![]() ![]() I promise you, we'll take good care of her." "Not only will the workers who sent it into space so many times have a chance to still see it," NASA Administrator Charlie Bolden said to cheers and applause while standing in front of Atlantis outside Kennedy's Orbiter Processing Facility-1, "the millions of visitors who come here every year to learn more about space and to be a part of the excitement of exploration will be able to see what is still a great rarity - an actual flown space vehicle."Īfter hearing the news, Kennedy's Center Director Bob Cabana said to Bolden, "Thank you so much for trusting us with the care of Atlantis. In retirement, space shuttle Atlantis will help the agency bring that story to life for generations to come from its launch site at Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Photo credit: NASAįor decades, NASA has shared the excitement, emotions, dreams and remarkable feat of voyaging out beyond the reaches of Earth's gravity in the world's first reusable spacecraft. Space shuttle Atlantis at the International Space Station during STS-132. Artist concept courtesy Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex Photo credit: NASA/BIll IngallsĪnother view of the space shuttle in its exhibit at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex. Astronaut Janet Kavandi, to Bolden's right, USA's Mike Parrish and STS-1 Pilot and former Kennedy Space Center Director Bob Crippen spoke during the ceremony. To his left is Kennedy Space Center Director Bob Cabana. NASA Administrator Charlie Bolden, standing, announces that Atlantis will remain at KSC on permanent exhibition at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex. The display shows the orbiter in its on-orbit configuration, with the cargo bay doors open and robotic arm extended. ![]() The landing was the 21st night landing for a Shuttle and the 15th night landing at KSC.A concept drawing showing space shuttle Atlantis as the centerpiece of a new exhibit showcasing the Space Shuttle Program. Atlantis has now flown 27 times and made six trips to the station. STS-115 was the 116th Shuttle flight and the 19th mission to visit the ISS. The array will not provide power to the ISS until further work is carried out during Shuttle Discovery's STS-116 mission in December. The 73.2m-wide array was fully unfolded at 14:44GMT on 14 September. During that day's EVA, the mission's second, MacLean and NASA astronaut Dan Burbank worked on activating the SARJ, losing a bolt in the process. The unfolding of the Lockheed Martin-built solar panels was to take place on 13 September but a software problem with the Solar Alpha Rotary Joint (SARJ), which rotates the arrays to follow the Sun, delayed that to the following day. On the mission's first day of extra-vehicular activity (EVA), NASA astronauts Joe Tanner and Heide Stefanyshyn-Piper connected power cables and removed launch restraints from the array's blanket box and its Beta Gimbal Assembly. At about 08:00 GMT on 12 September Canadian Space Agency astronaut Steve MacLean and ISS expedition 13 flight engineer Jeffery Williams used the ISS remote manipulator system to move the P3/P4 truss to its new position at the end of the station's existing port one truss segment. The object turned out to be a bag and NASA's mission management's fears of a possible collision between bag and Orbiter were appeased after an inspection of the spacecraft's thermal protection system found no problems, allowing today's landing.ĭuring the mission, that began with the 9 September launch, the 13.7m (45ft)-long P3/P4 truss was attached to the ISS on flight day four. NASA's Space Shuttle Atlantis landed at Kennedy Space Center's (KSC) 15,000ft (4,500m) long runway at 06:21h local time (10:21 GMT) today after its successful extended 12-day International Space Station (ISS) mission STS-115 to attach the 17,500kg (38,500lb) port three and port four (P3/P4) truss to the orbital outpost.Ībove: Atlantis, OV-104, lands at KSC's runway after its 12-day flightĪtlantis landed a day late because an unidentified object was spotted near to the Orbiter before it began its planned descent on the morning of 20 September.
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