Timelapse video: The final space shuttle assembled for flight

The tugboat and barge transporting the last space shuttle external tank to its display venue in California have reached the inlet to the Panama Canal, now just days away from sailing into the Pacific.

Workers removed the protective wrap that has cocooned space shuttle Atlantis while its $100 million new home was built around it at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex.

A cargo-delivery module packed with 9,400 pounds of food, equipment and science gear departed shuttle Atlantis’ payload bay on July 11, 2011 and parked at the International Space Station’s doorway for unloading.