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After it's dramatic pre-dawn arrival at the Shuttle Landing Facility at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Thursday morning, July 21st, 2011, the space shuttle Atlantis is rolled over to the Orbiter Processing Facility in a parade of specialized vehicles known as the Orbiter Recovery Convoy. The journey of approximately two miles normally takes a little under two hours; but on the occasion of this being the last of the Space Shuttle missions, the orbiter made an unusual stop as the centerpiece at a special employee gather near the end of the route.
-- In a Norman Rockwell like scene that would be right at home in any middle-American home-town parade, a small band of NASA workers escort their last shuttle home to roost with the same pride as national heroes walking down any main street USA might have, waving at the crowds of onlookers, mindful of history happening.