Space Shuttle Atlantis has lifted off the Kennedy Space Center in Florida and is on its way to the International Space Station (ISS), in what will be the final mission of the United States’ 30-year-long space shuttle program.
The space shuttle Atlantis took off for the very last time at 11:29pm on July 8, 2011 (Philippine Time). Image: NASA TV
The Atlantis will deliver to the ISS a multi-purpose logistics module loaded with spare parts and supplies the orbiting outpost will need to sustain itself after the shuttle mission ends. Also among the shuttle’s tasks is a series of robotic refueling experiments and the return from the ISS of a defective ammonia pump. The crew of the shuttle are all veteran astronauts. They are Chris Ferguson as commander, Doug Hurley as pilot, and Sandra Magnus and Rex Walheim as mission specialists. Atlantis was the fourth shuttle built by NASA. It flew its first mission on October 3, 1985. It was the first orbiter to dock at Russia’s Mir space station in June 1995 . Atlantis also undertook the final servicing mission to the Hubble Space Telescope in May 2009.
The control room had an air of calm as Atlantis took off. Image: NASA TV
The first space shuttle was the Enterprise. Second was the Columbia which broke apart on re-entry on February 1, 2003 at the end of its 28th mission. NASA lost seven astronauts. The space shuttle Challenger met its tragic end during liftoff on January 28, 1986 when a seal on one of its booster rockets failed, causing a chain of events that led to its explosion. Seven astronauts perished. Discovery was the shuttle that NASA sent out after the Columbia and Challenger disasters. It deployed the Hubble in 2001. Discovery was the first shuttle NASA retired. Built to replace Challenger, space shuttle Endeavour was the last to come out of the birthplace of all the shuttles, Rockwell International’s facilities in Palmdale, California. Endeavour retired last month after its 25th mission.
— TJD, GMA News 
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