Posted: Wed, Jun 29, 2011, 8:26 AM ET (1226 GMT)
NASA officials gave the formal go-ahead Tuesday for plans to launch the space shuttle Atlantis on July 8 on the final mission of the shuttle program. Atlantis is slated to lift off at 11:26 am EDT (1526 GMT) July 8 from the Kennedy Space Center on mission STS-135. The four-person crew will fly to the International Space Station and deliver supplies and other equipment to the station on its 12-day mission. As many as one million people are expected to attend the launch, the final one in the 30-year shuttle program.
