CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — The space shuttle Atlantis was moved from its hangar into the Vehicle Assembly Building on Tuesday. Space shuttle workers escorted Atlantis down the final stretch.
The shuttle is about to be stacked for what will be the last shuttle flight ever. At one point, NASA stopped Atlantis before it was rolled into the Vehicle Assembly Building so that workers could take pictures with the shuttle one last time.
For years, orbiters were rolled around from their high-tech hangars to the Vehicle Assembly Building with little attention. But on Tuesday, press from around the world gathered behind yellow ropes while shuttle workers came out to say farewell.
Eric Ransone and Brickford Lero were there to take one last picture with the shuttle.
"This is the last time it will rollout. The next time it will roll out it will go to a museum," said Lero.
Lero has worked on the shuttle program before the orbiters ever flew, testing engines, or as he said, blowing things up. Lero said he never got used to seeing the orbiters everyday. What will be hard is not seeing them.
"You look at some of the details and it's amazing, absolutely amazing," he said.
Only a handful of workers walked with the final space shuttle crew. Many workers were given scheduled times to stop by.
Lero and Ransone said they thought there would have been more people out there, but a lot have moved on already, some by choice and others because they've been laid off.
Lero said he believes there is still plenty of life left in each orbiter and personally believes it's a mistake to retire them now.
"It would have been pretty good if it would have gone till 2016," Lero said.
Now, they, like thousands of their colleagues, are trying to capture this moment in time and hope they find work with whatever comes in the shuttle's wake.
Atlantis' launch date is still dependent on when workers can get the pad ready. Workers said there was no significant damage from Monday's lift-off.
NASA is considering launch days between July 10 and 12.
WFTV
