Image: NASA
STS-135
Mission Profile
| Launch date | 2011-07-08 |
|---|---|
| Launch site | Launch Complex 39A, Kennedy Space Center, Florida |
| Launch vehicle | Space Shuttle |
| Spacecraft | Space Shuttle Atlantis (OV-104) |
| Target | Low Earth Orbit |
| Type | Crewed |
| End date | 2011-07-21 |
| Duration | 12 days, 18 hours, 28 minutes |
Overview
The 135th and final mission of the Space Shuttle program began at 11:29 a.m. EDT on 8 July 2011, when Atlantis rose from pad 39A before nearly a million spectators lining Florida's Space Coast. Its crew of four — commander Christopher Ferguson, pilot Doug Hurley, and mission specialists Sandra Magnus and Rex Walheim — was the smallest on any shuttle since STS-6 in 1983, sized so that Soyuz capsules could bring everyone home if Atlantis suffered damage, since no rescue shuttle remained. The mission itself was a giant grocery run: the Raffaello multi-purpose logistics module carried more than 9,400 pounds of supplies and spare equipment to provision the International Space Station for the gap before commercial cargo ships arrived, and Atlantis returned nearly 5,700 pounds of unneeded gear. During docked operations, station astronauts Mike Fossum and Ron Garan performed the final spacewalk of the shuttle era while the visiting crew ran robotics. At the farewell ceremony, Ferguson presented a US flag flown on STS-1 in 1981, to remain aboard until the next crew launched from American soil retrieved it — Doug Hurley himself claimed it nine years later on SpaceX's Demo-2. Atlantis's wheels stopped on Runway 15 at Kennedy at 5:57 a.m. EDT on 21 July 2011, ending thirty years of shuttle flight.
Crew
Christopher J. Ferguson
Commander
Final Space Shuttle commander; later led Boeing's Starliner crew operations and was originally assigned to its Crew Flight Test
Doug Hurley
Pilot
Later piloted SpaceX Demo-2, the first commercial crew flight, and retrieved the STS-1 flag left on the ISS
Sandra E. Magnus
Mission Specialist
Former ISS long-duration flight engineer; managed the logistics transfer
Rex J. Walheim
Mission Specialist
Third spaceflight; flight engineer for ascent and entry
Key Milestones
2011-07-08
Atlantis launches from pad 39A at 11:29 a.m. EDT before nearly one million spectators
2011-07-10
Final shuttle docking with the International Space Station
2011-07-11
Raffaello logistics module berthed, delivering more than 9,400 pounds of supplies
2011-07-12
Station crew Fossum and Garan perform the last spacewalk of the shuttle era
2011-07-19
Atlantis undocks after a farewell ceremony leaving the STS-1 flag aboard the station
2011-07-21
Final landing: wheels stop on Kennedy's Runway 15 at 5:57 a.m. EDT, ending the 30-year program
Key Achievements
Flew the 135th and final mission of the 30-year Space Shuttle program
Delivered more than 9,400 pounds of supplies and spares via the Raffaello module, provisioning the ISS for the commercial cargo transition
Operated with the smallest shuttle crew since 1983, enabling Soyuz rescue contingency without a standby orbiter
Left the STS-1 American flag aboard the ISS as a prize for the next US crewed launch — retrieved by Demo-2 in 2020
Returned nearly 5,700 pounds of hardware to Earth on the shuttle's last downmass flight
Legacy & Significance
STS-135 closed the most ambitious reusable-spacecraft program ever flown: 135 missions, the construction of the International Space Station, the launch and repeated rescue of Hubble, and the loss of fourteen astronauts whose accidents reshaped the agency. The mission's quiet logistics work bought the station time until SpaceX and Northrop Grumman cargo ships matured, while the flag Ferguson left on the ISS turned the looming nine-year gap in American crewed launch into an explicit relay — one anchored by the crew itself, as pilot Doug Hurley returned in 2020 aboard Crew Dragon to claim it. Atlantis never flew again; it remains on permanent display at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex, wheels down, payload bay open.
