With the launch of shuttle Atlantis, the final shuttle mission, we are closing a chapter in man's space exploration in lower Earth orbit and graduating from the Shuttle program. It was only today, and embarrassingly so late, that I learned that the Goddard Space Flight Center has been responsible for all communications to and from the shuttles for every single shuttle that was launched for more than thirty years, and also for communications of the Apollo program thanks to the Goddard's Network Integration Center. Below are some pictures and a video from how the Goddard community observed the final space shuttle launch.
"We all know the words, “One small step for (a) man; one giant leap for mankind,” but no one on Earth would have heard Neil Armstrong say them on July 21, 1969, if not for Goddard."
http://www.flickr.com/photos/nasa_goddard/sets/72157627147772740/
"We aren't ending a journey, we are completing a chapter of a journey that will never end" - Commander of Atlantis before today's launch.
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