Yesterday marked a momentous day in U.S. history as NASA launched its final space shuttle, ending a 30-year era. Four astronauts?commander Chris Ferguson, pilot Doug Hurley and mission specialists Rex Walheim and Sandy Magnus?are leading the 12-day Atlantis mission, the 135th and final flight of the storied space shuttle program. After Atlantis returns to Earth, NASA will officially retire the program and shift its focus to developing next-generation crew exploration vehicles (CEV) capable of carrying crew and cargoes to Earth?s orbit, the moon and Mars. But just days before the Atlantis launch, something unexpected made headlines. Rocketing past the International Space Station at 29,000 miles per hour, a piece of space debris came only 1,100 feet away from a collision, forcing crew members to take refuge in two space capsules reserved for an emergency escape. 
Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/Cwrzm1mmW18/
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