Engineering film footage of the final shuttle launch

Former astronaut Bruce McCandless II, a retired Navy captain and son of a Medal of Honor winner who joined NASA during the buildup to the Apollo program, served as capsule communicator when Neil Armstrong took his historic first step on the moon and later flew in space twice during the shuttle program, died Thursday. He was 80.

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.

A timelapse video shot inside the Vehicle Assembly Building at the Kennedy Space Center chronicles the stacking of the final shuttle mission’s booster, external fuel tank and the addition of the orbiter Atlantis. (Membership Required)