NASA's final space shuttle launch

Nation & World News

NASA's final space shuttle launch

The space shuttle Atlantis blasted off Friday, July 8, 2011, on the 135th and final NASA mission.

Space shuttle Atlantis lifts off from Pad 39A at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Fla., Friday, July 8, 2011. The STS135 mission, the final shuttle flight, will bring supplies to the international space station.

The space shuttle Atlantis lifts off from the Kennedy Space Center. Atlantis is the 135th and final space shuttle launch for NASA.

Russell Brawley (right) of Billings, Mont., watches as space shuttle Atlantis lifts off Friday in Titusville, Fla. Four astronauts are taking space shuttle Atlantis for one last ride, the very last one of the 30-year space shuttle era.

Spectators watch space shuttle Atlantis lifts off from the Kennedy Space Center Friday.

Spectators watch the final launch of space shuttle Atlantis in Titusville, Fla., Friday, July 8, 2011.

Atlantis is the 135th and final space shuttle launch for NASA.

Doug Chambers watches space shuttle Atlantis lift off Friday, July 8, 2011, in Titusville, Fla. on the last shuttle fiight of the 30-year space shuttle era.

Photographers take pictures of the space shuttle liftoff.

The space shuttle Atlantis astronauts left to right, pilot Doug Hurley, mission specialist Sandy Magnus, commander Chris Ferguson and mission specialist Rex Walheim, leave the operations and check-out building on their way to the pad at the Kennedy Space Center Friday, July 8, 2011, in Cape Canaveral, Fla. Atlantis is the 135th and final space shuttle launch for NASA.

Reid Goodfellow, 16, of Atlanta, rides his skateboard on the Max Brewer Bridge dressed as an astronaut while he waits for the launch of space shuttle Atlantis Friday, July 8, 2011, in Titusville, Fla.

The space shuttle Atlantis is seen on the launch pad at the Kennedy Space Center Friday, July 8, 2011, in Cape Canaveral, Fla. Atlantis took off Friday on the 135th and final space shuttle launch for NASA.

Jeff Eaton of Cocoa Beach, Fla., sells T-shirts along A1A in Cocoa Beach on Friday, July 8, 2011. Thousands headed to the Florida coast Friday morning, anxious for a good spot to view the final launch of space shuttle Atlantis.

A young boy sleeps while others wait for the launch of space shuttle Atlantis in Titusville, Fla., Friday, July 8, 2011.

People sleep under a pier early in the morning in Cocoa Beach on Friday, July 8, 2011. They arrived early to get a good spot to view the final launch of space shuttle Atlantis.

Spectators wait along the Max Brewer Bridge for the launch of space shuttle Atlantis Friday, July 8, 2011, in Titusville, Fla.

Winter Park, Fla., artist Larry Moore paints the scene at the Kennedy Space Center Friday, July 8, 2011, in Cape Canaveral, Fla.

Crowds gather at Space View Park as they wait for the launch of space shuttle Atlantis Friday, July 8, 2011, in Titusville, Fla.

Spectators make their way up the Max Brewer Bridge to view the launch of space shuttle Atlantis Friday, July 8, 2011, in Titusville, Fla.

Jim Block, from Ohio, looks through his camera at space shuttle Atlantis as it sits on the launch pad Friday, July 8, 2011, in Titusville, Fla.

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Space shuttle Atlantis lifts off from Pad 39A at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Fla., Friday, July 8, 2011. The STS135 mission, the final shuttle flight, will bring supplies to the international space station.

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