The last Space Shuttle mission is now underway after a successful morning launch. Ars was fortunate enough to have two people, Jonathan Gitlin and Elle Cayabyab-Gitlin, at this morning's shuttle launch. We'll have pictures from the launch itself shortly, but for now, enjoy some shots of yesterday's visit to the launch site and make sure to read our retrospective of the 30 year shuttle program.

The first stop on the way to the viewing area was the vehicle assembly building, where the orbiter is attached to the fuel tank and solid rocket boosters prior to its trip to the launch site.

From there, we caught our first glimpse of the orbiter, which rose above some trees in the distance.

Fortunately, we were driven much closer to the site of the launch.

We weren't the only ones interested in getting a close-up view of Atlantis before it went off to orbit.

We had a good view of both the crew area...

...and the main and steering engines of the orbiter. The solid rocket boosters were hidden behind protective shielding.

At the time, the orbiter was still hooked up to an extensive array of infrastructure that would supply it with fuel, power, and, ultimately, astronauts.

This infrastructure is pretty impressive in its own right—just not as impressive as the craft itself.

That craft had been given a farewell message by workers at the Space Center.

We'll be back with shots from the launch later today.