Space Shuttle Atlantis Lifts Off for Final Mission [PHOTOS]

The space shuttle Atlantis lifted off for its final mission Friday morning. Parts of the shuttle had been built at Moog and Calspan and some past Shuttle crew members also hailed from the area. So today marked the end of the era for Western New York's contributions to the space program (at least as far as the shuttle is concerned, Moog still works with the space program and is said to be working on the new Ares Rocket).

Thousands gathered this morning to watch the blast off, the final of the 30-year-old , shuttle program.

The four-member crew is embarking on a 12-day mission in which they'll deliver supplies to the International Space Station.

The space shuttle program was commissioned by President Richard Nixon in 1972, three years after a man was put on the moon in the Apollo program.

Columbia, the first shuttle, went into space in 1981, and in 134 missions, five shuttles have carried 355 astronauts into space.

[CNN]