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Mike Curie/NASA Commentator: Space shuttle Atlantis has now departed Exploration Park
and turned onto Space Commerce Way.
It's expected to take about an hour to an hour and 15 minutes before it reaches the intersection of
Space Commerce Way and State Road 405. State Road 405 is the road on which the
Kennedy Visitor Complex resides. And then by about 6 p.m. Eastern time,
Atlantis is expected to pull in front of her new home,
the 100-million-dollar complex that is under construction and due to open July of 2013.
Here you can see the group of astronauts walking in front of space shuttle
Atlantis as it approaches the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex.
And we see space shuttle Atlantis just outside the entrance to Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex,
with a group of astronauts who have ushered Atlantis to this point waving to the crowds
and posing for pictures. You can see the right wing of Atlantis above them.
A throng of visitors at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex,
looking across the water and waving at the astronauts and welcoming space shuttle Atlantis.
Atlantis is the only one of four shuttles that NASA retains ownership to,
and in a signing ceremony at 10 o'clock today, NASA Administrator Charles Bolden signed the title of
Atlantis over to Kennedy Space Center Director Bob Cabana, and that made official the transfer
and retirement of Atlantis, and set the stage for its arrival at the visitor complex today to go on
permanent display.
The 76-wheeled Orbiter Transportation System is guiding Atlantis along on the final leg of its journey
to the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex, where it will be parked before its new home.
And we can see here that space shuttle Atlantis has virtually arrived in front of its new home
at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex and the 100-million-dollar facility
that's under construction for its permanent display.