and there's our commander, chris ferguson.there's our center director once again, bob cabana, director of kennedy space center. bob cabana is talking with our commander, chris ferguson. bob cabana also has served as an astronaut on the space shuttles. [no sounds] [no sounds] [no sounds] [no sounds] >> rex walheim, and we see in the background, providing all the cooling right now. the onboard cooling systems are off. astronaut john casper who serve as our weather officer here in the fire room during lunch and has been responsible for conveying a lot of information, between our shuttle reconnaissance and mission control at houston. john casper also shuttle astronaut. [no sounds] [no sounds] >> the weather out on the runway is still very favorable. it's still cool, not as hot as it will be by late morning, in the mid '90s. just a few showers offshore moving away from the cape. and all of the activity continues to be on schedule to start a tow back to our processing facility, about 10 a.m. [inaudible conversations] >> you all prob

>> chris ferguson asking capcom barry wilmore to make sure the team here is looking over their shoulders to make sure they don't miss anything in the post-insertion checklist. again the ku band antenna will be deployed soon. once the payload bay doors are open, that will enable a high data rate telemetry and down link television capability from the shuttle. >> atlantis, block three does look good to us. nice work.

here comes chris ferguson right now with the shuttle. >> main gear touchdown. ferguson rotating the nose gear down to the deck. nose gear touchdown. having fired the imagination of a generation, a ship like no other, its place in history secured, the space shuttle pulls into port for the last time. its voyage at an end. >> mission complete, easton, after serving the world for over 30 years. the space shuttle has earn its place in history and has come to a final stop. >> we copy your wheel stop and will take this opportunity to congratulate you, "atlantis," as well as the thousands of passionate individuals across this great nation that empowered this incredible spacecraft which for three decades have inspired millions around the globe. job well done, america. >> thanks. that's great words, great words. you know, the space shuttle sees the way we view the world, it's changed the way we view the universe. a lot of emotion, but one thing's indisputable. america's not going to stop exploring. thank you, columbia, challenger, discovery, endeavor, and our ship "atlant

rex walheim, sandy magnus, chris ferguson and doug hurley, thanks to all of you.ward to watching this. cnn will cover it live tomorrow morning. >>> coming up on "american morning" at 8:10 eastern, the head of nasa, dr. charles boulden will be live to talk about the next big pron fear. as rex talked about, whether it's an astroid or mars and how commercial space travel plays into the equation. that's nasa's charles boulden, 8:10 a.m. eastern time. it's 19 minutes after the hour. back to the quote of the day from one of america's distinguished congressmen. he said you are the most viable, unprofessional and despicable member of the u.s. house of representatives. if you have something to say to me, stop being a coward and say it to my face. otherwise, shut the heck up. that was freshman republican congressman alan west of florida ripping into fellow congresswoman debbie wasserman schultz via e-mail, wasserman disparaged his bill which passed the house last night. here is watt wasserman said that provoked west's response. >> the gentleman from florida who represent th

. >> as it approaches the runway, commander chris ferguson will flare up "atlantis's" nose to burn upexcess speed prior to deployment by pilot doug hurley. >> reporter: we have pictures here, if you want to. this is coming from the cockpit of "atlantis" itself, as it is approaching the kennedy space center here. you see what they call the hudhs up display. this is what the two pilots on board, commander chris ferguson and also pilot doug hurley, this is what they see as they come in for the landing. they will be landing to the southeast, moving at 205 knots and it's on the runway 15 here, 150, that is what it is on the compass, 150 degrees. straight ahead, you can see the runway. we're 20 seconds out from the landing. you see an outline of the shuttle itself making its approach. this is what the pilots see. straight ahead, the final landing of a space shuttle, this is "atlantis" on its final approach. everything is right on course. it is a perfect approach, as you can see here by "atlantis." you see the shuttle here now. here it comes in, the touchdown, it's on the ground. "atlantis"

what are the nicknames for the "atlantis's commander chris ferguson and pilot doug hurley? i love this answer, and we will give it to you after the break. s use magnesium, an ingredient that works more naturally with your colon than stimulant laxatives, for effective relief of constipation without cramps. thanks. good morning, students. today we're gonna continue... we know right from wrong. and we know the ads blaming president obama for the economy are politics at its worst. the republicans have opposed economic reforms at every turn. and now they have a plan that would essentially end medicare for future retirees... slash education... while giving huge tax breaks to big oil and the wealthy. we can't rebuild america if they tear down the middle class. priorities usa action is responsible for the content of this advertising. a living, breathing intelligence that's helping drive the future of business. in here, inventory can be taught to learn. ♪ machines have a voice. ♪ medical history follows you. it's the at&t network -- a network of possibilities... committed to deliver

