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Space shuttle Atlantis 'go' for public viewing
by Marcia Dunn
This June 20, 2013 photo shows space shuttle Atlantis on display at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex in Cape Canaveral, Fla. The 900,000 square-foot facility centering around Atlantis will open to the public June 29. (AP Photo/John Raoux)
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This June 20, 2013 photo shows space shuttle Atlantis on display at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex in Cape Canaveral, Fla. The 900,000 square-foot facility centering around Atlantis will open to the public June 29. (AP Photo/John Raoux)
(AP)—The last U.S. space shuttle to soar makes its museum debut this weekend.
The Atlantis exhibit opens to the public Saturday at Kennedy Space Center in Florida. It's the centerpiece of a $100 million attraction dedicated to the entire 30-year shuttle program.
For the first time, people get to see a space shuttle in a pose previously beheld only by a few astronauts—in flight with its payload bay doors wide open and a robot arm outstretched.
More than 40 astronauts who flew on Atlantis planned to take part in the grand opening at the visitor complex.
In this June 20, 2013 photo, an astronaut is mounted overhead in the space shuttle Atlantis attraction at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex, in Cape Canaveral, Fla. The 900,000 square-foot facility centering around Atlantis will open to the public June 29. (AP Photo/John Raoux)
× close
In this June 20, 2013 photo, an astronaut is mounted overhead in the space shuttle Atlantis attraction at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex, in Cape Canaveral, Fla. The 900,000 square-foot facility centering around Atlantis will open to the public June 29. (AP Photo/John Raoux)
Retired for two years, Atlantis is the last of NASA's three space shuttles to go on public display.