Atlantis (OV-104) – is the fourth American space shuttle. Its construction utilized experiences from previous designs, making it lighter and more modern. Between 1985–2011, it completed 33 missions, which were crucial for the construction of the International Space Station (ISS) and scientific missions. It became famous as a pioneer of flights to the Mir station and as the performer of the final flight in the space shuttle program (STS-135), ending the 30-year era of space shuttles.
The space shuttle Atlantis was named after the first American oceanographic research vessel, the two-masted sailing ship RV Atlantis, which operated under the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution in Massachusetts.
Key facts from Atlantis’s history:
Missions: It completed 33 missions, spent 307 days in space, and traveled over 203 million km.
- Construction of ISS and Mir: It played a key role in the construction of the ISS (delivering, among others, the Columbus module) and conducted 7 docking missions to the Russian Mir station.
- Last flight: Mission STS-135 in July 2011.
- Important payloads: It deployed the Magellan and Galileo probes (1989), the Compton telescope (1991), and serviced the Hubble telescope (2009).
- Resting place: It is currently located at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, where it is open to the public as an exhibit.