here's our commander, chris ferguson who is in pursuit of room. he is having a fit check of his helmet. he's our commander on this flight, and going over to pilate doug hurley. this is his second trip into space. he completed his first spaceflight -- he has logged more than 736 hours in space. and here is mission specialist number one, sandy magnus. this is her third spaceflight. she has spent more than four months in space aboard the international space station. she flew on sts 112 and in four and a half months after being on board the space station as a member of the 18 crew. this is rex walheim, our mission specialist number two. he is making his third spaceflight. is spent more than 24 days in space on sts 110 and sts-132 wanted to end his had five spacewalks total more than 36 hours. and he is her very effectively as -- he has served very effectively. so the crew now is finishing pursuit of activities, and they are scheduled to leave for the launch pad and just about 25 minutes. shuttle countdown is continuing to go very well. there's nothing

commander chris ferguson will execute a maneuver to place atlantis in the correct orientation so that mission specialist sandy magnus can use digital cameras to capture high resolution imamry of the tank as it drifts away. because there are no crewmembers on mid-deck for this launch there will be no time for handheld video capture of the tank as it separates. only digital photos. atlantis's four crew members about go to work shortly after the shuttle payload bay doors are open preparing for their first eight hour sleep erred in orbit which will begin 7 p.m. central time. the sense of history the legacy of what occurred here over three decades is palpable here in the shuttle flight control room as jones and ascent team stand by to take over control of the last journey of a space shuttle at solid rock bet booster ignition. at t-minus 9 minutes and holding with history in the offing this is mission control houston. >> houston flight 212. >> ntd flight on 212. go ahead. >> any updates to the launch window or launch hold times today? >> no updates. >> all right. very food. good. otc. stm,

. >> reporter: just before liftoff, shlts commander chris ferguson paid tribute to everyone at nasa. >> always going to be a reflection to a great nation. >> reporter: for thousands of nasa employees, once atlantis returns to earth in 12 days, they'll be out of work. and the job losses reach across the country. >> jame mather is the head of california-based rocketdyne, which makes the shuttle's rocket engines. >> your shuttle is done. and we don't know what we're doing now. >> reporter: so far, nasa hasn't revealed what it has planned next for space exploration. >> for the last time, the engines have fallen silent. >> but they are extremely proud of their 30-year space shuttle legacy. >> wjz watched the launch with the scientists and engineers at the goddard space night center in gren belt, prince george's county. we'll have there are reaction to the end of the shuttle program, coming up new at 5:30. >>> two people are confirmed dead tonight, following an accident in baltimore county. sky eye chopper 13 flew over the scene at pulaski highway and jones road in whitemarsh. it appears a

after which the crew will be out of the post-insertion checklist and into the timeline we'll see chris ferguson and rex walheim set up a variety of laptop computers on the orbiter before ferguson and hurley work from the atf flight deck from the atlantis to unfurl and check out the shuttle's robotic arm, moving it, maneuvering from the sill on the port side of the payload bay in advance of the grappling of orbiter boom sensor system tomorrow on flight day two and the checkout and inspection of the thermal protection system starting with the starboard wing of atlantis, to make sure that the reinforced carbon carbon did not suffer any damage during atlantis's climb uphill. the orbiter boom sensor system using a variety of laser cameras and sensors will inspect the orbiter's nose and move over to the, the port wing. all of that data coupled with the ascent imagery and the rendezvous pitch maneuver that atlantis will do during its final approach for docking on sunday to the international space station, will be analyzed by the debris analysis team here at the johnson space center as they begin the p

this is chris ferguson talking about some of his final impressions after returning home. let's see if we can see there is rex walhe imhe is san carlos resident that made the journey. giving the impressions we'll watch it and bring you more. >> a loud and angry crowd was in the bayview district to meet with greg suhr. it was the chief that bore the brunt of the rage. amy hollyfield joins us live from the hall of justice on that. >> reporter: before the meeting people had told us they were hoping for a calm and con struckive meeting. here is what they got. >>> people are upset, we are doing our best to make sure that mr. harding didn't do any violence to the community. [ siren ] >> reporter: harding is kenneth hard gt 19-year-old parolee that was shot and killed on saturday. people that are upset about the shooting question whether he was armed, why police shot him so many times and why they were chasing him for a minor offense of not paying his muni fare. police say when they tried to talk to him he ran and fired over husband shoulder at police. the investigation found gun

