Atlantis Crew Ready for Final Shuttle Mission

June 30, 2011

The crew of space shuttle Atlantis, from left, mission specialist Sandy Magnus, pilot Doug Hurley, mission specialist Rex Walhiem and commander Chris Ferguson, leave the Operations and Checkout Building on their way to board the shuttle for their final day of training during the Terminal Countdown Demonstration Test at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Fla., Thursday, June 23, 2011

These four astronauts are about to make an historic journey. Mission Specialist Rex Walheim, Commander Chris Ferguson, Pilot Doug Hurley and Mission Specialist Sandra Magnus make up the last crew to fly aboard a NASA space shuttle.

Magnus remembers when she first saw a space shuttle roar into the skies back in 1981.

"I was in high school, and it was just, you know, pretty spectacular to see something launching with people in it, even on TV," said Magnus. "It was like, 'Wow, look at that! You know, that's really cool. It looks like an airplane, but it's launching like a rocket. Wow!' You know, it was really different."

All members of this Atlantis crew have flown on space shuttles before. But this time it is different, because NASA is retiring the shuttle fleet at the end of this mission.

Commander Ferguson spoke to reporters during a brief break in training.

"We're very honored to be in this position," said Commander Ferguson. "You know, there are many people who could be here. We just happened to...when the dice fell, our names were facing up. So we consider ourselves fortunate, lucky. I think - and we haven't talked about this - I think each of us feels, perhaps, a little extra burden to make sure we put on the best possible face forward for the last go-around of this. And the crew is very prepared."