STS 41-B Post-Flight Presentation

When Chris Ferguson climbed into the commander’s seat of the shuttle Atlantis five years ago for the spaceship’s final flight, he didn’t know what turn his career would take when he returned to Earth. Now the former F-14 fighter pilot helps lead Boeing’s development of the CST-100 Starliner space taxi, one of two U.S.-built commercial spacecraft selected by NASA to ferry astronauts to and from the International Space Station.

VIDEO: After a cliff-hangar countdown, Atlantis thunders to life and majestically rockets into history, putting on one last sky show for spectators on NASA’s 135th and final shuttle launch on July 7, 2011. (Membership Required)

The five STS-104 Atlantis astronauts narrate the highlights of their mission in this post-flight film. The shuttle mission in July 2001 delivered the $164 million Joint Airlock to the International Space Station. The module, named Quest, gave the outpost a new doorway for American and Russian spacewalks.