Space Shuttle Atlantis began making its historic final journey at Kennedy Space Center early on Friday morning. It is the very last time the public will see a space shuttle in motion or out in the open.
Atlantis will travel the nearly 10 miles from Kennedy Space Center to its new home at Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex. The Shuttle will undertake the journey at about 2 miles per hour on the 106-foot-long Ortiter Transporter System.
Thousands of NASA employees and former shuttle workers are expected to attend a private event just before 10:00 a.m. today, to mark the transfer of Atlantis to the visitor complex.
Atlantis will then head to Space Florida’s Exploration Park, a 65-acre area where it will remain for several hours and where guests can see the shuttle up close and “in the round.”
The Shuttle will complete its nearly day-long journey, traveling in front of Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex along State Road 405/NASA Parkway before entering its new home, a $100 million interactive exhibit complex currently under construction and set to open in July 2013.
A 10-minute fireworks show will illuminate the skies of Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex, providing the grand finale to an extraordinary day.
Atlantis has flown 33 missions into space, logged more than 125 million miles and was the last orbiter in space and the last to touch down at Kennedy Space Center.
