Stephanie Schierholz
Headquarters, Washington
202-358-1100
stephanie.schierholz@nasa.gov
Candrea Thomas
Kennedy Space Center, Fla.
321-867-2468
candrea.k.thomas@nasa.gov
RELEASE: 11-193
NASA SETS LAUNCH DATE FOR FINAL SPACE SHUTTLE MISSION
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- Space shuttle Atlantis' Commander Chris
Ferguson and his three crewmates are scheduled to begin a 12-day
mission to the International Space Station with a launch at 11:26
a.m. EDT on July 8, from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The
STS-135 mission is the final flight of the Space Shuttle Program.
The launch date was announced Tuesday at the conclusion of a flight
readiness review at Kennedy. During the meeting, senior NASA and
contractor managers assessed the risks associated with the mission
and determined the shuttle and station's equipment, support systems
and personnel are ready.
Atlantis' STS-135 mission will deliver the Raffaello multi-purpose
logistics module filled with supplies and spare parts to sustain
space station operations after the shuttles are retired.
The mission also will fly the Robotic Refueling Mission (RRM), an
experiment designed to demonstrate and test the tools, technologies
and techniques needed to robotically refuel satellites in space -
even satellites not designed to be serviced. The crew also will
return an ammonia pump that recently failed on the station. Engineers
want to understand why the pump failed and improve designs for future
spacecraft.
The crew consists of Commander Ferguson, Pilot Doug Hurley, and
Mission Specialists Sandy Magnus and Rex Walheim. They are scheduled
to arrive at Kennedy on Monday, July 4, for final launch
preparations.
STS-135 is the 135th shuttle mission, Atlantis' 33rd flight and the
37th shuttle mission to the station.
For more information about the STS-135 mission, visit:
For more information about the space station, visit:
-end-
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