Five years ago Friday the final space shuttle flight launched from Kennedy Space Center.

  • Final Atlantis flight marks end of shuttle program 5 years ago
  • 30-year-old program replaced with private spaceflight
  • NASA focusing on deep space exploration

Atlantis' flight marked the last mission of the 30-year program and began a new era of exploration.

That's three decades of ferrying hundreds of astronauts to space, helping build the International Space Station, delivering all kinds of satellites and hauling the Hubble Space Telescope to orbit.

On Friday, three former NASA astronauts -- Bob Cabana, Steve Lindsey, and Doug Hurley -- along with the last launch director in shuttle program history, Mike Leinbach, spoke about the enduring legacy of the shuttle program, and what its accomplishment meant to each of them.

"The shuttle lent itself to living and working in space for two weeks at a time," said Leinbach. "It was great at that, and the right, next step in our (space) program."

"It allowed us to build the space station," said Cabana, who flew on four shuttled missions and now serves as director for Kennedy Space Center. "It really is a stepping stone to people living beyond our home planet."

A New Chapter

The final shuttle mission closed that chapter for NASA, but it opened another.

"In the next 10 years, NASA is going to manage two launches. But there will be hundreds of 'commercially' managed launches," said Dale Ketcham of Space Florida.

Like the ones we've seen since 2011, commercial companies like SpaceX and Blue Origin will work for NASA to deliver cargo to the ISS. That leaves the government-run space agency to focus on deep space missions to Mars and beyond in the coming years.

"NASA is just along for the ride," Ketcham said. "The government is still an important partner, needs to be -- exploration missions, national security. But the business end of this industry is what's going to drive our future."

That future involves being able to send our own astronauts to space on U.S. crafts again, both with private and NASA spacecraft -- without being reliant on Russia.

But that wouldn't be possible without the shuttle program. Thousands of shuttle-related jobs were lost as the program wound down.

Many of those workers caught on at local aerospace companies, but many were forced to leave the Space Coast.