Key Takeaways:
Space Shuttle Atlantis, a reusable winged spacecraft and the fourth space-qualified orbiter to join the U.S. space shuttle fleet (after Columbia, Challenger, and Discovery), launched June 27, 1995. Among other goals, the space shuttle program was designed to enable international cooperation, support space station operations and resupply, conduct research, and facilitate crew exchange. Two days later, Atlantis began achieving those goals when it successfully performed the U.S.’s first-ever docking with Russia’s Mir space station. When docked, Atlantis and Mir formed the largest spacecraft ever in orbit at that time, weighing nearly half a million pounds. The mission also conducted biomedical investigations, performed the first in-space crew transfer, and delivered supplies. Atlantis would go on to make six more dockings with Mir and multiple missions to the International Space Station, ultimately concluding its extensive career with the final space shuttle mission, STS-135, in 2011. The shuttle is now on display at the Kennedy Space Center.
