
It's also worth mentioning
that another shuttle (possibly Endeavour) will be on standby on pad 39B in case a rescue mission is necessary for the Atlantis crew.
This provides a rare photo opportunity - two shuttles on the launch pads at once.
Space Shuttle Atlantis is good to go for its launch next week to the Hubble Space Telescope - the final servicing trip to the orbiting 'scope. According to NASA, preparations for the STS-125 mission, aka "Servicing Mission 4", continue at the Kennedy Space Center's launch pad 39A ahead of the scheduled blast-off on Monday at …
Shame that it;s the last time that will be happening as well. For all the people saying shuttles are rubbish, they don't go very high, can't do very much, cost too much, I personally like them, they are actually quite graceful. If I win the euromillions tonight (unlikely) then I would be tempted to buy one of the old ones and bung it in the national space museum.