![On the Cover — Issue 40, Fall 2010](https://appel.nasa.gov/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/489063main_40_cover_600x450-600x380.jpg)
Contrails are seen as workers leave the Launch Control Center at Kennedy Space Center after the launch of Space Shuttle Discovery and the start of the STS-131 mission. After its nearly thirty-year history of human spaceflight achievements, the Space Shuttle is nearing its final planned launch. Photo Credit: NASA/Bill Ingalls