After 30 Years, the Space Shuttle Program Retires

26 July 2011

Space shuttle Atlantis lands early Thursday morning at NASA's Kennedy Space Center after its final flight.

MARIO RITTER: I'm Mario Ritter.

BARBARA KLEIN: And I'm Barbara Klein with EXPLORATIONS in VOA Special English. This week, we talk about the final American space shuttle flight. Last week, space shuttle Atlantis returned to Kennedy Space Center in Florida after thirteen days in space. It was the last of one hundred thirty five flights for the world's first reusable space vehicle design.

But as one historic program came to an end this month, others continue to explore new worlds. The American space agency's Dawn spacecraft began circling Vesta, a member of the asteroid belt that orbits the sun.

MARIO RITTER: And we mark an anniversary. It has been one year on Neptune since that planet was discovered. Neptune, however, is the farthest planet from the sun. It is so distant, in fact, that one hundred sixty-five years have passed on Earth since its discovery.

(MUSIC)

Shuttle Farewell

BARBARA KLEIN: Sometimes the high technology of space exploration hides the human side of efforts to reach toward the stars. But, the space shuttle program has come to represent the success, and tragedy, of discovery at the limits of our world.

MARIO RITTER: The first shuttle flight was nearly perfect.