The final voyage of a space shuttle icon

Space · Published 18 October 2026 Swipe more like this →

In short: On May 16, 2011, the space shuttle Endeavour took its final flight into the cosmos. This 25th and final mission was a high-stakes delivery run to the International Space Station, marking the end of an era for NASA's orbiter fleet.

The STS-134 mission served as the concluding chapter for Endeavour, the agency's youngest shuttle. During its career, the orbiter spent 299 days in space, completed 4,671 orbits around Earth, and traveled a total of 122,883,151 miles. This final journey was not just a retirement lap; it was a critical logistics operation. The crew delivered the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer-2 (AMS), an astrophysics experiment designed to search for exotic subatomic particles, along with essential supplies like high-pressure gas tanks, communications antennas, and parts for the Dextre robot.

Commander Mark Kelly led a team of six, comprising pilot Greg Johnson alongside mission specialists Roberto Vittori, Greg Chamitoff, Drew Feustel, and Mike Fincke. The mission was notable for its diverse personnel: it marked the first flight for veteran space flier Mike Fincke and the final shuttle flight for Roberto Vittori, the last international astronaut to fly on the shuttle program. The 15-day, 17-hour mission involved a complex two-day race to dock with the International Space Station, followed by four spacewalks and heavy assembly work.

The mission concluded on June 1, 2011, with a landing at Kennedy Space Center. The shuttle Endeavour was slated to be transported to Los Angeles's California Science Center to be shown to the public. While STS-134 was the final flight for Endeavour, it was the penultimate flight for the entire three-orbiter fleet, with the shuttle Atlantis scheduled for its final mission on June 28 of that same year.

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