Nasa, Atlantis Space Shuttle | featured news

Atlantis' landing in the faintest glimmer of dawn this morning ended the flawless final mission of NASA's space shuttle program and gave way to NASA's new era of uncertainty, with no more manned space flight launches for many years.

Astronauts unlikely to match amount of work or danger involved for generations to come.

Though thunderstorms threatened, Atlantis was launched for NASA’s 135th and final shuttle flight, bound for the International Space Station with four astronauts.

NBC News’ Jay Barbree narrates a rare time-lapse video of the shuttle Atlantis being prepared for its final mission.

Technological triumph or tragic mistake? NASA's final space shuttle launch sparks a debate over spaceflight's future.

In the final move of its kind, NASA's space shuttle Atlantis was photographed earlier this month slowly advancing toward Launch Pad 39A, where it is currently scheduled for a July launch to the International Space Station. The mission, designated STS-135, is the 135th and last mission for a NASA space shuttle. Atlantis and its four-person crew will be carrying, among other things, the Multi-Purpose Logistics Module Raffaello to bring key components and supplies to the ISS.

Weather conditions forced NASA to wave off a landing attempt for space shuttle Atlantis scheduled for 9:16 a.m. ET Saturday at Florida's Kennedy Space Center, the space agency said.

The Atlantis will have another chance to land at 11:39 a.m. If the weather does not improve, NASA will try again Saturday.

With a mostly dark home planet behind him, astronaut Michael Good rides Atlantis' remote manipulator system arm to the exact position he needs to be to continue work on the Hubble Space Telescope on the STS-125 mission's fourth spacewalk on May 17, 2009.