Space Shuttle Columbia disaster of the crew of "Columbia". "Seven" was premiered in 2007 by violinist Akiko Suwanai, conducted by Pierre Boulez, and it was recorded in 2012 with violinist Patricia Kopatchinskaja and the composer conducting. The 2008 album "Columbia: We Dare to Dream" by Anne Cabrera was written as a tribute to Space Shuttle "Columbia" STS-107, the crew, support teams, recovery teams, and the crew's families. A copy of the album on compact disc was flown aboard Space Shuttle "Discovery" mission STS-131 to the International Space Station by astronaut Clayton Anderson in April 2010. The Scottish Folk-Rock band Runrig included a song titled
Space Shuttle retirement Space Shuttle retirement The retirement of NASA's Space Shuttle fleet took place from March to July 2011. "Discovery" was the first of the three active space shuttles to be retired, completing its final mission on March 9, 2011; "Endeavour" did so on June 1. The final shuttle mission was completed with the landing of "Atlantis" on July 21, 2011, closing the 30-year Space Shuttle program. The Shuttle was presented to the public in 1972 as a "space truck" which would, among other things, be used to build a United States space station in low earth orbit in the early 1990s