Atlantis Moves to the Vehicle Assembly Building

At 8:30am EST today, Space Shuttle Atlantis was moved from the processing hangar, where it was stationed after completing its final mission, to the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB). It was in the VAB this past October that we were up close and personal with Endeavour. The enormous structure, one of the largest in the world, dwarfed the shuttle when we were standing inside, and will serve as Atlantis’ shelter while the shuttle is prepped for public display at the Kennedy Space Center. Not many were fortunate enough to be in person at today’s event. The transition was streamed live on Spaceflightnow.com (see earlier post from today) and members of the media were invited by the Kennedy Space Center.

BUT, our new friend at NASA, Ryan Horan, who organized our trip to see Endeavour, got to see Atlantis today in the VAB. Ryan, is no stranger to Atlantis and his work as a software engineer at NASA has given him the opportunity to not only get close to the shuttles in the VAB but actually be in the cockpit! Ryan sent these photos today of Atlantis in the Vehicle Assembly Building. The last photo is Ryan himself standing next to the Orbiter.

Atlantis in the Vehicle Assembly Building

Atlantis in the Vehicle Assembly Building

Ryan Horan next to Shuttle Atlantis