Space shuttle Endeavour has returned to Earth, leaving just 4 more shuttle flights in the program and leading NASA officials to think about the future.
The shuttle and its crew, led by George Zamka, landed at 10:20 p.m. EST (Eastern Standard Time) Sunday at the Kennedy Space Center Florida, ending a 14-day, 5.7-million-mile mission to the International Space Station (ISS).
"We have come a long way in human spaceflight because of the shuttle's capability," George Zamka said. "We have launched and retrieved satellites, we have done medical research and now we have built this huge space station. We are almost to the point of passing the baton from the space shuttle toward the space station in terms of what our human spaceflight experience will be now."
Kwatsi Alibaruho who is lead STS-130 space shuttle flight director, said even with so much left to do in the shuttle program's final 4 flights, he was making it a point to spend some time thinking about the subject.
"It is very easy to get into a routine, to lose oneself in the hustle and bustle of trying to get the work done," Kwatsi Alibaruho said. "But the shuttle is a unique spacecraft and I find myself thinking a lot about how I am going to describe this time to my son when he is old enough to understand. There has never been an operational spacecraft like (the shuttle) before and each indications are that it will be some time before there’ll be one like it again."
The shuttle and its crew, led by George Zamka, landed at 10:20 p.m. EST (Eastern Standard Time) Sunday at the Kennedy Space Center Florida, ending a 14-day, 5.7-million-mile mission to the International Space Station (ISS).
"We have come a long way in human spaceflight because of the shuttle's capability," George Zamka said. "We have launched and retrieved satellites, we have done medical research and now we have built this huge space station. We are almost to the point of passing the baton from the space shuttle toward the space station in terms of what our human spaceflight experience will be now."
Kwatsi Alibaruho who is lead STS-130 space shuttle flight director, said even with so much left to do in the shuttle program's final 4 flights, he was making it a point to spend some time thinking about the subject.
"It is very easy to get into a routine, to lose oneself in the hustle and bustle of trying to get the work done," Kwatsi Alibaruho said. "But the shuttle is a unique spacecraft and I find myself thinking a lot about how I am going to describe this time to my son when he is old enough to understand. There has never been an operational spacecraft like (the shuttle) before and each indications are that it will be some time before there’ll be one like it again."
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