Washington: After 32 missions and more than 125 million miles in space at speeds around 17,500 miles per hour, NASA’s space shuttle Atlantis covered its final journey on Friday.
This time, however, it was travelling over land at speeds as slow as 2 mph (3.2 kmph) to its final resting place at the Kennedy Space Centre Visitor Complex in Florida state.
“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 16 km route, leaving the Kennedy Space Center for the final time at 6.30 am.
The trip will reach its destination at the Kennedy Space Centre Visitor Complex for being permanently put on display. (IANS)