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it's a bittersweet privilege to be

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taking endeavor on its last flight

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delivering the last major piece to the

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i was there before they put the wings on

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it it was just

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so it was almost like it was my baby

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that space station assembly mission was

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perfect from start to finish and a lot

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of that was endeavor it just phenomenal

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vehicle

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the eagle represent you know the united

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states of america it's something that

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we're proud of you know that's that's

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after nearly two decades of achievements

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in space endeavor makes one last reach

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for the stars on its 25th and final

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mission

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endeavour is traveling to the

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international space station with six

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veteran space fliers commander mark

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kelly pilot greg h johnson and mission

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specialist mike fink drew feustel greg

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shamatoff and roberto vittori from italy

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representing the european space agency

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i'm the commander of sts-134

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we've got a whole list of mission

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objectives probably 30 things on the

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list

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but the big objectives is to get the

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alpha magnetic spectrometer installed on

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the outside of the space station

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the 15 thousand pound ams is a massive

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particle physics detector that will

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attach to the international space

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station its job to search through cosmic

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rays looking for proof of dark matter

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and antimatter

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in my mind this is like the hubble space

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telescope i mean it has the same type of

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potential for revolutionizing our

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understanding of the universe

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they're also delivering critical spare

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parts to help keep the station up and

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running for years to come along with the

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shuttle's orbiter boom sensor system

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feustel think and shamatov will rotate

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through four spacewalks the last

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performed by shuttle crew members for

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the remainder of the space shuttle

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program

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and when endeavour makes its final

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touchdown on the runway it will end a

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storied flying career for the youngest

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even endeavour's beginnings were unique

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it was built as a replacement for space

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shuttle challenger a name for the first

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ship commanded by explorer james cook

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at the time of the challenger accident

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astronaut barbara morgan was part of the

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teacher in space program serving as

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backup to teacher christa mcauliffe who

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launched a board challenger on that

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fateful day in 1986. i think endeavor in

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particular because she was named by

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school children all over all over the

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country that

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really shows a carrying on and a moving

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forward and and how open-ended and

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never-ending that future can be

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like all shuttle orbiters before it

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endeavor was built by rockwell in

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palmdale california

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that's where astronaut bruce melnick's

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bond with endeavor began

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my first job as an astronaut even before

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i was a qualified astronaut was to

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represent the astronaut office out in

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palmdale where endeavor was being built

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so i got to see her being built from

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scratch to finish got to see the wings

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put on it's amazing

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the nation's brand new space shuttle was

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delivered to kennedy space center on may

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7 1991 exactly one year before its

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maiden flight it was it was great to see

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endeavour come in you know we knew why

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it was coming because it was replacing

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challenger so it was going to be the new

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fleet leader and the new kid in the

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block

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melnick was on endeavor's first flight

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sts-49

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the seven-person crew faced an ambitious

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eight-day mission to repair the stranded

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intelsat-6 satellite i'll never forget

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when dan brandenstein who was the chief

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astronaut at the time asked me if i

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wanted to be on

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the first flight of endeavor i mean you

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could hear me hooting and hollering

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because that was going to be the premier

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mission at the time

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endeavour made history again during the

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last shuttle mission of 1993

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when seven astronauts upgraded the

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hubble space telescope and improved its

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vision

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it was an extremely complex flight

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involving five back-to-back spacewalks

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and in the end all the hard work paid

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off the telescope's new second

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generation wide field and planetary

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camera being back grand images taken

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with dazzling clarity an endeavor helped

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to carry the load in the construction of

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the international space station

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including the very first shuttle flight

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to the fledgling outpost sts-88

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endeavour delivered the american unity

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module and astronauts connected it to

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the russian zarya module already in

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place and the station was born

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kennedy space center director bob cabana

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commanded that cornerstone flight

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i have to admit you know

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because

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i got to command endeavor on that first

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space station assembly mission i'm a

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little partial to endeavor but less than

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three years later the nation was stunned

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by the terrorist attacks of september 11

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2001.

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on december 5th all eyes turned to

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kennedy space center where endeavour

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waited to make the first flight after

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the tragedy

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mike first we'd like to say thank you to

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the entire ksc team for getting endeavor

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in great shape and secondly from the

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entire crew we're all

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well aware that for over 200 years and

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certainly over the last two months

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uh freedom rings bad and clear across

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this country but

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right here and right now it's time to

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let freedom

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let's light them up

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one we have booster ignition and liftoff

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of the space shuttle endeavour pushing

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our goals skyward using our station in

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space

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endeavor lifted the nation's spirits

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with a spectacular launch at the

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twilight's last gleaming

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after two more flights endeavour entered

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an extended downtime for planned

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maintenance and upgrades including the

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new glass cockpit

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and a global positioning system for

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landing i think the the missions you

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remember the most are the missions that

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were the toughest to get there but we

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met our goals on the way you know we

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powered up in time after coming out of a

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major power down period and the major

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upgrades with a glass cockpit

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the newly upgraded orbiter returned to

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service in august 2007 on the sts-118

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mission

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recalls watching an orbital sunrise

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i looked back up the horizon again and

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there was a crescent moon

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and i and it literally seemed even

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though you can't it's not this easy to

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do but it literally seemed all we had to

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do was yank on the tiller take a right

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turn and sail straight to the moon and

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that's when i really understood how

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natural and how right space exploration

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human space exploration is and endeavor

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played a big part of that

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sts-134 will be endeavor's 12th flight

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to the international space station one

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of the most memorable deliveries was its

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most recent the cupola with seven

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windows offering astronauts a room with

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after 30 years the shuttle program is

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coming to a close when you look up and

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you see that vehicle take off a launch

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pad i mean it's just such a sense of

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pride and you feel the shock waves

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hitting you in the chest and it just

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vibrates it just it just brings a tear

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to your eye that you know we're a part

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of that program

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and then to see endeavor go up the last

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ship that i flew and i was on her maiden

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voyage and she you know treated us so

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well to see her go into space for the

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last time knowing that she's going to be

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retired after this flight is going to be

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the vehicles we see you know every one

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of the vehicles including denver and

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discovery in atlantis they're all part

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of us and they all are you know they're

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they're alive and they represent

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each and every every one of us that had

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worked on them

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the close-knit shuttle processing team

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is adjusting to the shuttle's end while

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still maintaining laser-sharp focus on

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the job

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you know personally we do have to think

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about putting our emotions aside and we

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have our job number one which is to get

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this vehicle

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prepared safely for the um for the

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mission at hand with

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sts-134 launch

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but the toughest moment will be that

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final wheel stop when the devil returns

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to earth for good

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roger wheel stop endeavor welcome home

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i didn't want to get out of the seat

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i mean this was my spaceship you know it

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really

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that was hard getting

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in fact of all the things i've done it

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was hard getting out of that seat and

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giving endeavor back to the to the team

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was uh that was tough

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endeavor flight for the last time

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good it'll be show respect for

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everything that we've done for many many

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years

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we love the shuttle program we love this

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vehicle