STS-135 video: Resupply pod hoisted from Atlantis’ bay

Five years ago today — July 8, 2011 — Atlantis launched on the final space shuttle mission after 31 years as the centerpiece of America’s human spaceflight endeavors.

It was 1986 and the U.S. Air Force was on the cusp of something unprecedented in human spaceflight — launching a space shuttle crew from California and paving the way for people to fly true polar missions.

The last remaining external fuel tank built for the space shuttle program but never flew will depart its factory in New Orleans on Tuesday for a long sea voyage to the California Science Center in Los Angeles.