21 July 2011 Thus was history made: Space Shuttle Atlantis left the International Space Station on Tuesday and made its last return to Earth today. The Shuttle era is now over and the door is open to the next generation of space vehicles.
“This is the world’s greatest flying machine, I’ll tell you that,” proclaimed NASA astronaut John Young, Commander of the first Space Shuttle flight, when its wheels stopped after landing on 14 April 1981, 30 years ago.