. >> reporter: just before beginning that ride, commander chris ferguson told mission control, we are completing a chapter in a journey that never end. the space shuttle is finishing but nasa's exploration of space is continuing. reporting live from the kennedy space center, i'm alan chernoff. >> reporter: big crowds gathered in oakland to watch that final shuttle launch. >> 4, 3, 2, 1. liftoff. >> it was a full house at the space and science center. thousands of people filled the theater for a bittersweet watch. >> this is the last shuttle launch of and since america doesn't have a replacement vehicle, how long will it be before we get back into space? >> the end of the space program ace tough sell for some people. some people are not quite sure how it can be over. >>> we are learning more information on at that time jake plane crash in watsonville. it turns out there were four people on board, two adults and two children when it slammed into the side of a medical building. allie rasmus joins us now from the crash site. >> reporter: i want to share with you that we have just learned

. >> that was the commander chris ferguson and you also seem go rex walhe im. they landed at cape canaveral. it ends nasa's 30-year shuttle program. atlantis is the second shuttle. the commander he hopes it left hand are the next generation. >> i wanted the picture of a young six-year-old boy looking at a space shuttle in a museum and saying i want to do that when i grow up. >> nasa ames research center had local reaction. >> reporter: good morning. the researchers whom i spoke are excited about the future of space exploration and the role in which nasa ames will play in that future. >> a crane was used for the post-briefing at ames research center. an astronaut says the final flight of the 30-year-old space shuttle program is the end of an era but not space exploration. >> we are still exploring space. we have a space station in orbit and there are six people on board and doing lots of science and engineering tests. >> they respotted the space station with 3,000 pound of supplies. research has a lot of experiments on the final flight in an effort to improve ho

. >> here is our commander, chris ferguson in the suit up room. he's having a fit check of his helmet. >> ps our commander on this flight, and going over to pilot doug hurley. this is his second trip into space. he completed his first flight on sts 127 and has more than 176 hours in space. >> and here is mission specialist number one, sandy magness. this is her third space flight. she spent more than four months in space aboard the international space station. she flew on sts 11211 days in space and then four and a half months after being on board the space station as the expedition of the 18 crew. this is marquez walheim, mission specialist number two. he's making his third spaceflight and spent more than 24 days in space on sts 110 and won a 22, and he has had five space walks totaling more than 36 hours, and he served effectively as the branch and here they come [inaudible conversations] amol goebel conversations [inaudible conversations] the crew going down the elevator where they will be greeted by the kennedy space center and members of the

. >> reporter: meanwhile, the burden of the final mission falls on commander chris ferguson. >> i hope that i paint nasa in the finest light, that we pull off the cleanest mission that is possible. because we want to finish on the strongest note. >> reporter: a strong close as america turns the page in space exploration. tom costello, nbc news, washington. >>> when we come back, when did the united states declare its independence? the answer, believe it or not, is a surprise to many americans. >>> president obama returned to the white house from camp david this afternoon as he prepares for a budget showdown with congress this week over raising the debt limit and averting a government shutdown next month. >> the economy and jobs will be the subjects this wednesday when the president hosts a new kind of town hall meeting using twitter. although he's no stranger to social media, this will be his first official tweet-up, meaning he'll take your questions on twitter and answer them in a live webcast on twitter's website. it all starts at 2:00 p.m. eastern time on wednesday. >>> a footnote t

commander chris ferguson made a sentimental plea for america to keep exploring space. >> i want that picture of a young 6-year-old boy looking up at a space shuttle in a museum and saying, "daddy, i want to do something like that when i grow up." >> what did the shuttle achieve? it built the international space station, a giant orbiting laboratory. and they launched the hubble telescope, providing extraordinary glimpses of distant galaxies. "will america do next? it will rely on russian rockets to get astronauts to the space station for several years. then commercial operations with new spacecraft will be paid to do the job of getting into orbit. nasa will send missions deeper into space, to asteroids or to mars, but only if there is the money. this new animation shows how nasa might land on an asteroid. but it may just be wishful thinking on a sad day. tonight, the slow haul for retirement, watched by huge crowds. many thousands will lose their jobs. no one is exactly sure what will come next. >> for more on today's final landing, a spark a brief time ago with in the in kick and --

