Wednesday, June 1, 2011

STS134: Touchdown!

Infrared camera view of Endeavour about to land.

STS 134 came to an end this morning at 12:34 a.m. MDT when Endeavour landed perfectly on the giant runway built for shuttles at the Kennedy Space Center. This was the final landing for Endeavour, which will now be retired to a museum.

This great shuttle, built to replace the loss of the Challenger, has completed a remarkable series of 25 missions since 1992. The mileage rackup just for this mission is impressive: 6,510,221 miles around the Earth in low orbit, preforming science and helping to build the ISS.
The total mileage for all of its missions now stands at a whopping 122,883,151 miles. Wow!

In addition to mileage, Endeavour has completed 299 days in space, making 4,671 orbits around the Earth. Its next numbers goal will be how many visitors it will receive in a museum.

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