Timelapse video: The final space shuttle assembled for flight

Video highlights of the 50th Atlas 5 flight. The United Launch Alliance rocket carried the eighth Global Positioning System (GPS 2F-8) satellite for the U.S. Air Force.

Making a brief pit shop in San Diego to clear customs today, the museum-bound space shuttle external fuel tank will reach Los Angeles for offloading from the transport barge on Wednesday, just days after a serendipitous rescue of the passengers from a sunken boat in the Pacific.

Atlantis blasted off on May 11, 2009 for the final space shuttle mission to service the Hubble Space Telescope, a dramatic flight that prepared the iconic observatory for a new revolution of discovery