In case you don’t know, NASA is retiring the shuttle and going back to the old type of simple rockets they used in the 1960’s and 70’s to go the moon. I don’t know about you, but I have dreamed of going to see the shuttle launch my whole life. I guess its time to schedule the trip.
Remaining missions in 2008
- 8 October – Atlantis: A mission to repair and upgrade the Hubble Space Telescope.
- 10 November – Endeavour: ISS re-supply, and servicing of rotary joints that allow the big solar arrays to track the Sun.
Missions in 2009
- 12 February – Discovery: Final pair of solar arrays to be installed on the starboard end of the station’s backbone.
- 15 May – Endeavour: Delivery of third and final component of the Japanese Kibo Laboratory.
- 30 July – Atlantis: Largely a logistics mission but it will include spacewalks to install equipment on Europe’s Columbus lab.
- 15 October – Discovery: The flight will take up two spare gyroscopes that are needed to maintain station stability.
- 10 December – Endeavour: Delivery of the final connecting node, Node 3, together with the European-built Cupola window.
Missions in 2010
- 11 February – Atlantis: Another logistics mission to make sure the station is fully stocked with supplies.
- 8 April – Discovery: The flight will see the installation of a Russian Mini Research Module to be attached at the rear of the ISS.
- 31 May – Endeavour: The last flight. The 15-day mission will be the 35th orbiter flight to the station.
