Thirty years ago, the launch of the space shuttle Columbia was big news.
As NASA put more shuttles in orbit, the focus on the launches became much less intense.
Today, NASA's Space Shuttle program is coming to an end. So, in honor of the next to last launch of a space shuttle, here is video of Endeavor's last lift-off (launch number 134 of an orbiting space shuttle) :
The narrator of the video says the Endeavor weighs 4.5 million pounds on the ground. After one minute of flight time, half that weight is gone as it burns up 11,000 pounds of fuel per second.
Endeavor is captained Mark E. Kelly, the husband of Representative Gabrielle Giffords who was severely wounded by an assassin's bullet last January. Giffords watched the liftoff and reportedly said "Good stuff, good stuff."
The Space Shuttle Atlantis is scheduled to be the last flight for the Space Shuttle program.
It's scheduled to launch this July.
