In a blaze of fire and smoke, Atlantis lifts off from Launch Pad 39-A at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida on its final mission, bound for the International Space Station, July 8, 2011. The Atlantis was a workhouse, embarking on 33 missions over a period of 25 years.

"For the last time, the engines of a space shuttle roared, the ground rumbled, and the shuttle Atlantis rose off the launching pad and disappeared into the clouds," wrote The Times. "By dawn Friday, cars and Winnebagos lined the sides of roadways with prime views as hundreds of thousands of people came to watch the 135th flight in the space shuttle program. The program, which began in 1981, comes to an end when the Atlantis' wheels roll to a stop on the runway in two weeks."

The Times added, "The last shuttle flight also contained a piece of the first flight. The shuttle's solid rocket boosters are recovered and refurbished, and the top segment of the left booster that helped lift the Atlantis off the ground on Friday first flew on the first flight, on April 12, 1981."

With its space days over, the Atlantis today is on display at the Kennedy Space Center.