and we are joined here by astronaut katy coleman, and john zarrella. katy spent six months on the international space station, and we will talk about that throughout the hour, and also over to chad myers at the weather complex, and chad, what is going on with the weather? the sun looks like it is starting to peek out? >> well, only one fly in the ointment, and there is a thick cumulus cloud there above the palm trees, and if that cumulus deck is more than 4500-feet thick, that means there might be rain drops in the deck. the shuttle cannot fly through rain, and why? because if it is wet and then two seconds later it is high in the sky at below zero, clearly the water will freeze on the shuttle and freeze underneath the ceramic tiles. and over to the left, you will get rid of the cumulus deck and have weather like this, and it could not be better, and that is spectacular weather. if the weather is moving in like

john sa rel low and honored to have astronaut katy coleman was, and joining us on the phone is nasa administrator john bolden who has called into us now. and administrator bolden, everything looks good, yes? >> well, it is looking much better than it has all morning. so we are excited about getting off today. >> for you, what is this day like? >> you know, like any other launch date, but it is not. it is a very special day, and it is the last flight of "atlantis" which is where i flew my last flight, and it is the joyous day, because it is the day of which we begin the next era of where we have been, and stand up with a commercial industry to -- have astronauts to the international space station. >> it is very difficult to hear

astronaut katie coleman is going to work on the space station.les straight up on russia's soyuz. if the shuttle was the cadillac of space transport, the soyuz is the honda civic. coleman has a poetic way of saying, it is rather cramped. >> here you are with a window six inches from your face. it's a very intimate way to be in space. >> reporter: now that soyuz is the only way for u.s. astronauts to travel up and down, nasa keeps a full-time manager at russia's space complex near moscow. kmapder mark p commander mark pulaski who lives in a suburban style home built especially for visiting americans. >> i was a firefighter back then >> i was a fighter pilot back when the cold war was going on and if someone told me back then i would be living with my family in russia, i never would have believed them in 15 years. >> reporter: in 1957, the soviets launched the sputnik satellite and the space race. >> the first man in space. >> reporter: four years later, cosmonaut yuri gregarian went to space and round one get to the soviet union. >> one small step

at this point, when you hear the mission control saying no-go, what does that mean katy coleman?, for this case, it means the weather, and there are certain criteria to be met for all of the systems to be met for launch and if any one of them does not go, we are waiting. there is usually a specific pass they are going down to solve the problems and explain to the flight director in what time frame are they solvable and what is the plan. >> it is not meaning that the mission is no-go, but that the weather is not possible. >> right. and they are proceeding on track as if the weather is go, but right now, it is no-go for weather. >> and the astro, rick, is flying in the space shuttle aircraft and he is doing real time look above aloft to gauge what the situation is, and the height of the cloud decks and the thickness of the clouds and all of that plays into whether they can launch. >> if they don't launch today at 11:26, can they launch tomorrow? >> physically they could, but it would be harder, and the mission management team has made a decision with all of the crowds that came to

. >> 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 fox 5 news. now as the last flight of the space shuttle. the director says his mind rests squarely on this mission. >> the thing that keeps me up at night literally is wondering

. >> reporter: veteran astronaut katie coleman has flown twice on the space shuttle and just came home from the international space station, the greet achievement they says of -- great achievement she says of the past 30 years. >> we use our time to do the things that can't be done from the ground and to do experiments and interesting endeavors to try 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. tampa's valerie bowie will be with friends. >> i get here early and stake our claim to this particular spot. then i feel i can get the best pictures. >> reporter: nasa plans to continue its ambitious launch schedule 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. eight years later i reported on the loss of columbia for fox 5 news. now as the clock ticks toward this historic last fl

katie coleman, astronaut katie coleman. >> that is your buddy.than a year! >> you make him sound like a stalker as part of a reporter. >> i will say one thing, john. nasa has been fighting over budgets, worried about budgets since the beginning of nasa. every time there is a new bright idea, they are worried there is going to be political winds are going to shift. so i don't know if that is good news or bad news but that is just the way it is. >> but it always is political wind that ultimately drives whether it was "apollo" or whatever the program is, there is politics. >> a huge sort of national pride for those people. >> that's right. >> so it lives on. >> john, you and i will spending quality time on friday one way or the other. good to see you, my friend. >> yeah. >> 30 years after the space shuttle program begin "atlantis" trip to the international space station will be 135th and final mission for nasa. special live coverage friday morning 10:00 a.m. eastern here on cnn. >> love that little rocket. >>> stocks firing on all cylinders last wee