Atlantis: Into the wild blue yonder

With their bulky frames and snub noses, the shuttles, like the giant mainframe computers used in their development, are relics of a much earlier stop on the march of technology. They are old enough to qualify as antique vehicles in many states. So it’s hard to remember that they were once at the forefront of the American imagination, bringing the first American woman and first African-American into space, and starring on magazine covers and cereal boxes. They were also vehicles of tragedy. The Challenger and Columbia disasters are reminders of how much the three decades worth of shuttle astronauts have risked to serve as human pioneers.

Just as an aging Ford Torino harks back to a hopeful, exciting time for the American automobile, the shuttles represent an evocative and romantic view of space travel, taking Americans back to a time when a trip into orbit was anything but commonplace.