The Final Shuttle Launch: Goddard's Perspective

Orbiter Atlantis lifted off from NASAâ s Kennedy Space Center in Florida at 11:29 a.m. EDT, July 8, 2011, to begin the STS-135 mission. This was the final launch in the Space Shuttle Program. Though the launch is finished, work is just beginning for staff at NASAâ s Goddard Space Flight Center more than 800 miles away from the launch pad, just outside Washington, D.C., in Greenbelt, Md. Goddard employees will work around-the-clock to guarantee the four astronauts aboard Atlantis have constant, uninterrupted lines of communication with Mission Control. The careful dance of satellite relays necessary to keep channels open requires global coordination, but it all comes together in Goddardâ s Network Integration Center. Goddard has fulfilled this communication role in literally all of NASAâ s manned space flights: We all know the words, â One small step for (a) man; one giant leap for mankind,â but no one on Earth would have heard Neil Armstrong say them on July 21, 1969, if not for Goddard.