Atlantis makes its final landing

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla., May 26 (UPI) -- Space shuttle Atlantis made its last scheduled Earth landing Wednesday, touching down at the Kennedy Space Center and ending its final mission into space.

NASA said Atlantis, with its 8:48 a.m. EDT landing, ended not only a 12-day mission to the International Space Station, but also its 32nd mission into orbit. The space agency said Atlantis traveled more than 120 million miles since it was first launched Oct. 3, 1985.

According to Wikipedia, Atlantis -- the fourth operational shuttle built for NASA -- is named after RV Atlantis, a two-masted sailing ship that operated as the primary research vessel for the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute from 1930 to 1966.

The shuttle's STS-132's six-member crew -- astronauts Ken Ham, Tony Antonelli, Mike Good, Garrett Reisman, Steve Bowen and Piers Sellers -- delivered an integrated cargo carrier and a Russian-built mini research module to the space station.

Only two flights remain in NASA's shuttle program -- space shuttle Endeavour's STS-134 mission and Discovery's STS-133 mission.