NASA's Space Shuttle Atlantis has a new $100 million home at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex.<\/p>\n
The retired Space Shuttle Atlantis on display at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex. <\/p>\n
After 33 missions into space over a 30-year career, NASA's Space Shuttle Atlantis has found a permanent base close to home. The shuttle is part of a new $100 million visitor center exhibit at the Kennedy Space Center Visitors Complex which will immerse visitors in the experience of space travel. <\/p>\n
The exhibit opens June 29 and will weave first-hand accounts from astronauts and flight engineers, along with the history of NASA, into 60 interactive displays. The displays will touch on everything from launches and orbits to how a space station is assembled. <\/p>\n
But the centerpiece of the exhibit is Atlantis. Visitors will able to get an up-close, 360-degree view of one of the world's first reusable spacecraft. Robert Z. Pearlman of collectSpace.com recently toured the exhibit during a preview of the grand opening this week. <\/p>\n
Atlantis' last mission, STS-135, landed on Runway 15 of the Kennedy Space Center at 5:57 a.m. on July 21, 2011. It was the Shuttle program's final flight. <\/p>\n
After being officially retired, Atlantis was moved in November 2012 to the center's visitor complex aboard the 76-wheel Orbiter Transporter System -- at less than 1 mile per hour. It took around 12 hours for the shuttle to make the 9.8-mile trip from the Kennedy Space Center's Vehicle Assembly Building to its new museum facility, which opens Friday. <\/p>\n
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Space Shuttle Atlantis on display at new NASA exhibit<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" NASA's Space Shuttle Atlantis has a new $100 million home at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex. The retired Space Shuttle Atlantis on display at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex Continue reading