1
00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:01,000
Music

2
00:00:10,980 --> 00:00:12,689
George Diller/NASA Public Affairs Officer: Atlantis is the fourth orbiter in

3
00:00:12,690 --> 00:00:13,466
NASA’s space shuttle fleet to launch from Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

4
00:00:16,980 --> 00:00:23,113
Also designated Orbiter Vehicle-104, or OV-104, Atlantis is named after the primary research

5
00:00:24,190 --> 00:00:29,856
vessel for the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute in Massachusetts from 1930 to 1966.

6
00:00:31,940 --> 00:00:38,073
Atlantis arrived at Kennedy on April 13, 1985, from Palmdale, Calif., and spent seven months

7
00:00:38,780 --> 00:00:39,386
in an orbiter processing facility while NASA and contractor workers prepared

8
00:00:43,240 --> 00:00:43,416
the vehicle for its maiden voyage.

9
00:00:45,330 --> 00:00:46,030
NASA Launch Commentator: Ignition and liftoff. Liftoff of Atlantis, a new orbiter

10
00:00:50,030 --> 00:00:53,563
joins the shuttle fleet and it has cleared the tower.

11
00:00:54,580 --> 00:01:00,113
Space shuttle Atlantis launched on its first spaceflight, STS-51J, on Oct. 3, 1985,

12
00:01:01,980 --> 00:01:06,513
and carried a classified payload for the U.S. Department of Defense.

13
00:01:07,140 --> 00:01:07,706
During the last 25 years, Atlantis has served as the on-orbit launch site

14
00:01:11,440 --> 00:01:17,040
for many noteworthy spacecraft, including the planetary probes Magellan and Galileo.

15
00:01:18,030 --> 00:01:22,430
Starting with STS-71, Atlantis pioneered the Shuttle-Mir missions,

16
00:01:22,890 --> 00:01:23,073
flying the first seven missions to dock with the Russian space station.

17
00:01:27,440 --> 00:01:31,506
During the fourth docking mission, STS-79, in September 1996,

18
00:01:32,640 --> 00:01:32,916
Atlantis ferried astronaut Shannon Lucid back to Earth after her record-setting 188 days in orbit

19
00:01:38,830 --> 00:01:44,096
aboard Mir. In recent years, Atlantis delivered several vital components to the

20
00:01:44,530 --> 00:01:44,803
International Space Station, including the U.S. laboratory module Destiny,

21
00:01:49,190 --> 00:01:49,440
as well as the Quest Joint Airlock and multiple sections of the integrated truss structure

22
00:01:54,940 --> 00:02:00,673
that make up the station’s backbone. The STS-125 mission aboard Atlantis in May 2009

23
00:02:02,140 --> 00:02:06,473
was the fifth and final Hubble Space Telescope Servicing Mission.

24
00:02:07,230 --> 00:02:08,286
Throughout the years, Atlantis has undergone two overhauls knows as

25
00:02:10,640 --> 00:02:10,890
Orbiter Maintenance Down Periods. Some of the most significant upgrades and

26
00:02:15,390 --> 00:02:15,600
new features include installation of the drag chute, improved nosewheel steering,

27
00:02:20,580 --> 00:02:21,036
installation of the space station airlock and orbiter docking system, and the multifunction

28
00:02:26,190 --> 00:02:26,240
electronic display system, or “glass cockpit.” With the launch of Atlantis on STS-132,