and 12 minutes before the scheduled liftoff, the shuttle director radioed "atlantis" commander chris ferguson that he looked good to go. >> so on behalf of the greatest team in the world, good luck to you and your crew on the final flight of this true american icon. >> one more time we can witness this great nation at its best. >> reporter: but with just 31 seconds left in the countdown, a snag. >> t-minus 31 seconds. >> and we have had a failure. >> reporter: nasa quickly cleared what essentially tbawlsz alarm and the big clock rolled once again. >> main engine start. >> reporter: despite lingering concerns about potential rain and lightning -- >> liftoff, the final liftoff of "atlantis." >> -- "atlantis" roared. >> the space shuttle spreads its wings one final time for the start of a sentimental journey into history. >> reporter: the shuttle carried 10,000 of pounds of equipment and supplies to the space station, enough to last through 2012. >> "atlantis" go at throttle up. >> reporter: a camera on the external fuel tank focused closely on the heat shield on the belly of the orbiter. a prel

. >> reporter: meanwhile, the burden of the final mission falls on commander chris ferguson. >> i hope that i paint nasa in the finest light, that we pull off the cleanest mission that is possible. because we want to finish on the strongest note. >> reporter: a strong close as america turns the page in space exploration. tom costello, nbc news, washington. >>> when we come back, when did the united states declare its independence? the answer, believe it or not, is a surprise to many americans. because they have care 1on1. it's where the pharmacist stops and talks to me about safety and saving money with generic prescriptions. laura, let's talk about possible side effects. it's all about me. love that. get care 1on1 and talk savings, safety, and side effects when you transfer or fill a new, ongoing prescription. i'm laura, and this is my cvs. it's all mine. woman: saving for our child's college fund was getting man: yes it was. so to save some money, we taught our 5 year old how to dunk. woman: scholarship! woman: honey go get him. anncr: there's an easier way to save. get online. go to

thank you very much. [ applause ] >> that was the commander, chris ferguson. fact they came back to a country that's hotter than the environmental -- atmosphere entry they went through. >> struggling under a heat wave. it is a huge day for them. huge day for nasa. also a lot of questions about what happens next and when. john zarrella is live at kennedy space center. >> reporter: it is amazing. you look at the four of they standing there. commander ferguson and doug hurley, the pilot. sandy magnus, rex walheim. they spent 12 days in space. there they are. they are walking around like it is no big deal. you know. hour and a half after the vehicle landed they got off and were, of course, met by charlie bald kin, nasa administrator. mike linebach, launch director was out there. they walked underneath the vehicle and inspected the vehicle. shack a lot of hands. got a lot of hugs. getting a lot of pictures taken right now as we can see and there's that wide shot of the vehicle against the blue sky here in the early morning blue sky in florida. but it is a tremendou

chris ferguson, this is actually his third space flight. >> correct. >> and rex wallheim has been in space with his third space flight. >> and doug hurley, his second, and sandy, she is probably the third. >> and sandy is the most experienced, because she spent time on the international space station. >> she is one of the most organized people you will meet, and she is exactly the person to be the load master, to control what we need to bring back. >> and ferguson plays in the band. >> it is true. >> the drummer in the astronaut band max q. >> and i have heard that he has a flip camera which he carries around to document everything behind the scenes. >> sounds like astronaut mike masammino because he brings the camera around. and hurley is a big nascar fan. >> he is a colonel in the marine corps and former fighter pilot, and he admits to being a speed demon. >> absolutely. i asked him if he ever broke any of the nasa rules by getting behind the wheel of one of those fast cars when he wasn't supposed to be, and of course, he denied it. >> there are lots of times we are not supposed to

commander chris ferguson left behind an american flag. the gesture marks an end to three decades of the u.s. shuttle program. the shuttle is scheduled to return to florida early thursday morning. >>> okay, we want to take a quick time-out here to bring in jeff ranieri, our chief meteorologist. as we talk with jeff, we want to say -- do we have someone new on the set? >> i think so. >> a big hello and welcome to our new teammate, janelle wang, been in the bay area, on television over eight or nine years? >> yes. >> and janelle will be our 5:00 p.m. co-anchor. we're happy on behalf of the newsroom. jeff and i. welcome aboard. >> such a great team. and you guys are so nice. >> thank you. >> first day. >> no, i did a little training last week. you guys already feel like family. >> that's great. >> you know what this means for me officially -- i got to bring it back to me for a second. i'm no longer the new guy on the shift. >> that's right. >> yes! about time. >> and there's a little tradition -- jeff and i were talking, the new person on boa

