The Wednesday landing of the Atlantis at Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida, not only marks the successful completion of space shuttle’s 12-day mission to the International Space Station (ISS), but also the end of the last official flight for the shuttle, which undertook its first voyage into space in October 1985.

With the cancellation of NASA’s space shuttle program, there are no more missions scheduled for Atlantis – the other two space shuttles, Discovery and Endeavor, still have one more space trip this year; after which NASA’s three-orbiter space shuttle fleet will be retired.

However, Atlantis will be readied as a potential rescue vehicle for the final shuttle trip, which has been scheduled for November. In addition, NASA may also send the space shuttle on a re-supply mission to the ISS next year, probably in June.

Meanwhile, during its recently-concluded ISS mission, the six-member Atlantis crew delivered and installed a new Russian module to the space station as well as equipped it with spare parts.

Talking about the mission, shuttle launch integration manager Mike Moses said: “Not only is this mission fantastic, but the entire life of Atlantis, the folks who built it, all the missions it's flown over its career have been just amazing. I can't even begin to talk about how proud I am of Atlantis and the whole team that put it together.”