 11:40 a.m., NASA said.

The Atlantis mission will be the 135th and final mission for the program.

Read more: http://www.cnn.com/2011/US/05/20/space.shuttle.atlantis/index.html

[1620rock]

1. Sigh...and now what? The moon missions seem like a dream.

[Fearless]

2. The truth is that in an era of robotic advances, its far cheaper, safer, and quicker

to forgo manned space travel particularly considering the amount of output that a team of scientists on earth can do without the risk of sending people into space.

Is it a sad thing? Perhaps, from a exploratory kind of mindset, but from a scientific mindset this is the much more viable option. Robots are sturdier than humans, especially to cold, heat, the vacuum of space, and radiation.