The shuttle as you've never seen it before: Space Station astronauts capture Atlantis re-entering the atmosphere from above ...hours before it is wheeled into hangar for the last time



Atlantis lands at 5:57am local time with a record crowd watching

'Mission complete, Houston,' Commander's words on touchdown

Precarious future for shuttle workers forgotten in emotion of the moment



Atlantis is towed to its hangar before it goes on display at Kennedy Space Center

Now Atlantis is home, 3,200 of the shuttle program's 5,500 contract workers will lose their jobs tomorrow

Astronauts admit to unexpected tears as they land for the final time




It is an image like none ever seen before and it is only fitting it should be saved for the final, historic voyage.

Astronauts at the International Space Station captured a breathtaking image of Atlantis as it made its last ever voyage back to Earth.

The shuttle appears like a luminous body of light shooting across the atmosphere and is pictured just as it re-enters the earth's atmosphere - which appears like a yellow dome engulfing Earth.

Hours later, after 13 historic and momentous days, Atlantis was then towed into its hangar at the Orbiter Processing Facility several hours after it landed, ending not only its two-week mission, but a 30-year shuttle programme which has long been the pride of America.

The shuttle, which was paraded through the streets to thousands of cheering fans, was carefully locked away for the last time, signalling the end of an era.

It is the last time the shuttle will be seen by the public for a while after it made a perfect landing as dawn broke this morning, gliding down on to the tarmac at Kennedy Space Center, Cape Canaveral.

Scroll down for video of the landing and a history of the Nasa shuttle programme

Breathtaking: The space shuttle Atlantis returns to Earth and is seen re-entering the atmosphere, photographed by the crew of the International Space Station

Put it to bed: Space shuttle Atlantis is moved into the Orbiter Processing Facility following its landing at the Kennedy Space Center for the last time

Last journey: Atlantis is towed along the road to its hangar at the Orbitor Processing facility for the last time where it will remain until it is displayed at a museum But as Americans bid farewell to the space shuttle programme, not all were jubilant about the latest voyage.

Texas Governor Rick Perry has accused President Barack Obama of 'leaving American astronauts with no alternative but to hitchhike into space'.

In a statement issued today, Perry said the Obama administration 'continues to lead federal agencies and programs astray, this time forcing NASA away from its original purpose of space exploration, and ignoring its groundbreaking past and enormous future potential.' The final landing completed the 135th mission for the fleet, which has covered an astonishing 542million miles and circled Earth 21,150 times. Considering this accomplishment, none of the record 2,000 gathered by the landing strip to witness the historic spectacle was complaining that Atlantis was precisely one minute late. The five shuttles have carried 355 people from 16 countries - and here were the last four astronauts safely home to cheers and tears. As Commander Christopher Ferguson eased Atlantis on to the runway, he radioed: 'Mission complete, Houston'. 'Job well done, America,' replied Mission Control.

Well and truly grounded: The sheer size of the shuttle is evident as she is towed to her hangar. Atlantis will remain at the Kennedy Space Center as a museum piece

Home, and job done: Commander Chris Ferguson (right) shakes hands with pilot Doug Hurley after Atlantis landed at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral. To their left are crew members Sandra Mangus and Rex Walheim Welcome back: Mission specialist Sandy Magnus is greeted by Nasa Administrator Charles Bolden on the runway and, right, Commander Ferguson addresses the crowds who came to see the historic landing

Final stop: Commander Ferguson checks a chock under one of Atlantis' wheels, and right, inspects the tiles on the underside of the shuttle



Incoming: With dawn breaking on the horizon and its wheels ready for touchdown, Atlantis glides towards the landing strip at the Kennedy Space Center And she's home: Atlantis lands at Kennedy Space Center last month, bringing to an end Nasa's 30-year shuttle programme HIGHLIGHTS OF THE FINAL FLIGHT

The shuttle's primary payload was an Italian-built cargo hauler named Raffaello, loaded with food, clothing, supplies and science equipment for the space station.

One spacewalk took place during the mission, although it was conducted by Nasa's two resident space station astronauts, rather than the shuttle crew.

There were only four astronauts to accommodate the smaller Russian capsules if Atlantis was damaged. Nasa had no shuttles to mount a rescue mission.

Among the tons of rubbish coming back on the shuttle was a broken ammonia cooling system, which engineers want to take apart and figure out why it failed. Commander Ferguson added: 'After serving the world for over 30 years, the space shuttle's earned its place in history. And it's come to a final stop.' Astronauts on the ship admitted there had been tears, which some had not expected.

'I'm not going to say you're going to see fighter pilots crying or anything like that,' Atlantis pilot Doug Hurley said before the launch earlier this month. 'But there's not going to be any cameras (in the cockpit), so that might happen.' However, the 44-year-old a Marine Corps colonel who grew up in Apalachin, New York, told reporters after the landing today: 'We each got choked up at different times during the mission.'

