Yesterday, at the Kennedy Space Center, the Space Shuttles Endeavour and Atlantis met, very probably for the last time, as they were moved during the stages of preparation for their transfer in what should be their final locations.

The Space Shuttle Endeavour was retired at the beginning of June 2011. The Space Shuttle Atlantis was retired in July 2011. They were the last Shuttles to fly so they ended the Space Shuttle program.

The Space Shuttles Endeavour and Atlantis have been placed “face to face” in front of the Orbiter Processing Facility 3, one of the big hangars where the Shuttles underwent maintaining operations between flights.

The Space Shuttle Endeavour was temporarily moved from the Orbiter Processing Facility 2 to the Vehicle Assembly Building, another structure of the Kennedy Space Center where the Shuttles were assembled in preparation for a flight. According to schedule, in mid-September the Endeavour will be moved to Los Angeles, where it will remain for a few weeks at the international airport. In October it should be transported to the California Science Center, where it should remain in a permanent exhibition.

The Space Shuttle Atlantis will remain at the Kennedy Space Center instead, for now in the Orbiter Processing Facility 2 taking the place of the Endeavour. In November, it will be moved but will not go far, because at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex a building is being built specifically to put the Atlantis in a permanent exhibition. According to schedule, the Atlantis will be displayed to the public starting from July 2013.

Last April, in Washington, D.C. the Space Shuttles Enterprise and Discovery were placed in a similar pose for a ceremony. Yesterday there were no special celebrations but it was still a significant moment because the Endeavour and the Atlantis are two of the representatives of thirty years of space travel in the Space Shuttle program, which is still waiting for a suitable successor.