Final shuttle crew arrives in Florida

Jun 20, 2011, 23:03 GMT

Washington - The final shuttle crew arrived Monday at Kennedy Space Centre in Florida as preparations were underway for Atlantis' mission and the end of the US orbiter programme.

Atlantis is due to make the last-ever space shuttle flight, blasting off on July 8 for a 12-day mission to the International Space Station.

Commander Chris Ferguson said his crew, like the entire US space agency NASA, was 'just trying to savour the moment' as the end of the shuttle era ticks down.

'As our children and our children's children ask us, we want to say we remember when. We remember when there was a space shuttle,' he told reporters as the four-member crew arrived from Houston, where NASA does most of its astronaut training.

Atlantis is to deliver tons of supplies to outfit the ISS after the shuttle's retirement. No other spacecraft can carry the large loads that the shuttle can, though delivery of smaller supplies will be shifted to European, Japanese and Russian vehicles and eventually US commercial craft.

After the shuttle retires, astronauts will be ferried aloft on Russian Soyuz craft, while US commercial carriers develop the capability to carry humans into space, and NASA works on a long-range vehicle for missions to distant destinations, such as Mars.