Big Picture: First of the last Space Shuttle launches

First launched twenty-five years ago in October of 1985, NASA's Space Shuttle Atlantis is scheduled for its 32nd and final launch this afternoon (at 2:20pm ET). This launch - one of only three remaining missions left in NASA's Shuttle program - will deliver an Integrated Cargo Carrier and a Russian-built Mini Research Module to the International Space Station. Collected here are a series of photographs of Atlantis' recent activity, as it descended from orbit last November, landed, and was processed and prepped for today's final launch. (42 photos total)

Click the image to see the full collection.