CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — With a real 'rocket's red glare' awaiting them later this week, the four American astronauts who will fly NASA's final space shuttle mission will make an Independence Day arrival today at their Florida launch site.
The Atlantis shuttle crew is expected to depart midday aboard two T-38 supersonic jets from Ellington Field in Houston, Texas, for their Fourth of July arrival here at NASA's Kennedy Space Center at about 2:45 p.m. EDT (1845 GMT).
The astronauts will touch down on the same runway where, nearly two weeks after launching, they plan to land space shuttle Atlantis for the final time in the winged spacecraft fleet's 30-year history.
NASA's final shuttle flight, called STS-135, is a 12-day mission to deliver vital supplies to the International Space Station. Liftoff is scheduled for Friday, July 8 at 11:26 a.m. EDT (1526 GMT) from Kennedy’s Launch Pad 39A. NASA will start its official countdown clocks on Tuesday at 1 p.m. EDT (1700 GMT) at the T-43 hour mark.
Foregoing July 4th fireworks
"The big highlight of the [crew's Independence] day will be the jet ride from Ellington to Florida," NASA spokesperson Nicole Cloutier-Lemasters, of the agency's Johnson Space Center, told SPACE.com. [Best Space Fireworks Ever]
With their family members following later, the four Atlantis astronauts — commander Chris Ferguson, pilot Doug Hurley and mission specialists Sandy Magnus and Rex Walheim — will spend the remainder of the holiday reviewing procedures before turning in for an early night.
"Once they arrive in Florida they will, of course, do the routine statement with the press, and they'll have a [pressure] suit tech and flight data file tag up, just a chance to checkout some of that gear," Cloutier-Lemasters said. "Then they'll have meal time and then some personal time to study or relax."
"That will pretty much wrap up their day," she said. "They'll be hitting the hay around 8 p.m."
Their own light show
Should the weather cooperate, space shuttle Atlantis will provide the ultimate rocket show on Friday, launching on the 135th and final flight of NASA's shuttle program.
NASA anticipates nearly 1 million spectators to fill the beaches and roads near Kennedy Space Center to watch the orbiter lift off for space one last time.
NASA is retiring its three-shuttle fleet this year to make way for a new exploration program aimed at deep space missions to an asteroid and Mars. The shuttles Discovery and Endeavour completed their own final missions earlier this year.
The crew plans several tributes during the mission to the iconic American vehicle and its legacy of the shuttle within the nation's space program. Among their announced activities is the display of a U.S. flag honoring fallen soldiers, police, firefighters and astronauts.
The shuttle flyers will also partake in an "All-American" meal that was originally intended to be eaten on July 4. But delays pushed their launch beyond Independence Day.
Robert Pearlman is a SPACE.com contributor and editor of collectSPACE.com. You can follow him @robertpearlman or on Facebook. Visit SPACE.com for complete coverage of Atlantis' final mission STS-135 or follow us @Spacedotcom and on Facebook.
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