. >> reporter: the atlantis crew, mission specialist sandy magnet and rex wallheim, chris ferguson and hurley, are going to space. >> the decision to retire the space shuttle was developed a long ago. >> reporter: katie coleman just came home from the international space station. the great achievement she says of the past 30 years. >> and we use our time every day to do the things can't be done from the ground and to do experiments and interesting endeavors and trying to understand how people can be living and working in space. so that we can take those experiences and go further. >> reporter: florida officials say a million people are gathering along the space coast tonight. valerie will be with friends. >> i get here early and stake our claim and i feel like i'll get the best pictures. >> nasa plans to continue on august 3rd. as a reporter working in florida 16 years ago, i covered a few shuttle launches. this one, discovery on july 13th, 1995. >> what a gut-wrenching day it's been here at the kennedy space center. >> reporter: eight years later i reported on the loss of columbia for

what you're looking at on the right of your screen is the commander chris ferguson.nd the pilot. really between you and me, it's really the pilot and the co-pilot but these guys are so experienced and good at what they do, that nobody wants to be called the co-pilot so it's the commander and the pilot. >> that is what they are doing. take one picture outside. still one astronaut outside the spacecraft who is about to get in. i don't know if we are able to watch her getting in. she is going to get on that platform behind her and lie down and get? >> first you have to show your boarding pass! but no. there is sandy magnus. you have to put your parachute harness on. >> she is checking to see that everything is working and moving? >> the fit is right and harness is not too tight or too loose. she is basically waiting for the other two guys to get situated. once they are set, then she will come on in and get into her seat which is behind them. if you see in your camera view now the two guys in the white suits are standing on her seat so she has to wait for them to get out

--i'm not about to let human >> this falls on chris ferguson. >> i hope we pull off to clean this mission that is possible because we want to finish on the strongest note. >> as america turns a page on space exploration. >> it should be exciting. >> amazing. 6:20. 71 degrees on tv hill. >> the orioles know who is going to represent them in the all- star game. that story, straight ahead. >> here is a look at last night's winning maryland lottery numbers. hope you have them. >> welcome back. we are off 20 quiet start on this fourth of july. we have some big thunderstorms last night. we have some clouds left behind. 71 at the airport. the forecast for today, a mixture of sunshine and clouds. a slight chance for thunderstorms late this afternoon and this in evening. we will check the seven-day forecast in just a few minutes. here is the sports with pete gilbert. >> all-star selections announced on sunday for major league baseball. matt wieters earns his first trip. adam jones did not make the team but has a chance to do so as part of online voting. on sunday, the orioles tried to avoid a swee

. >> chris ferguson greeted nasa officials this morning before leaving the international space station. atlantis is scheduled to touchdown on thursday completing 30 years of space shuttle service. >>> federal agents arrested 13 people in connection with high profile cyber attacked on major corporations. j janine de la vega has the report. >> reporter: it was attacked by an international hacking group called anonymous. the department of justice has unsealed an indictment this afternoon in federal court here in san jose. >> greetings world, we are anonymous. >> reporter: the group anonymous has posted this mysterious posting on you tube about what they do. they say their motive is not to disresult but send a strong message. the fbi sent a clear message when they made arrests. >> these are kids, anonymous is not an organized group. it is a lot of individuals that are kind of falling underneath that over all brand. each one has their own agenda. >> reporter: technology analysts says that anonymous is trying to get attention. the indictment says 14 people with online aliases coordinated an

we'll turn it over to o commander, chris ferguson. >> hello. i think we're elated to be back here in florida. the weather was perfect today. one of the thingwe always have in the back of our mind is are we going to end up back in florida or in california? the launch director, before we launched, said, you may not go to california. we had to come back to florida. fortunately the weather cooperated and we had a nice predawn landing. to my left, sandy magnus, m.s.-1, she had to haul the heavy stuff out of the t.l.m., did everything from robotics to taking care of us on the mid deck and she was just a tremendous asset to this crew and i'm proud to have called her my crew mate. sandy? >> the mission was incrediblely busy. we knew it would be incredibly busy when we started. we got tons of help from the space station crew and with their help and all the great work that these guys did we were able to get that cargo transferred and then more cargo transferred back. . that is pretty much all we did. it was an absolutely great experience. it was tremendo