'Every vehicle has its life,' added Atlantis astronaut Sandy Magnus. 'We've known the shuttle is going to retire for a very long time. Knowing this was the normal plan, you want to celebrate the shuttle. You want to acknowledge all the hard work that people have done for 30 years because it is an important part of our country. 'It's hard to say goodbye, It's like saying goodbye to an old friend.' The very first shuttle flight took place in April 1981. It will be another three to five years at best before Americans are launched into space again from U.S. soil, with private companies gearing up to seize the Earth-to-orbit-and-back baton from Nasa. RELATED ARTICLES Previous

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Next The space shuttle that never left the ground: NASA retires... Ribbon in the dust: The strange twisted ring of gas at the... Blog: So farewell the Space Shuttle, emblem of another age Share this article Share NASA workers lined the runway at the Kennedy Space Center before dawn to greet Atlantis and its crew upon their return from a successful 13-day cargo run to the International Space Station and to celebrate the conclusion of the shuttle program after 135 flights. 'I saw grown men and and grown women crying today, tears of joy to be sure,' said shuttle launch director Mike Leinbach. 'Human emotions came out the runway today. You couldn't suppress them.'

The long-term future for American space exploration is hazy because of the end of the shuttle programme.

Final space crew: (R-L) Commander Chris Ferguson, Pilot Doug Hurley, Sandy Magnus and Rex Walheim pose in front of the shuttle Atlantis Emotional: The Shuttle crew, pictured in today's press conference, admit to tears on arrival, which they did not expect Now that Atlantis is home, 3,200 of the shuttle program's 5,500 contract workers will lose their jobs on Friday.

Within about a month, the contract workforce that totalled about 16,000 five years ago will tail off to about 1,000 people who will oversee the transfer of Atlantis and sister ships Discovery and Endeavour to museums.

Asteroids and Mars are the destinations of choice, yet Nasa has yet to settle on a rocket design to get astronauts there. Today, though, belonged to Atlantis and its crew: Commander Ferguson, co-pilot Douglas Hurley, Rex Walheim and Sandra Magnus, who completed a successful space station resupply mission. Atlantis' main landing gears touched down at 5.57am (10.57am BST), with 'wheels stop' less than a minute later. 'The space shuttle has changed the way we view the world and it's changed the way we view our universe,' said Commander Ferguson. 'There's a lot of emotion today, but one thing's indisputable. America's not going to stop exploring.

Final farewell: Hundreds of spectators gathered near the runway to welcome Atlantis home - and to bid Nasa's space shuttle programme goodbye Atlantis' mission was to resupply the International Space Station, ending a 12-year programme to build and service the orbital research outpost



Atlantis comes to a standstill on the runway. Private companies will now take over trips to the ISS. Nasa's next stop with astronauts will be an asteroid, then Mars 'Thank you Columbia, Challenger, Discovery, Endeavour and our ship Atlantis. Thank you for protecting us and bringing this programme to such a fitting end.' The astronauts' families and friends, as well as shuttle managers and Nasa top brass, gathered near the runway to welcome Atlantis home - and bid the shuttle programme goodbye.

Mission Control in Houston was also packed, teeming with past and present flight directors. Hundreds of other Johnson Space Center employees stood outside, watching the landing on a jumbo screen. Nasa's five space shuttles launched, saved and revitalised the Hubble Space Telescope, built the space station - the world's largest orbiting structure, and opened the final frontier to women, minorities, schoolteachers, even a prince.

Glorious: Atlantis winds its way towards its hanger at the giant Kennedy Space Center in Florida Final approach: Space Shuttle Atlantis is towed to meet the crowds after its last flight Poignant: The space shuttle is finally parked inside the Vehicle Assembly Building at Cape Canaveral The first American to orbit the Earth, John Glenn, became the oldest person ever in space, thanks to the shuttle. He was 77 at the time; he turned 90 this week. Born with Columbia, it was Nasa's longest-running space exploration programme. WHAT NEXT FOR NASA?

Going private: Boeing's proposed Crew Space Transportation CST-100, which can carry a crew of seven. Nasa will now turn to private industry to get its astronauts into space... and Russia Now that the space shuttle era is finally over, President Barack Obama wants Nasa to focus on bigger and bolder adventures far further afield than the International Space Station. American astronauts will now hitch rides aboard Russian Soyuz spacecraft to and from the space station, until private companies are able to launch their own spacecraft with crews. But that's at least three to five years away. The Obama administration wants Nasa to focus on expeditions to an asteroid and Mars, instead of repeated trips to low-Earth orbit. There's not enough money to do both, shuttle programme manager John Shannon said. ‘We're sacrificing the shuttle to enable us to be able to take that next step,’ he said. ‘If we were going to retire the shuttle, this is the time to do it,’ he said, noting that the space station is now completed and in good shape. Earlier this month, Mr Obama said Nasa needs a new 'technology breakthrough' to take it to the next level in exploring the universe. The president said he is 'proud' of America's past achievements in space but that now is the time to make a leap forward. He said: 'We are still a leader in space exploration, but, frankly, I have been pushing Nasa to revamp its vision. 'The shuttle did some extraordinary work in low-orbit experiments, the International Space Station, moving cargo. It was an extraordinary accomplishment. 'And we're very proud of the work that it did.

