Shuttle Atlantis unwrapped ahead of public debut

SpaceX’s first Falcon Heavy launch for the U.S. Air Force took a major step closer to liftoff with a hold-down engine firing Wednesday night at launch pad 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Liftoff with a cluster of experimental satellites and weather monitoring craft is set for June 24.

NASA’s last space shuttle commander — former U.S. Navy fighter pilot Chris Ferguson — will fly Boeing’s CST-100 Starliner crew capsule on its first piloted test mission to the International Space Station next year.

Awe-inspiring onboard video views of Atlantis’ launch captured from cameras mounted on the solid rocket boosters. Check out these amazing videos of the spacecraft soaring to orbit on the final space shuttle mission.