10 Years Ago: STS-135, the Space Shuttle’s Grand FinaleJul 8, 2021
The STS-135 and Expedition 28 crews place the U.S. flag first flown on STS-1 on the
forward hatch of the Harmony module.(...) The final space shuttle mission, STS-135, the last flight of the orbiter Atlantis, lifted off from Launch Pad 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center (KSC) in Florida on July 8, 2011. The main objectives for astronauts Ferguson, Hurley, Magnus, and Walheim included transferring supplies and spare parts to the space station and delivering a large experiment to demonstrate in-orbit refueling techniques. The Expedition 28 crew of NASA astronauts Ronald J. Garan and Michael E. Fossum, cosmonauts Andrei I. Borisenko, Aleksandr M. Samokutyayev and Sergei A. Volkov representing Roscosmos, and Satoshi Furukawa representing the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, awaited on board the orbiting laboratory to assist them. Less than two days after launch, Ferguson guided Atlantis to a smooth docking with the station at the Pressurized Mating Adapter-2, located on the forward end of the Harmony Node 2 module. After they opened the hatches between the two spacecraft, the 10 members of the two crews held a brief welcoming ceremony and the shuttle crew received the standard station safety briefing. (...)
https://www.nasa.gov/feature/10-years-ago-sts-135-the-space-shuttle-s-grand-finale