'But now what we need is that next technological breakthrough.' Morning sunshine: Atlantis is serviced after landing on runway 15 at the Kennedy Space Center Loyal servant: The shuttle programme's grand finale came 50 years to the day that Gus Grissom became the second American in space Hugs and cheers inside Johnson Space Center's mission control as staff congratulate themselves on a job well done Back-slapping: Kennedy Space Center director Bob Cabana (left) hugs a blue-clad shuttle worker, while two firefighters (right) embrace as Atlantis lands safely in Florida Kenny Fisher, right, takes a photograph as he watches with his sister, Ashley, while Johnson Space Center Director Michael Coats, left, kisses his wife Diane

Atlantis was launched in 1985. The next-to-youngest in Nasa's fleet will remain at Kennedy Space Center as a museum display. This grand finale came 50 years to the day that Gus Grissom became the second American in space, just half a year ahead of Glenn. Atlantis - the last of Nasa's three surviving shuttles to retire - performed as admirably during descent as it did throughout the 13-day flight. A full year's worth of food and other supplies were dropped off at the space station, just in case the upcoming commercial deliveries get delayed. The international partners - Russia, Europe, Japan - will carry the load in the meantime. Not all 1,333 days in space have been a success, however. Two of the shuttles - Challenger and Columbia - were destroyed, one at launch, the other during the ride home. Fourteen lives were lost. Yet each time, the shuttle programme persevered. The decision to cease shuttle flight was made seven years ago, barely a year after the Columbia tragedy. President Barack Obama put paid to President George W. Bush's lunar goals, however, opting instead for astronaut expeditions to an asteroid and Mars. Nasa employee Jerry Davison and his wife Maureen (left) take photos, while colleague Sean Carter (right) watches with his family

Fingers crossed: Johnson Space Center employees Jeremy Rea, right, and Shelley Stortz hold hands Last-ditch appeals to keep shuttles flying by such Nasa legends as Apollo 11's Neil Armstrong and Mission Control founder Christopher Kraft landed flat. It comes down to money. Nasa is sacrificing the shuttles, according to the programme manager, so it can get out of low-Earth orbit and get to points beyond. The first stop under Obama's plan is an asteroid by 2025; next comes Mars in the mid-2030s. Private companies are set to take over cargo hauls and astronaut rides to the space station, which is expected to carry on for at least another decade. The first commercial supply run is expected late this year, with Space Exploration Technologies Corp. launching its own rocket and spacecraft from Cape Canaveral. SpaceX maintains it can get people to the space station within three years of getting the all-clear from Nasa. Station managers expect it to be more like five years. Some sceptics say it could be 10 years before Americans are launched again from U.S. soil. An American flag that flew on the first shuttle flight and returned to orbit aboard Atlantis is now at the space station. The first company to get astronauts there will claim the flag as a prize. Until then, Nasa astronauts will continue to hitch rides to the space station on Russian Soyuz spacecraft - for tens of millions of dollars per seat. Homeward bound: An image of the ISS that was taken by an Atlantis crew member shortly after the shuttle departed the station on Tuesday and, right, docked with the space station



Ever since being chosen for this plum assignment last year, Commander Ferguson and his crew have tried to stay upbeat - focusing on the 30 years of success. They pointed to the delivery and repair of Hubble - one of 180 satellites and other spacecraft launched from the shuttles - and the completion of the space station, more than 12 years and 37 shuttle flights in the making. But with thousands of redundancies coming as early as Friday - on top of thousands of shuttle jobs already lost - even Atlantis' determinedly optimistic crew found it difficult at times to put on happy faces. Local businesses and communities chimed in, hoping to ease the pain. 'Thank you shuttle workers,' read the sign outside Cape Canaveral City Hall. After months of decommissioning, Atlantis will be placed on public display at the Kennedy Space Center Visitors' Complex. Discovery, the first shutle to retire in March, will head to a Smithsonian hangar in Virginia. Endeavour, which returned from the space station on June 1, will go to the California Science Center in Los Angeles. Last lift-off: Hundred of thousands of spectators watched blast-off at Cape Canaveral and millions tuned in to watch the crew chat to President Obama during the mission