US space shuttle Atlantis arrives at International Space Station for last time

Arrived in the U.S. space shuttle Atlantis to the International Space Station on Sunday to deliver the last batch of supplies to the station on the orbital plane of the final U.S. space shuttle Chris Ferguson programme. Commander gently eased Atlantis to a car sliding on the Harmony node of the station at the time 11:07:00. EDT also increased the vehicle 230 miles over the Pacific Ocean. "Hello Welcome to the International Space Station for the last time," station flight engineer Ron Garan wirelessly to the crew. After that date for 30 years which has cost nearly $ 200 billion, and claimed the lives of 14 astronauts, the shuttle is being retired to make way for a new generation of spacecraft that President Barack Obama
says will put U.S. astronauts on an asteroid and then to Mars. Culminated in the docking of two-day journey that began with an emotional farewell from the Kennedy Space Center, where nearly a million spectators gathered Friday to watch the shuttle thunder into the sky for a journey of the program 135 and the last. About an hour before docking, the commander of Atlantis Ferguson turned gently until Garan and crew - his colleagues on board the station could photograph the shuttle heat-resistant tiles sensitive. "Poetry in motion," said mission commentator Rob Navias, cameras, television relay station on board the spaceship video elegant backflipping slowly above the ocean cloud speckled North Atlantic. And will be sent to thousands of images to ground control teams to analyze for signs of damage to Atlantis' heat shield. The safety of this procedure to all shuttle missions to the station after the Columbia accident in 2003. He died seven astronauts when Columbia broke apart while trying to return to Earth with the heat shield was damaged. Preliminary estimates showed the Atlantis was in good condition after its launch. The only problem that cropped up so far is to turn off the computer and the unit Sunday morning. The use of three other computers to meet and docking and NASA hopes to restore a failed unit later on Sunday. Atlantis holds more than 5 tons of clothing, food, spare parts and scientific equipment and other supplies for the station, a project costing $ 100 billion involving 16 countries and lasted more than a decade in the pool. Allocated by NASA shuttle mission from 37 to build and equip the station. Legacy also includes the shuttle launch and service the Hubble Space Telescope and sending dozens of investigations of the planets and satellites, which revolve around the earth Now that the station is complete, and the United States to end the shuttle program for 30 years to pave the way for the new spacecraft that can travel to the moon, planets and other deep space destinations. Manages the goods to the international space station is being handed over to private companies for the Space Exploration Technologies Corp., Orbital Sciences and two companies plan to begin delivery to NASA in the next year. Aboard Atlantis will be the time to buy some supplies in case they encountered delays. Shuttle retirement will leave the United States without a means to fly people into space on its own. Instead, NASA will pay Russia to transport astronauts to the station so that businesses in the United States is prepared to provide that service. United States is investing 269 million dollars in a taxi space development work by the Boeing Company, and Sierra Nevada Corp., Space Exploration Technologies, and Blue Origin, and start. Owned by Jeff Bezos, founder of Amazon NASA hopes to resume flying its astronauts from the United States by the year 2015. Atlantis fly with a smaller crew of four, to accommodate the limited seats on board the Russian Soyuz spacecraft carrying them home in case Atlantis is very damaged to make the return trip. All the missions since the shuttle Columbia accident waiting for a second rescue mission if necessary. But the sister ship Atlantis and Endeavour, Discovery had already completed the final journey, so NASA rely on the Soyuz space capsules to serve as a "lifeboat".