KSC-2011-5687

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- NASA Administrator Charlie Bolden talks about bookending the space agency's Space Shuttle Program following the successful STS-135 mission to the International Space Station. The program's final four astronauts look on, from left: Mission Specialists Rex Walheim and Sandy Magnus, Pilot Doug Hurley, and Commander Chris Ferguson. The crew brought space shuttle Atlantis home to the Shuttle Landing Facility's Runway 15 at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida at 5:57 a.m. EDT. Atlantis' final return from space completed a 13-day, 5.2-million-mile journey to the International Space Station. STS-135 delivered spare parts, equipment and supplies in the Raffaello multi-purpose logistics module that will sustain station operations for the next year. STS-135 was the 33rd and final flight for Atlantis, which has spent 307 days in space, orbited Earth 4,848 times and traveled 125,935,769 miles. For more information visit, www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/shuttle/shuttlemissions/sts135/index.html. Photo credit: NASA/Kim Shiflett