Space shuttle Atlantis will take off for its final space trip on Friday – with its launch from the Kennedy Space Center, Florida, scheduled for 2:20 p. m. The Atlantis mission, STS-132, will last for 12 days.

Along with the six-member crew, the Atlantis will also have on board a flag from Clarkson University, in the honor of the shuttle director Michael L. Sarafin – a Clarkson University alumnus, who graduated from the University in 1994, and has, ever since, been working for NASA.

Ads the flight director, Sarafin - who will be directing his third flight - will be in charge of mission control and will keep an eye on the safety of the shuttle and its crew from Houston.

According to NASA website, the Atlantis’ STS-132 mission, which will involve three spacewalks, will have the astronauts haul a Russian research module, solar batteries and spare parts to the International Space Station.

Noting that despite the fact that Atlantis has made 32 flights during its 25 years of being in service, Sarafin said that no mission is exactly the same, and added: “I wouldn't say any of the missions are routine. We're taking a 110-ton spacecraft and throwing it up in the air at a target that's the size of three football fields - the International Space Station - and bringing the spacecraft home safe. It's never going to be routine.”