Last Shuttle...

Space shuttle Atlantis’ STS-135 mission will be NASA’s last space shuttle flight. Atlantis will carry four astronauts and the multi-purpose logistics module Raffaello to the International Space Station on 8th of July. During the 12-day flight, mission specialists will use the shuttle’s robotic arm to lift Raffaello from the shuttle’s payload bay and hand it off to the station’s robotic arm for temporary attachment to the Harmony node segment. Raffaello contains logistics, supplies and hardware for transfer to the station. Atlantis also will carry a system to investigate the potential for robotically refueling existing satellites and return a failed ammonia pump to help NASA better understand the failure mechanism and improve pump designs for future systems. STS-135 is Atlantis’ 33rd and final flight, the 135th and final space shuttle mission, and the 37th U.S. flight to the space station.