those were wonderful words from chris ferguson and his cap-com at mission control. it expresses the feelings we all have of pride in the accomplishments of the space shuttle program. it was great to be a part of that, and it was a privilege to be able to fly on the shuttle. we're left looking towards a future that's very uncertain. there's the near-term goal of getting americans back to the space station, of course, renting russian rockets in the near term. american rockets will fly in if about five years to replace the transport function of the shuttle, but what we're lacking is that vision, i think that leadership that will carry us beyond the space station, and i think we need a plan to get us moving again to take advantage of all this experience we've reap with the the space shuttle. martha: this administration has decided that it's not really practical to continue the way that we've been going. i want to show a poll to the folks at home that asks a question of people about who they more align themselves with, who had the right idea on importance of space explor

. >> chris ferguson greeted nasa officials this morning before leaving the international space stationntis is scheduled to touchdown on thursday completing 30 years of space shuttle service. >>> federal agents arrested 13 people in connection with high profile cyber attacked on major corporations. j janine de la vega has the report. >> reporter: it was attacked by an international hacking group called anonymous. the department of justice has unsealed an indictment this afternoon in federal court here in san jose. >> greetings world, we are anonymous. >> reporter: the group anonymous has posted this mysterious posting on you tube about what they do. they say their motive is not to disresult but send a strong message. the fbi sent a clear message when they made arrests. >> these are kids, anonymous is not an organized group. it is a lot of individuals that are kind of falling underneath that over all brand. each one has their own agenda. >> reporter: technology analysts says that anonymous is trying to get attention. the indictment says 14 people with online aliases coordinated an attack

chris ferguson, the commander has moments ago, he was the last astronaut on board atlantis.rbital processing vehicle and that's where the crew transport vehicle and all four astronauts who were on this 13-day mission with 200 orbits around planet earth. they are now on board that, getting some ekg's, they're getting some medical checkups just to make sure they're all fine and fit, of course, they will be succumbing to a little bit of the old earth legs having been at near zero gravity for the past 13 days. they may need a little assistance but within maybe an hour or two, they should be pretty good to walk around and then sometime in this hour, we expect they will get off of the astronaut vehicle, transport vehicle and then on to the ground itself, walk around the tarmac underneath the big space shuttle atlantis, take a look at it. take a look, you know, the first thing they'll want to see, did any of the heat shields break off the carbon tiles? and then, you know, there's a sense of wow, this is it. this was it. and it was incredible life memory that they'll never, ever for

the wake-up song for the space shuttle "atlantis" this morning was dedicated to commander chris ferguson. today "atlantis" will dock with the international space station and the crew will begin delivering supplies. the shuttle is set to land july 20th at kennedy space center. nasa says they may add one more day to the mission. >>> today's edition of england's controversial and hugely popular newspaper "news of the world" will be the last. a hacking scandal plagued the tabloid so much so that they decided to shut it down. >> reporter: after the final edition of the "news of the world" rolled off the presses, the paper's editor and its staff showed off the front page. the headline, thank you and good-bye. the 168-year-old tabloid that thrived on scandal, shamed celebrities and brought down politicians was brought down by a scandal of its own making involving allegations of bribery and voice mail hacking that one paper dubbed britain's watergate. three people have been arrested so far including the paper's former editor who was once a key aide to british prime minister david cameron. he's o

i talked to chris ferguson, interviewed him a month or so ago, and one of the things i asked him about mars and going to mars. and he said he's disappointed about where we are as far as that goes now. he said, you know, mars has been 20 years away for the last 30 years, which i thought was, you know, a classic response. and kyra, there's going to be a closing ceremony. and they are not saying, the astronauts, exactly what will take place during that closing ceremony, you know, next week when they close the hatch out and they separate for the last time from the international space station, but that's likely to be a dramatic moment. and i think nasa missed the boat, or i should say space ship, because you and i should be up there right now. they should have flown us. >> yeah, i totally agree. i'm already working my navy buddies now in the astronaut program. >> reporter: there you go. >> yeah, looking for the next place to -- don't worry, john, i'll take you with me, i promise. i'll work it for both of us. i know it's a big dream for both of us. >> reporter: all right. >> speaking of the

