CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- Space shuttle Atlantis, attached to its external fuel tank and solid rocket boosters atop a mobile launcher platform, makes its final debut outside the Vehicle Assembly Building. "Rollout," as it's called, to Launch Pad 39A at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida began at 8:42 p.m. EDT. It will take the crawler-transporter about six hours to carry the shuttle stack to its seaside launch pad. The milestone move paves the way for the launch of the STS-135 mission to the International Space Station, targeted for July 8. STS-135 will be the 33rd flight of Atlantis, the 37th shuttle mission to the space station, and the 135th and final mission of NASA's Space Shuttle Program. For more information visit, www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/shuttle/shuttlemissions/sts135/index.html. Photo credit: NASA/Kim Shiflett KSC-2011-4105

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Space Shuttle Discovery: STS-119 Approach OPS

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. – Preparations are under way to uncover the cockpit windows on space shuttle Endeavour for an employee photo opportunity at the Shuttle Landing Facility at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Endeavour is balanced and secured atop NASA's Shuttle Carrier Aircraft, or SCA. The SCA, a modified 747 jetliner, will fly Endeavour to Los Angeles where it will be placed on public display at the California Science Center. This is the final ferry flight scheduled in the Space Shuttle Program era. For more information on the shuttles' transition and retirement, visit http://www.nasa.gov/transition. Photo credit: NASA/Kim Shiflett KSC-2012-5298

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. — In the transfer aisle of the Vehicle Assembly Building at NASA's Kennedy Space Center, space shuttle Atlantis is raised to a nearly vertical position. Atlantis will next be lifted into high bay 3 and mated with the external tank and solid rocket boosters designated for mission STS-122, already secured atop a mobile launcher platform. On this mission, Atlantis will deliver the Columbus module to the International Space Station. The European Space Agency's largest contribution to the station, Columbus is a multifunctional, pressurized laboratory that will be permanently attached to U.S. Node 2, called Harmony. The module is approximately 23 feet long and 15 feet wide, allowing it to hold 10 large racks of experiments. The laboratory will expand the research facilities aboard the station, providing crew members and scientists from around the world the ability to conduct a variety of experiments in the physical, materials and life sciences. Mission STS-122 is targeted for launch on Dec. 6. Photo credit: NASA/George Shelton KSC-07pd3089

Atlantis and Payload on Approach to ISS during the STS-132 Mission

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. – At NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, the rotating service structure on Launch Pad 39B is retracted for space shuttle Endeavour's 3.4-mile rollaround to Launch Pad 39A. First motion was at 3:16 a.m. EDT. Endeavour was on standby on Pad 39B to be used in the unlikely event that a rescue mission was necessary during space shuttle Atlantis' STS-125 mission to NASA's Hubble Space Telescope. The payload on the STS-127 mission includes the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency's Kibo Exposed Facility and the Experiment Logistics Module Exposed Section of the International Space Station. They will be installed on the Kibo laboratory already on the station. Launch of STS-127 is targeted for June 13. Photo credit: NASA/Kim Shiflett KSC-2009-3317

The orbiter Endeavour awaits further processing in the transfer aisle of the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB). It had been undergoing preparations for the STS-89 mission in Orbiter Processing Facility Bay 1. In the VAB, Endeavour will be mated to the external tank/solid rocket booster stack slated for use on the STS-89 mission. The STS-89 launch is targeted for Jan. 20, 1998 KSC-97PC1794

Kim Shiflett KSC-2011-4105

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Summary

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- Space shuttle Atlantis, attached to its external fuel tank and solid rocket boosters atop a mobile launcher platform, makes its final debut outside the Vehicle Assembly Building. "Rollout," as it's called, to Launch Pad 39A at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida began at 8:42 p.m. EDT. It will take the crawler-transporter about six hours to carry the shuttle stack to its seaside launch pad. The milestone move paves the way for the launch of the STS-135 mission to the International Space Station, targeted for July 8. STS-135 will be the 33rd flight of Atlantis, the 37th shuttle mission to the space station, and the 135th and final mission of NASA's Space Shuttle Program. For more information visit, www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/shuttle/shuttlemissions/sts135/index.html. Photo credit: NASA/Kim Shiflett

Space Shuttle Program

The Space Shuttle program was the United States government's manned launch vehicle program from 1981 to 2011, administered by NASA and officially beginning in 1972. The Space Shuttle system—composed of an orbiter launched with two reusable solid rocket boosters and a disposable external fuel tank— carried up to eight astronauts and up to 50,000 lb (23,000 kg) of payload into low Earth orbit (LEO). When its mission was complete, the orbiter would re-enter the Earth's atmosphere and lands as a glider. Although the concept had been explored since the late 1960s, the program formally commenced in 1972 and was the focus of NASA's manned operations after the final Apollo and Skylab flights in the mid-1970s. It started with the launch of the first shuttle Columbia on April 12, 1981, on STS-1. and finished with its last mission, STS-135 flown by Atlantis, in July 2011.