The crew of the space shuttle Atlantis celebrated 4 July by flying to Florida aboard sleek T-38 jet trainers to prepare for launch on Friday on the 135th and final shuttle mission.
The crew of the space shuttle Atlantis arrived in Florida on Monday for the last ever shuttle launch. Photo credit: William Harwood/CBS News
Commander Christopher Ferguson, pilot Douglas Hurley, Sandra Magnus and Rex Walheim touched down at the three-mile-long shuttle runway on Monday afternoon. "We are just delighted to be here after a very arduous nine-month training flow, we're thrilled to finally be here in Florida for launch week," Ferguson told reporters. "We have a very event-filled mission ahead of us, we have 12 days, we'll be very, very busy," he said. "When it's all over, we'll be very proud to put the right-hand bookend on the space shuttle programme."
The shuttle's countdown is scheduled to begin at 1pm EDT (6pm BST) on Tuesday, setting up a launch attempt at 11:26am (4:46pm BST) on Friday, roughly the moment Earth's rotation carries launch complex 39A into the plane of the International Space Station's orbit. The astronauts have until Sunday to get off the ground or launch will slip to 16 July to give the Air Force time to launch a navigation satellite aboard a Delta 4 rocket on 14 July.
Assuming an on-time lift-off, Ferguson will guide Atlantis to a docking at the station's forward port around 11:09am EDT on Sunday. A cargo module loaded with more than 3,600kg of supplies and equipment will be attached to the station the next day, followed by a spacewalk on Tuesday with station astronauts Ronald Garan and Michael Fossum.
For more on this ZDNet UK-selected story, see Astronauts arrive for final shuttle launch on CBS News.
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