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CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — Space shuttle Atlantis has begun its final journey to retirement.
Just before dawn Friday, Atlantis left NASA’s Vehicle Assembly Building at Florida’s Kennedy Space Center and started its slow 10-mile journey to an industrial park for public viewing that’s still being designed.
Several hundred workers were on hand to see the last shuttle to leave the coop, including the four astronauts who closed out the shuttle program aboard Atlantis a year ago.
Friday’s daylong journey will include stops along the way for a ceremony and public viewing.
Atlantis is the last space shuttle to leave. Discovery left for the Smithsonian in Virginia in April. Endeavour headed to California in September.
