Model of the American space shuttle Atlantis, designed for repeated flights into space. The assembled model features an open cargo bay with a functional arm and a space module. The shuttle can stand independently on landing wheels or on the included base. Also included is an astronaut figure with a space suit.

Atlantis was the 4th space shuttle after Enterprise, Columbia, Challenger, and Discovery. The Space Transportation System program officially began on January 5, 1972, with an announcement by President Richard Nixon. The goal of the program was to create a transportation vehicle that would repeatedly carry astronauts into space, at a cost of approximately $5,000,000 per launch. However, the actual cost was 100 times higher.

The first shuttle designed for tests in Earth's atmosphere was completed on September 17, 1976, with the initial name Constitution. However, under pressure from fans of the television series Star Trek, it was renamed Enterprise. To build the space shuttles, NASA had to develop many new materials and technologies that advanced human cultural progress to a new level. In total, several hundred patents were submitted, which are still used by humanity today, such as lightweight batteries, a special thermal surface that saves lives worldwide, a mini pump that now powers an artificial heart, an infrared camera, and hundreds of other innovations.

The space shuttle Atlantis has completed a total of 33 missions, spent 306 days in space, orbited the Earth 4,677 times, transported 207 people, sent 14 satellites into orbit, and the crew has conducted 25 spacewalks. The program ended in 2011 after two accidents (Challenger/Columbia) and depletion of funding. Today, Atlantis is an exhibit at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.