June 28, 2011

Candrea Thomas Kennedy Space Center, Fla 321-867-2468 candrea k thomas@nasa gov

Stephanie Schierholz Headquarters, Washington 202-358-1100 stephanie schierholz@nasa gov

RELEASE: 11-193

NASA SETS LAUNCH DATE FOR FINAL SPACE SHUTTLE MISSION

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla -- Space shuttle Atlantis' Commander Chris Ferguson and his three crewmates are scheduled to begin a 12-day mission to the International Space Station with a launch at 11:26 a m EDT on July 8, from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida The STS-135 mission is the final flight of the Space Shuttle Program

The launch date was announced Tuesday at the conclusion of a flight readiness review at Kennedy During the meeting, senior NASA and contractor managers assessed the risks associated with the mission and determined the shuttle and station's equipment, support systems and personnel are ready

Atlantis' STS-135 mission will deliver the Raffaello multi-purpose logistics module filled with supplies and spare parts to sustain space station operations after the shuttles are retired

The mission also will fly the Robotic Refueling Mission (RRM), an experiment designed to demonstrate and test the tools, technologies and techniques needed to robotically refuel satellites in space - even satellites not designed to be serviced The crew also will return an ammonia pump that recently failed on the station Engineers want to understand why the pump failed and improve designs for future spacecraft

The crew consists of Commander Ferguson, Pilot Doug Hurley, and Mission Specialists Sandy Magnus and Rex Walheim They are scheduled to arrive at Kennedy on Monday, July 4, for final launch preparations

STS-135 is the 135th shuttle mission, Atlantis' 33rd flight and the 37th shuttle mission to the station

For more information about the STS-135 mission, visit:

http://www nasa gov/shuttle

For more information about the space station, visit:

http://www nasa gov/station

-end-

To subscribe to the list, send a message to: ksc-subscribe@newsletters nasa gov To remove your address from the list, send a message to: ksc-unsubscribe@newsletters nasa gov

The following information is a reminder of your current mailing list subscription:

You are subscribed to the following list: [list_name]

using the following email: example@example.com

You may automatically unsubscribe from this list at any time by visiting the following URL:

https://aus-city com/cgi-bin/dada/mail cgi/u/STS_ISS_STATUS/example/example com/

If the above URL is inoperable, make sure that you have copied the entire address Some mail readers will wrap a long URL and thus break this automatic unsubscribe mechanism

You may also change your subscription by visiting this list's main screen:

<[program_url]/list/[list]>

If you're still having trouble, please contact the list owner at:

<mailto:[list_owner_email]>

The following physical address is associated with this mailing list:

[physical_address]