On this day in space! July 8, 2011: Space Shuttle Atlantis launches on final mission

On July 8, 2011, the space shuttle Atlantis launched on its final mission.

Photos: Rare Last Look Inside Shuttle Atlantis

Atlantis was the last of NASA's space shuttles to fly into space. It went on 33 missions since 1985, ferrying astronauts to and from space stations, and even doing some top-secret missions for the U.S. military. Mission STS-135 and its 4-member crew brought much-needed supplies and equipment to the International Space Station.

The space shuttle Atlantis is seen over the Bahamas prior to docking with the International Space Station on July 10, 2011, on the last mission of NASA&rsquo;s space shuttle program. Aboard the shuttle were mice whose livers later showed signs of disease, after spending just 13.5 days in space. — The space shuttle Atlantis is seen over the Bahamas prior to docking with the International Space Station on July 10, 2011, on the last mission of NASA’s space shuttle program. Aboard the shuttle were mice whose livers later showed signs of disease, after spending just 13.5 days in space. (Image credit: NASA)

Atlantis landed for a final time on July 21, 2011. By the end of this final mission, Atlantis had traveled nearly 126,000,000 miles and orbited Earth 4,848 times.

On This Day in Space: See our full 365-day video archive!

Hanneke Weitering is a multimedia journalist in the Pacific Northwest reporting on the future of aviation at FutureFlight.aero and Aviation International News and was previously the Editor for Spaceflight and Astronomy news here at Space.com. As an editor with over 10 years of experience in science journalism she has previously written for Scholastic Classroom Magazines, MedPage Today and The Joint Institute for Computational Sciences at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. After studying physics at the University of Tennessee in her hometown of Knoxville, she earned her graduate degree in Science, Health and Environmental Reporting (SHERP) from New York University. Hanneke joined the Space.com team in 2016 as a staff writer and producer, covering topics including spaceflight and astronomy. She currently lives in Seattle, home of the Space Needle, with her cat and two snakes. In her spare time, Hanneke enjoys exploring the Rocky Mountains, basking in nature and looking for dark skies to gaze at the cosmos.