The Shuttle first took off in 1981, I remember crowding around a TV at school to watch it, and at the time it was heralded as a new age of space flight for all.
Well at $500 milliion a launch that proved to be a rather over optimistic hope, and as the years have rolled by it's once spectacular launches have become rather run of the mill.
So after 30 years the Space Shuttle Atlanta will take the final launch today, the Shuttle program has seen some incredible achievements, along with it's notable tradgedies.
There's plenty of coverage out there, but here's a great photo tribute to the program from the BBC
BBC News - In pictures: The space shuttle