Atlantis Undocks from ISS; Farewell for Shuttle

By Nancy Atkinson - July 19, 2011 11:55 PM UTC | Space Exploration

The crew of STS-135 are now on the homestretch of their mission. At 2:28 a.m. EDT Tuesday, space shuttle Atlantis undocked from the International Space Station while the spacecraft were 243 miles above the Pacific. Atlantis spent eight days, 15 hours and 21 minutes docked to the ISS.

Atlantis is scheduled to make its first attempt to land at NASA's Kennedy Space Center on Thursday, July 21, at 5:56 a.m. EDT.

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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