Farewell to the Space Shuttle.

Posted by Mr Mallon on July 8, 2011

The last launch of the space shuttle. Friday 8th July 2011

Today sees saw the launch of the last space shuttle. For thirty years this space craft has brought us joy and sadness. I can remember the first launch way back in 1981. I was thrilled as a physics undergraduate to see this new era of space exploration happening, especially when the astronauts carried out physics experiments in space and showed us the Earth in all its glory using modern tv and video.

There was the fantastic rescue of the Hubble Space Telescope but also the dire sadness of the two disasters.

The Challenger disaster of January 1986 was particularly sad because of the loss of the first school teacher on board Christine McAuliffe.

In 2003 a faulty tile caused the disaster of Columbia as it returned to Earth. In all fourteen astronauts lost their lives in the shuttle program.

Here is a link to a wonderful documentary on the space shuttle`s history.

Farewell Space shuttle and God`s speed on your final return.

Info Graphic on the Shuttle

8Jul

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