The Stars Are Aligning [Letter from the Editor]

On 8 July 2011, NASA launched its last space shuttle mission. The flight of the shuttle Atlantis marked the end of NASA's 30-year space shuttle program. NASA's shuttles have flown 135 missions that included 355 people from 16 countries and have flown 537,114,016 mi (864,114,016 km). The successful international collaborations and interdisciplinary innovations that resulted from these missions are truly remarkable. So it should be no surprise that many people were saddened to see the shuttle program discontinued.