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hi i'm chris ferguson coming to you from

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the flight deck of the space shuttle

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atlantis orbiting at an altitude of 220

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miles docked to the international space

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station

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the space shuttle was born over 30 years

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ago as a reusable space plane in the

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ensuing 30 years it's deployed great

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observatories it's taught us how to live

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and work in low earth orbit and most

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recently it's helped us construct the

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international space station its image is

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iconic you cannot go anywhere in the

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world without recognizing a picture of a

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space shuttle

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plane and a glider all rolled into one

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our good ship atlantis has made 33 trips

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into space it has visited the mir

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space station

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it has visited the hubble telescope

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and it has made many trips to the

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international space station and it has a

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distinct honor of being the last space

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shuttle to visit

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our beloved iss

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we look forward to bringing her home in

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just a few short days

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the space shuttle program has been an

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inspiration to our entire country

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when you watch the space shuttle takeoff

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you can't help but be proud of your

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country that can take this magnificent

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machine and launch into space at 25

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times the speed of sound

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we're also inspired by the entire

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spaceops team the trainers the planners

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and the flight controllers who make the

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impossible possible space shuttle is

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also an inspiration to children who are

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inspired to study math and science and

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pursue technical areas

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we also like to recognize the fact that

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the space shuttle has really brought out

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the international cooperation in the

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space program started out by going to

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the shuttle mirror program where we had

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initially initiated our cooperation with

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the russians and since then of course it

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has been the keystone of the

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international space station program

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bringing up modules from many countries

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and allowing cosmonauts and astronauts

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from different countries to fly together

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because of the capabilities of the space

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shuttle with its ability to fly up to

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seven people and it's very large working

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in living volume it's increased the

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possibilities and opportunities for not

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for all kinds of people to fly on the

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shuttle scientists engineers from

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america and from other countries as well

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through these many many flights we've

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gained a lot of experience and knowledge

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about how to adapt and work in space and

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we'll be able to take this knowledge as

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we pursue goals beyond low earth orbit

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we have to remember though this

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knowledge should not come without some

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painful loss of colleagues but we know

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that they too

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will be very excited to learn that the

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information and experience gained from

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all the space shuttle flights will be

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used to carry mankind beyond low earth

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orbit to moon mars or perhaps an

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behind us is a flag that flew on sts-1

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we are honored and privileged to return

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it to space once again on the final

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space shuttle mission in a few short

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days we'll prepare to undock from the

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international space station for the

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final time we'd like to present this

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flag along with a few other small

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mementos of the space shuttle's

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contribution to the construction of the

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international space station so that they

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may

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be a permanent

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presence on the space station for

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generations to come

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in a few short years the united states

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will launch its own indigenous vehicle

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once again we want to return this flag

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back to earth with that vehicle when it

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comes again only to be returned to space

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once again when we leave low earth orbit

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and return to a lunar asteroid or

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perhaps martian destination

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from the flight deck of atlantis

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the crew of sts-135

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wishes all the workers who contributed

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to the space shuttle program