https://www.earthmagazine.org/tags/atlantis/ Recent content in Atlantis on EARTH Magazine Hugo en-US American Geosciences Institute. All rights reserved. Thu, 05 Jan 2012 06:41:58 -0500 https://www.earthmagazine.org/article/hazardous-living-atlantis-final-countdown/ Thu, 05 Jan 2012 06:41:58 -0500 https://www.earthmagazine.org/article/hazardous-living-atlantis-final-countdown/ <figure class="earth-figure"> <img src="https://www.americangeosciences.org/static/earth/hazardous-living-atlantis-final-countdown/i-499-7db-7-8.jpg" alt="The space shuttle Atlantis lifted off on July 8 for the final time. NASA TV" loading="eager" decoding="async"> <figcaption>The space shuttle Atlantis lifted off on July 8 for the final time. NASA TV</figcaption> </figure> <figure class="earth-figure"> <img src="https://www.americangeosciences.org/static/earth/hazardous-living-atlantis-final-countdown/i-46c-7db-5-1a.jpg" alt="Megan Sever is managing editor of EARTH and writes the Hazardous Living blog. Jim Sever" loading="lazy" decoding="async"> <figcaption>Megan Sever is managing editor of EARTH and writes the Hazardous Living blog. Jim Sever</figcaption> </figure> <p>As the space shuttle Atlantis prepared for liftoff for the final time this morning, I was humming Europe&rsquo;s 1986 hit &ldquo;Final Countdown&rdquo; in my office. As the countdown proceeded, I got chills. When Atlantis lifted off, I got a little teary-eyed. Watching NASA TV for the next hour, I couldn&rsquo;t help but wonder what will become of all the people involved in the space shuttle program &mdash; mission control, the engineers, the astronauts. It&rsquo;s hard not to think of this as the end of the U.S. space program. But as we&rsquo;re assured by NASA, it most certainly is not.</p>