A shuttle, by definition, is something which travels back and forth between fixed points. It is meant to be a cheap, safe and reliable form of travel. When the space shuttle was sold to America, it was supposed to be all of these, but ended up being none.

It cost $196 billion over 40 years, ended the lives of 14 astronauts and managed to make less than half the flights promised. Yet, it has still given invaluable service and has allowed humankind to engage in its most cherished activity; the search for knowledge.

The shuttle facilitated major scientific advances, took stunning photos of the cosmos and became a vehicle of diplomacy that helped bring Cold War enemies closer.

NASA’s first space shuttle flight was in April 1981. The 135th and final launch is set for today, although storms could cause a delay. Once Atlantis lands at the end of a 12-day mission, it and the other two remaining shuttles are officially museum pieces – more expensive than any paintings.

Of the five shuttles built, two were lost in fiery tragedies. The most shuttle flights taken in one year was nine – far from the promised 50.

The programme also managed to make blasting into space seem everyday dull by going to the same place over and over again. Shuttles circled the planet 20,830 times, but went nowhere really new.

But the shuttles have given us so many other things. There are the magnificent photos from the Hubble Space Telescope, which helped pinpoint the age of the universe and demonstrated the existence of mysterious dark energy; the ongoing labwork on the International Space Station; a multitude of satellites for everything from spying to climate change; and spacecraft that explore the solar system. All owe their existence to the space shuttle.

The Hubble was not just launched from the shuttle – it was repaired and upgraded five times by shuttle astronauts. They also captured and fixed satellites in orbit.

Launching like a rocket and landing like an airplane, the shuttle was the ultimate hybrid. It acts both as a space taxi, carrying astronauts, and has the muscle of a long-distance trucker, hauling heavy machinery. That versatility translated into higher costs.

When the shuttle succeeded, it did so in a spectacular way. But its failures were also large and tragic.

Seven astronauts perished when Challenger exploded about a minute after launch in 1986 and seven more died when Columbia burned up as it returned to Earth in 2003. One out of every 67 flights ended in death – a fatality rate that would make the most ardent daredevil cringe.

Based on deaths per million miles travelled, the space shuttle is 138 times riskier than a passenger jet.

John Glenn, who flew in a Mercury capsule as well as the shuttle, called it “the perfect vehicle for its time.”

He said like any pilot he’d prefer to fly the shuttle and called it a much smoother ride. But he said he understands why the future looks more like his Mercury capsules.

“The shuttle is an amazing piece of machinery,” astronaut Stan Love said. “It blows away anything that can fly now or in the next 30 years.”