Final Flight Space Shuttle Atlantis

The shuttle Atlantis is poised for its final scheduled mission – the delivery of a compact Russian docking and laboratory module to the International Space station.

Liftoff from Kennedy Space Center is set for May 14 at 2:20pm EDT initiating a 12-day flight.

The spacecraft’s six-man crew has trained to deliver Rassvet or “Dawn”, a 23-ft.-long compartment that will open a fourth docking port on the orbiting lab for the Russian Soyuz and Progress capsules that will continue to come and go long after Atlantis, then orbiters Discovery and finally Endeavor, complete their final flights by year-end.