was approaching the international space station below the space station and what the commander chris ferguson did was he actually did a back flip in space. he took the shuttle and the shuttle "atlantis" and flipped it over in space so that you could see from the space station the crew on space station could look at the underside, the belly of "atlantis." with three different cameras, 1,000 that they had cameras of all different lengths they were using to photo image the belly of the space shuttle just in case there was any damage to the thermal protection system there during the ascent. of course, all of those pictures will not be analyzed by mission managers but that's just such a cool piece of video to see a shuttle doing a back flip in space. we had to bring that to everybody. >> it's cool stuff. especially for us laymen, we know it has a lot of meaning for nasa and scientists there inspecting the skin of that shuttle. real quick, what will "atlantis" crew be doing? i know they've taken quite a hefty pay load. what will they do in the last visit? >> reporter: that's what they are going to

when they get within 600 feet of the spacestation, the commander, chris ferguson, will guide it through back flip maneuver. that allows the crew to photograph and inspect the heat shield to make sure it wasn't damaged during liftoff. docking is scheduled for 8:07 our time. >>> tonight on abc7 we will air an exclusive interview with jaycee dugard. she was kidnapped when she was 11 years old and held captive in antioch for 18 years by philip and nancy garrido. people have been waiting to hear from the girl. >> she's a survivor. i would be proud to have a daughter like that. i really would. she went through an awful lot. >> you can watch diane sawyer's interview with her in a two-hour prime time special tonight at 9:00 here on abc7. diane is also going to be answering questions about her interview on twitter. you can tweet your questions to diane sawyer on twitter. >> this morning the final edition of the british tabloid "news of the world" is saying "thank you and good-bye." it was shut down of it accusations of illegal hacking into voicemail of young murder victims, celebrities and griev

nasa is still troubleshooting the cause but it took commanderrer chris ferguson roughly 45 minutes to switch operations over to another computer. >> the good news is we have five of them. and each and every one can fly the space shuttle just fine. it's true, we have had, we have had a couple of them that have given us a little hiccup last night. one of them woke us up. >> reporter: this is the second computer issue during the final mission. but nasa does not believe the two problems are related. the shuttle crew is scheduled to return home next thursday. marking the end of a 30-year run of the space shuttle program. now nasa astronauts will rely on the russians to get to the international space station. which will cost roughly $50 million a ticket. in dallas, kris gutierrez, fox news. >> bret: you might not know whether to laugh or cry when you hear the u.s. navy's idea of a serious conversation starter. that's next in the grapevine. and why the big 5-0 might not be a big birthday bash for the president. @@ my bills are going through the roof. do you know, my medical costs have gone u

commander chris ferguson put it best this morning saying the 30- year shuttle program changed the wayeople view the world and the universe. >>> 6:57. a quick check of weather. kristy tells us it is national junk food day. >> it is a perfect day to get to the fair. get the double dose, twinkies and fried bugs an attraction this year, as well. san francisco gorgeous weather in the bay area, tomorrow a cooldown over the weekend in the low 90s. so dipping down a little bit and then we'll dip down even more as we make our way into next workweek. hot one today. temperatures 90s inland. so take a cue from zoe head to the pool. i'm impressed by the dog's balance. this is a photo sent by a viewer. feel free to send us a photo if you would like at mypix@cbs5.com. so over to gianna now and see how the traffic is going. >> all right. we are going to go straight to mobile 5 cruising along 101 in san francisco. traffic nice not bad. in fact it's been a nice drive all morning long in and out of san francisco. so thank you, mobile 5 for that shot. let's head to 237 in sunnyvale. looks like traffic on

"atlantis" commander chris ferguson acknowledged it was a bittersweet day in the history of u.s.pace exploration. >> we do really need something to look forward to. right now it's a little bit of a time of mourning, if you will. but, you know, that's to be expected. we've said we're saying goodbye to a good friend and we'll get over that. once we get over it, we'll start looking forward and we'll make it happen again. >> sreenivasan: for now, though, thousands of nasa employees will be laid off, beginning as early as tomorrow. the u.s. government is no longer a part-owner of chrysler. the italian automaker fiat bought the government's remaining holdings today worth $560 million. that makes fiat the majority owner. all told, the new chrysler-- created during bankruptcy-- repaid more than $11 billion in federal aid. the old chrysler-- left with the automaker's bad debts-- is not expected to repay some $1.3 billion to the treasury. the federal aviation administration may be forced to shut down tomorrow night, disrupting the u.s. aviation system. congress has been unable to agree on

