Space Shuttle Atlantis Photo Credit NASA

As of this writing, the Space Shuttle Atlantis sits on the pad at Kennedy Space Center Florida, ready for today’s liftoff on a mission to the International Space Station.  Barring any last-minute reprieves, this will be Atlantis’ last flight.  After this mission,  Orbiter OV-104,  first flown in 1985,  will be removed from service as NASA retires the Shuttle fleet.  There are only a few more flights remaining in the construction of the International Space Station, and once those flights are done, the shuttle program will be ended.  The orbiters will be safed, and shipped off to various museums and institutions for display.

Once the last Space Shuttle lands sometime in 2011, the United States will have no manned access to space.  While there is an impressive list of rockets in NASA’s fleet, once the Shuttles are retired, American astronauts will only be able to go into space on the rockets of other nations, primarily Russia.

Essentially, the only way for the United States to access it’s Space Station is to hail a cab.

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