Space shuttle Atlantis launches from pad 39A on July 8, 2011 at the NASA Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida. The launch of Atlantis, STS-135, is the final flight of the shuttle program, a 12-day mission to the International Space Station. (Photo by Bill Ingalls/NASA via Getty Images)

A model of the New Horizons spacecraft is seen at a live television program on NASA television celebrating the spacecraft's closest proximity to Pluto, at Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, site of the mission operations center, in Laurel, Maryland, USA, 14 July 2015. At approximately 7:49 am ET (11:49 am GMT), 14 July, New Horizons was scheduled to be as close to Pluto as the spacecraft will get; about 7,800 miles (12,500 kilometers) above the surface, following a journey of more than nine years and three billion miles. This is the first mission to the Pluto System and the Kuiper Belt. (Photo by Michael Reynolds/EPA)

A woman is assisted by medical personnel during a celebration in the Mission District in San Francisco, California October 29, 2014. The San Francisco Giants beat the Kansas City Royals 3-2 on Wednesday to win their third World Series title in five seasons. (Photo by Robert Galbraith/Reuters)

A U.S. Army B-24 Liberator Bomber is hailed by a ground crewman as it takes off over a line of shark- nosed fighter planes at an advanced base in China on a mission on October 10, 1943, to bomb Japanese installations. (Photo by AP Photo)

Cast member Pom Klementieff poses on the red carpet during arrivals for the screening of the film “Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning” Out of competition at the 78th Cannes Film Festival in Cannes, France, May 14, 2025. (Photo by Stephane Mahe/Reuters)

Boozed-out revellers donned fancy dress as they welcomed in the Bank Holiday at the Otley Run. Hundreds swarmed Leeds, UK on Saturday, March 30, 2024, as the infamous tipple mission got underway beneath blue skies and sunshine. (Photo by NB Press LTD)

ESA astronaut Tim Peake posted this stunning image on his social media channels, commenting: “Station passed through magnificent aurora Australis last night”. Tim is set to return to Earth on 18 June 2016, bringing his six-month Principia mission to the ISS to an end. During his stay he performed more than 30 scientific experiments for ESA and taking part in numerous others from ESA's international partners. ESA and the UK Space Agency have partnered to develop many exciting educational activities around the Principia mission, aimed at sparking the interest of young children in science and space. (Photo by Tim Peake/ESA/NASA)

The Ray and Maria Stata Center is shown on the campus of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology February 22, 2006 in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The Institute admitted its first students in 1865 and continues with the mission to advance knowledge and educate students in science, technology, and other areas of scholarship. (Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images)