Space Shuttle Atlantis embarks on final mission

The Friday morning launch of the Space Shuttle Atlantis left many on Earth with mixed emotions.

Watching in awe as the shuttle ascended into space was made bittersweet by the realization that it marked the last time it would ever happen, said Kerri Bean, atmospheric sciences graduate student at Texas A&M.

"Once it got above the clouds, everyone started crying," she said. "There wasn't a dry eye once it was gone."

Bean gathered with 45,000 other spectators at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida to witness NASA's final shuttle launch following President Obama's decision earlier this year to discontinue the space shuttle program after 30 years.

"During the past couple of days, as we toured the facilities, we realized this was the end," said Bean, who was selected out of more than 5,000 people to join an 150-member NASA Tweetup.

Emotions ran high, she said, as onlookers recognized that astronauts were setting foot on the launch pad for the final time.

Although Obama increased NASA's overall budget, the shuttle program's termination has many unsure about the future. More than 23,000 jobs at and around Kennedy Space Center will be lost, according to projections obtained by Florida Today.

"There's still a lot of apprehension about what's going on," Bean said. "No one really knows what's next."

Uncertainty was a common theme for Atlantis' launch. Initial weather difficulties set liftoff chances at 30 percent.

"I have to admit, this morning when I got up I had zero percent faith it would happen," said Brian Blake, communication director for College Station's Texas Engineering Extension Service.

Blake arrived at the launch site around 4 a.m. and was eventually joined by 2,700 other members of the media. Cheers erupted during the event, he said, but the mood was more somber than previous launches he had attended.

"I think it's going to have a tremendous affect on the morale of the workforce," he said. "The second wave will be a real sadness over the [neighboring] communities. There are several layers we haven't even explored that will be affected by this."

Despite some negative overtones, Blake said he still basked in the moment.

"You see it on TV, but it's a different experience in person," Blake said. "It's physical. You can feel it in your body."

Magda Lagoudas, director of student services and academic programs at A&M's school of engineering, said she's confident in NASA's ability to move forward.

"I still believe NASA will find a way to come back and focus on something this country needs," she said.

Director of A&M's Space Engineering Institute from 2006 until 2010, Lagoudas has guided students while they worked directly with NASA engineers. Previous projects have included testing colloidal materials for use in satellites and beaming solar power from satellites to Earth.

Aggies are currently working on a program which recycles urine into drinking water. It is on board Atlantis.

The steady growth of the private and commercial aeronautics industry, along with governmental agencies such as the air force and navy, will help engineering students fair well in the job market, Lagoudas said.

"I don't expect space exploration to stop," she said. "For people interested, I think there is still a future."

Thomas Strganac agrees that our final frontier exploration days are far from over. Having worked at NASA from 1975 to 1989 before joining the ranks of A&M's aerospace engineering program, as a professor he believes interest in space will continue to grow.

"As a department, we still have very active interests in aeronautics," he said. "Space is one thing that drives them."

Strganac said that shuttles had a limited shelf life and discarding the program will allow NASA to focus on new technologies and goals, such as Mars exploration.

"We knew we were going to have to go through a revolution," he said.