July 8th: The Day NASA Launched Their Final Space Shuttle Atlantis

The 33rd and final flight of Atlantis

Rounding off a thirty year project of space shuttling in NASA, the Space Shuttle Atlantis left the Kennedy Space Center in Florida on July 8th 2011. Despite a last minute computer glitch-related delay, Atlantis made the project's 135th flight over the last 30 years. Thousands watched from a safe distance, and millions watched the videos those thousands uploaded onto Youtube. July 8th made history for NASA and their space shuttles, but launch director Mike Leinbach insisted that 'America will continue the dream.'
   At 11.29am the Space Shuttle Atlantis left launchpad 39A - the very same launchpad that Apollo 11 made that giant leap for mankind on the Moon back in 1969. The shuttle crew consisted of two astronauts Chris Ferguson and Doug Hurley, and two mission specialists Sandy Magnus and Rex Walheim. The final moments leading up to lift off the director told the crew: 'For the final time, good luck, godspeed, and have a little fun up there.' Easy for him to say, he doesn't have to travel at 19,000 miles per hour for an extended period of time without vomiting.
    As epic as this day is for NASA and the achievement, unfortunately there are negative impacts on the surrounding areas of the Kennedy Space Center. As you can imagine, Titusville received an awful lot of tourism and business during the shuttle launch project, especially when they were anticipating a countdown. So it is no surprise that once the final launch has disappeared above the skyline, the economy is bound to come soaring down. What goes up has to come down, as they say. A local citizen of Titusville said: 'I have a feeling this town will become a ghost town. Businesses are already shutting down. There's nobody hiring.' A sad reality for a small community, but (here comes another cheesy saying) all good things must come to an end.
   However this is not the end for space launches (yay!) completely. A further 3 launches are scheduled to take place this month alone to the International Space Station (somewhere in space). We still have a lot to learn about the universe, so what's the point in stopping now, when technology is advancing by the second it seems?!