. >> reporter: meanwhile, the burden of the pineal mission falls on commander chris ferguson. >> i hopepaints in a in the finest light that we pull off the cleanest mission that is possible because we want to fin official the strongest note. >> reporter: a strong close as america turns the page in space exploratio exploration. tom costello, nbc news, washington. >> among the thousands making their way to d.c. today is one man who has traveled nearly 4,000 miles across the country in his wheelchair. you have never seen a wheelchair quite like this one. chet hoping to help find a cure important spinal cord injuries. he was paralyzed in a motocross accident. he set out through southern california five weeks ago. that chair goes 55 miles an hour. needless to say he gets a lot of looks from other motorists and questions from police. >> i built this wheelchair and i decided that i would go do something for spinal cord research. something i have never done anything like this before. and just kind of jumped into it. didn't know what i was doing. learned a lot on the road. >> reporter: he says h

chris ferguson will be as maneuvering atlantis into an orientation. he >> the final lift off of space shuttle atlantis. we will continue to follow the space shuttle on its 12 day mission to the international space station. the thirty third flight for atlantis, the one hundred thirty fifth shuttle mission. >> the search for seven bay area man who remain missing in the sea of cortez continues today. it has been five days since their boat capsized in the gulf of california. the coast guard and mexican navy are extending the search beyond the usual 96 hours because the weather is cooperating. members of the coast guard searched for six hours yesterday looking for any signs of the missing men. kron 4 was on the flight that left sacramento yesterday morning. they found a lot of debris in the water including a life raft with a line attached. authorities confirmed it was a life raft from the boat capsized. they have surged 1,400 mi. and have not found the seven remaining missing. will tran is live at the home of the man who organized the fishing trip. >> the

captain is known to his colleagues as fergie, chris ferguson, 49. doug hurley is the pilot. he's 44. marine corps colonel. mission specialist, sandra magnus is 46. and rex walheim is a retired air force colonel. looking well as they came out into the vehicle to go out to the pad this morning. just four of them because there's no shuttle rescue mission, should something happen to go get them. they would have to come back on a russian craft from the international space station. our launch is coming up in 2 1/2 minutes. you see the top of the apparatus come off. the solid rocket booster, there have been some questions for days now about the dicey weather conditions in south florida today. we have a special event here, and that is our own space veteran, jay barberie, 53 years covering all of man's space flight for this country, this will be his 166th mission. and jay, take us down to 30 second, especially for what this day means to you. >> reporter: well, brian, it means the end of an era, as you said, but again, it's about the same as always. it's always the same excitement, yo

and he has said to commander chris ferguson, fergie, godspeed. that is the last time a launch director will ever say "godspeed" to a shuttle commander because this is the last shuttle mission. >> and a little bit about that commander. his nickname is fergie, christopher ferguson. he was 7 years old when neil armstrong made that historic walk on the moon. he actually saw the movie "the right stuff" and said that he saw so many astronauts early in life and navy pilots and he got the buzz like so many others we hear around here and he knew he wanted to be a part of the greatness that is produced here and in houston and the entire shuttle program. and it's so interesting, tom, we're just getting out of the president, and he's talking about the unemployment rate ticking up to 9.2. outside of this launch, which is so important, and it is a source of pride, we also have this second-tier story, and it's equally important, about the number of people who will lose their jobs with the end of this space shuttle program. two years ago 12,000 people had their

when they get within 600 feet of the spacestation the commander chris ferguson will guide it through a back flip maneuver. that allows the crew to photograph and inspect the heat shield to make sure it wasn't damaged during liftoff. dock is scheduled for 8:07 our time. they will then join six international members aboard the spacestation for a week of equipment transfers. >>> tonight on abc7 we will air an exclusive interview with jaycee dugard. she was held captive in antioch by philip and nancy garrido. people have been wait to go hear from the girl. >> she's a survivor. i will be proud to have a daughter like that. i really would. she went through an awful lot. >> you can watch diane sawyer's interview with a two-hour prime time special tonight at 9:00 here on abc7. diane is also going to be answering questions about her interview on twitter. you can tweet your questions to at diane sawyer at twitter. >> the headline on the news stands says it all, thank you and good-bye. owner rupert mur dock shut the tape down after a scandal. they are a accused of hacking into the voicemail of