Four astronauts close out program with Atlantis' final flight
(NEWSER) - They are the envy of America's space program: Christopher Ferguson, Douglas Hurley, Rex Walheim, and Sandra Magnus will zip into space on Friday aboard NASA's 135th and final shuttle mission. The smallest crew since 1983 amounts to an afterthought: They were initially groomed as a rescue mission in case of trouble with Endeavour's final flight, reports the AP. NASA decided to go ahead with the mission and stock the space station for a year, but the astronauts run the risk of being stranded in space—in the event of damage to Atlantis there are no more shuttles to rescue them, and getting home via Soyuz could take up to a year. More»
