Posted: Tue, Dec 6, 2011, 7:29 AM ET (1229 GMT)
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The astronaut who commanded the final shuttle mission will leave NASA this week, the space agency announced Monday. Chris Ferguson, who commanded the STS-135 shuttle mission in July, will leave NASA on December 9 for an unspecified private sector job. Ferguson joined the astronaut corps in 1998 and served as pilot on the STS-115 shuttle mission in 2006. He commanded STS-126 in 2008, in addition to commanding STS-135.