"It looks absolutely fantastic there Mike. "We're happy to have this model as one of the greatest testaments to the shuttle's incredible capability, that 90 percent of the world's population can look out of their backyards at night and see us going overhead," Fossum said, hanging the model on the wall next to the shuttle's docking port hatchway. "Hundreds of thousands of people have contributed to the shuttle program through many years - 30 years of flying service and another decade and a half of development before that," Fossum said, adding that "the space shuttle program has inspired millions and millions more." ISS flight engineer Mike Fossum, whose own career dates back to November 1981 working in Mission Control for the second shuttle mission, accepted the model on behalf of the program's past and present workforce. "What you don't see, are the signatures of the tens of thousands who rode to orbit with us over the past 30 years, if only in spirit." "This space shuttle model was signed by the modern day titans of the space shuttle program, including John Shannon, LeRoy Cain, Mike Leinbach, our lead flight directors Kwatsi Alibaruho and Chris Edelen," Ferguson said. The space shuttle model, which was briefly seen earlier in the STS-135 mission during the crew's televised tribute to the shuttle workforce, represents the men and women who for more than three decades made the program possible. "So we thought it was really a fitting place to put that." "During the course of the International Space Station construction, all those space shuttles that docked there left the legacy of this incredible, orbiting research facility that not only is going to be a stepping stone to exploring the rest of the solar system, it's also really improving life on our planet," said station flight engineer Ron Garan, representing NASA. Ferguson and his three crewmates are scheduled to undock space shuttle Atlantis early Tuesday morning and return to Earth two days later. vehicle, hopefully in just a few years." īoth the model and flag were hung near and on the hatch where 35 space shuttle crews have entered the station and where the STS-135 astronauts exited for a final time soon after presenting the mementos. "This flag will be flown prominently here by the forward hatch of Node 2, to be returned to Earth once again by an astronaut that launches on a U.S. "This flag represents not just a symbol of our national pride and honor, but in this particular case, it represents a goal," Ferguson said.