Atlantis Returns Home -- For the Last Time?

By Nancy Atkinson - May 26, 2010 at 5:31 AM UTC | Missions

A bittersweet moment in space history as Atlantis and her six-member crew landed at Florida's Kennedy Space Center on Wednesday morning. Very likely, this was Atlantis' final landing, returning home after 25 years of service. The rich history of the Atlantis space shuttle includes 294 days in space, 4,648 orbits and 120,650,907 miles during 32 flights. There's a chance this orbiter could fly again – she'll be readied as a rescue ship for the last scheduled shuttle mission --and many shuttle supporters feel that since Atlantis will be fully geared up, she should fly one last time. But only time (and funding and Congress) will tell if Atlantis will fly again.

After wheel stop, capcom Charlie Hobaugh said, "Hock, (that's commander Ken Ham – 'Ham Hock') that landing was something that your Air Force crewmates should have really been proud of, that looked pretty sweet. For you and your crew, that was a suiting end to an incredible mission. You guys executed flawlessly and not only that, you had a great time doing it. That was very evident from the ground. Everybody down here really enjoyed working with you."

Ham sent his thanks to mission control and said, "We'll now turn this incredible vehicle over so the teams can put her back in the barn for a little bit."

Only two shuttle missions remain on the shuttle manifest; Discovery scheduled for launch in September or October, followed by Endeavour in November, or possibly early next year.

The landing evoked a stream of good wishes and emotions on the social networks Twitter and Facebook. Perhaps the most poignant was a Tweet from former NASA flight director Wayne Hale: "Tears of joy and sadness as we watched Atlantis final landing back on the cool green hills of Earth."

The STS-132 crew, which included Ham, Pilot Tony Antonelli and Mission Specialists Garrett Reisman, Michael Good, Steve Bowen and Piers Sellers, left the ISS bigger and more powerful, adding a Russian science module and fresh batteries. Before the shuttle undocked from the space station, the crew gave a tribute to Atlantis:

Nancy Atkinson

Nancy Atkinson

Nancy Atkinson is a space journalist and author with a passion for telling the stories of people involved in space exploration and astronomy. She is currently retired from daily writing, but worked at Universe Today for 20 years as a writer and editor. She also contributed articles to The Planetary Society, Ad Astra (National Space Society), New Scientist and many other online outlets.

Her 2019 book, "Eight Years to the Moon: The History of the Apollo Missions,” shares the untold stories of engineers and scientists who worked behind the scenes to make the Apollo program so successful, despite the daunting odds against it. Her first book “Incredible Stories From Space: A Behind-the-Scenes Look at the Missions Changing Our View of the Cosmos” (2016) tells the stories of 37 scientists and engineers that work on several current NASA robotic missions to explore the solar system and beyond.

Nancy is also a NASA/JPL Solar System Ambassador, and through this program, she has the opportunity to share her passion of space and astronomy with children and adults through presentations and programs. Nancy's personal website is nancyatkinson.com