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The 30 year space shuttle programme finally came to an end as Atlantis landed at the Kennedy Space Center on July 21st 2011. An emotional Chris Ferguson, commander of the last flight, said “The space shuttle changed the way we view the world and it changed the way we view the universe”.

The shuttle fleet has been put into retirement due to high costs which now leaves the United States with no means of putting astronauts into space. The hope now is that the private sector will fill the void. Until then NASA will employ Russian rockets to transport crews to the International Space Station.

The first space shuttle launch was in April 1981, the hope then was that spaceflight would become routine with launches possibly taking place once a week. Even though that ambition was never achieved the space shuttle was very successful with many memorable highlights, un-tethered space walks became common, the launch and subsequent repairs to the Hubble Space Telescope and the construction of the International Space Station.

There were of course lows, in January 1986 Challenger disintegrated 72 seconds after launch with the loss of all seven crew members including Christa McAuliffe, who would have become the first civilian in space. In February 2003 Columbia was torn apart on re-entry into Earth’s atmosphere again leading to the loss of all on board.

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