WASHINGTON, November 2 (RIA Novosti) - After 32 missions and more than 125 million miles (201 million km) in space at speeds around 17,500 miles per hour (28,000 kph), NASA’s Space Shuttle Atlantis began its final journey Friday, traveling over land at speeds as slow as 2 mph (3.2 kph) to its final resting place at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex in the state of Florida.
“I think that the shuttle was a great book, it really was, and this little part is like the epilogue,” said Chris Ferguson, commander of the last Atlantis mission, which blasted off July 8, 2011, the final flight in NASA’s shuttle program.
On June 29, 1995 Atlantis became the first space shuttle to dock with the Russian space station Mir, which NASA Chief Daniel Goldin called the beginning of “a new era of friendship and cooperation” between the US and Russia.
“You know, if it’s a bad book, you don't read the epilogue. This is a good book and this is kind of the story of how it was all made and how it was all done. This is good," Ferguson added.
Atlantis began its historic final trip on Friday morning along a 10-mile (16 km) route, leaving the Kennedy Space Center for the final time at 6:30 a.m.
The trip is expected to take about 12 hours when it will reach its final destination at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex where it will permanently be displayed as a museum piece.
Crews removed more than 100 light poles, 23 traffic signals and 56 traffic signs to allow Atlantis room to get by on its way to its new home.
The retired space shuttle is making the trip on top of a 76-wheel vehicle that NASA describes as the “orbiter transfer system” on a roundabout route that will be mainly on government property. Security guards, shuttle workers and an entourage of vehicles are accompanying the spacecraft on its journey, removing “last-minute” obstacles that may get in the spacecraft’s path.
Two “ceremonial” stops are also planned along the way, allowing Kennedy Center employees and the public to pay tribute to the retired spacecraft.
The museum that will house Atlantis is not finished, and is expected to open in July 2013 at a cost of $100 million. Three of the four museum walls are completed, and once the immense spacecraft with a wingspan of 78-feet is transported into the facility, the building will be completed.
Atlantis is the third and final retired NASA shuttle to be moved into a museum.
