Space Shuttle Atlantis

Built between 1980 and 1984, and went on thirty-three missions with the first mission in 1985 and the last mission in 2011. The masts held the orbiter in place. At T-5:00:00, the external tank gets fueled. T-3:00:00 would be when the astronauts board the Atlantis. The solid rocket boosters have already been fueled up. At T-00:07:30, the Orbiter Access Arm would be pulled back from the orbiter. At T-00:03:45, the RS-25 main engine gimbals are tested to make sure they are functioning properly. At T-00:02:55 seconds, the Beanie cap is lifted off the top of the External Tank. So was the Gaseous Oxygen Vent Arm. At T-0:00:10, the Hydrogen Burn Off System will activate, sparking off any access hydrogen. At T-00:00:06, the three main engines ignite and start up. If they don't function properly, the flight will be canceled. At liftoff, all the other components holding the spacecraft down will be pulled off as the solid rocket boosters ignite. Once away from the tower, the orbiter would do a Roll Program where it would spin and get the orbiter's head down to reduce stress on the wings as well as allow astronauts in the flight deck to view the curve of Earth. Once in Max-Q, the main engines on the orbiter will throttle down. After two minutes of lift off, the Solid Rocket Boosters are no longer needed and would detach from the external tank. They would return to Earth with parachutes landing in the Atlantic Ocean to be reused. By then, fuel from the external tank would be used. Eight minutes and thirty seconds into the flight, the external tank is detached from the orbiter before it gets dry so it can't ruin the engines. This stage is referred to as Main Engine Cut Off (MECO). The OMS rockets would be used to maneuver the orbiter. The orbiter would transport crew and cargo between Earth and the International Space Station. The final mission was in 2011, and the orbiter would land on Earth, similar to an airplane. There are four on display in different parts of the country. The Atlantis is on display at the Kennedy Space Center in its museum.