CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — Space shuttle Atlantis, the final orbiter among NASA's winged fleet to fly in space, launched on its new mission Saturday (June 29) as the centerpiece of a $100 million tourist attraction in Florida.

Astronauts from each of Atlantis' 33 flights joined officials at NASA's Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex for a morning ceremony marking the opening of "Space Shuttle Atlantis," a 90,000-square foot (8360 square meters) exhibit dedicated to the retired spacecraft.

"There are not a lot of places where you are going to be able to get as a close to an orbiter as you are going to be able to get when you get inside the Atlantis exhibit here," said Charles Bolden, NASA Administrator and commander of Atlantis' 11th mission, STS-45, in 1992. Read more…

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NASA's Mars rover Curiosity, which for almost a year has been driving across the Red Planet, will be the next model to roll off LEGO's CUUSOO production line, the toy company announced on June 14.

The Denmark-based LEGO Group chose a fan-built model of the car-size rover to be the next release in its CUUSOO line of building brick toys.

"We learned that this product has niche appeal and strong demand from the space and education communities," said LEGO's Tim Courtney in a blog posted to the company's website. "The product aligns well with the LEGO Group's mission to 'inspire and develop the builders of tomorrow,' including those who will build our future in outer space." Read more…

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