Atlantis, the last aircraft of its kind to launch into space before the U.S. ended its 30-year space shuttle program, is slowly making its historic journey to its final home on Friday.
The shuttle is being transported 16 kilometres, very slowly, aboard a 76-wheel flatbed vehicle from the Kennedy Space Center's Vehicle Assembly Bay to a new visitor centre where it will be put on display for the public.
Atlantis was the last of NASA's three surviving shuttles to retire when it completed its final flight on July 21, 2011.
Its predecessors, the Endeavour, Enterprise and Discovery, have all been transported to museums and a science centre in California, New York, and Virginia, respectively.
But Atlantis' final journey lays to rest the last relic of the space-shuttle era, as NASA makes way for the next generation of spacecraft.
"This Shuttle Atlantis is the final shuttle to go on display for museums … It's a very significant milestone that the shuttles will go on display," said Lisa Malone, spokeswoman for NASA's Kennedy Space Centre. "And this is the final move."
Mood dampened by NASA layoffs
Atlantis emerged just before dawn from the massive Vehicle Assembly Building, and about 200 workers gathered in the early morning chill to see the space shuttle out in the open for the final time.
They were joined by the four astronauts who closed out the shuttle program aboard Atlantis more than a year ago.
Portions of Atlantis' final launch countdown boomed over loudspeakers as the shuttle paused in front of the Vehicle Assembly Building before hitting the road.
Employees gathered in front of a long white banner that read, "We Made History," and below that the single word "Atlantis."
They followed the spaceship for a block or two, then scattered as the shuttle transporter revved up to its maximum 3.2 km/hr. The convoy following the shuttle includes a dozen trucks and vans, their lights blinking.
The shuttle is making its way down broad industrial avenues, most of them off-limits to the public.
The roundabout loop was to take the shuttle past Kennedy's headquarters building for a midmorning ceremony and then to a still-under-design industrial park for a few hours of public viewing in the afternoon. Tourist tickets ran as high as $90 apiece for a chance to see the spaceship up close. Crews removed 120 light poles, 23 traffic signals and 56 traffic signs in order for Atlantis to squeeze by. One high-voltage power line also had to come down. Staff trimmed back some scrub pines, but there was none of the widespread tree-axing that occurred in when Endeavour rolled through downtown Los Angeles. Atlantis had to traverse just one noticeable incline, a highway ramp. The rest of the course is sea-level flat.
The fact that several hundred shuttle workers are about to lose their jobs, now that Atlantis is being turned over to the visitor complex, dampened the mood. Thousands already have been laid off.
"The untold story of the last couple years, the last missions that we flew, is the workforce. I mean, the contractors knew that their numbers were going to go down ... and yet they kept doing their jobs," said NASA's Angie Brewer, who was once in charge of getting Atlantis ready for flight.
First shuttle to dock with Russian space station
Atlantis began its first mission on Oct. 3, 1985, where it spent four days in space delivering classified cargo, widely believed to be military communications satellites.
Its key missions included carrying the Venus-bound Magellan probes and the Galileo probes into space in 1989. In 1995, Atlantis became the first shuttle to dock with the Russian space station Mir.
The shuttle has been in the Vehicle Assembly Building since last month. There, technicians had been preparing Atlantis to go on display to the public. This included removing components and chemical systems inside the shuttle that may be toxic, said Malone.
Space Shuttle Atlantis lifts off from the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Fla. on May 14, 2010. (Bruce Weaver/AFT/Getty) The shuttle will pause en route to the new visitor centre at roughly 10 a.m. for a retirement ceremony with officials including NASA administrator Charles Bolden, as well as current and former astronauts from the final mission of Atlantis.
It is expected to reach the visitor complex at about 6 p.m. It will then be covered and protected while construction of the complex is completed, said Malone.
A grand opening of the new home for Atlantis, at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex, is planned for July 2013.
The $100-million US building will showcase Atlantis suspended in the air in the orbit position, with a massive digital projection of Earth that will rotate by the shuttle.
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