Goodbye, Shuttle

LAST FLIGHT State has long connection to space exploration

July 12, 2011

Space Shuttle Atlantis blasted off from Kennedy Space Center in Florida last week, igniting, once again, spectators' sense of wonder, adventure and discovery.

The voyage to resupply the International Space Station marks the end of the shuttle program's 30-year mission with reusable space vehicles. It will be many years before astronauts leave from U.S. soil, which is why hundreds of thousands of people were in Florida to watch the launch.

An experiment aboard Atlantis is being closely watched by students at Hartford's Annie Fisher STEM Magnet School. The students are testing the effect of microgravity on the growth of tomatoes, which could prove useful for astronauts developing food sources in deep space missions. It was among 11 school projects nationally picked for the final shuttle mission.

Engineers and scientists from Hamilton Sundstrand in Windsor Locks helped the students develop their experiment and had their own reason to follow the flight of Atlantis carefully. The subsidiary of United Technologies Corp. has supplied many high-tech products such as life support and power systems to the space program for more than 40 years, including every shuttle mission. The company expects to continue developing products for space exploration for years to come.

Reaching into the vast surroundings of Earth has prompted some of mankind's most spectacular scientific achievements and increased our understanding of our universe. Each flight has built on the work of intrepid scientists and astronauts — including those killed on the ill-fated Challenger shuttle. The technical achievements and aspirations of shuttle crews and their predecessors in early space flight should not be lost as NASA seeks to define future missions in space.