CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida -- With Atlantis fueled and waiting for its final launch into space, The Huntsville Times thought it would be a good time to share some fun space shuttle facts with you to fill the time before countdown begins:

An Xbox 360 has far more power than the flight computer

The flight computer aboard the space shuttle has less than one percent of the power of an Xbox 360 game console. Astronauts load programs directing the phases of a mission - liftoff, orbit, landing - into the computer one at a time after removing the program for the previous segment. Why hasn't NASA upgraded the computer? The agency values its 30-year history of reliability. That said, astronauts don't go into space with only one computer. Crew laptops and other laptops also make the trip.

The orbiter vs. a Boeing 747

The orbiter is 122 feet long and 78 feet wide (wingspan) and it weighs 200,000 pounds. A Boeing 747, by comparison, is 231 feet long.

State-of-the-art materials make up the orbiter

The orbiters' flight computers may be primitive by today's standards, but its forward wing edge is composed of layers of state-of-the-art composite materials. That edge takes the maximum heat on re-entry. The oribters' "glass cockpits" are another example of cutting edge equipment. NASA installed them to replace 32 gauges, four cathode-ray tubes and a variety of electro-mechanical devices with 11 full-color electronic screens displaying critical flight information. The work NASA did to certify the cockpits led to FAA certification of glass cockpits for commercial airplanes.

Thank 'Star Trek' for the first shuttle's name

The space shuttle has a "Star Trek" connection. Fans of the original TV show flooded NASA in the 1970s with letters urging the first orbiter be named for the spaceship in the show, and the White House responded by changing its planned name to Enterprise. The Enterprise, however, never had an engine and never flew in space. It was used for tests to prove the craft could fly through the atmosphere and land. What was the name originally planned for the Enterprise? Constitution.

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Streaming video: Watch the shuttle launch live on al.com at 10:26 a.m. CDT, courtesy of WHNT Channel 19.

About the image: This commemorative patch, designed by Johnson Space Center engineer Blake Dumesnil, was painted on Atlantis's external tank earlier this year. Read more about the patch.

2.5 million parts make up orbiter

The most complex machine ever built, the orbiter has more than 2.5 million parts, including almost 230 miles of wire, more than 1,060 plumbing valves and connections, more than 1,440 circuit breakers, and more than 27,000 insulating tiles and thermal blankets.

Faster than a speeding bullet

In the eight minutes after launch, the shuttle accelerates from zero to about nine times as fast as a rifle bullet, or 17,400 miles per hour, to attain Earth orbit.

4.5 million pounds of shuttle

The space shuttle "stack," including the orbiter, solid rocket boosters and external tank, weighs more than 4.5 million pounds at launch. It has 3.5 million pounds of propellants that will be entirely consumed in liftoff.

Gas sucker

If the orbiter's main engines pumped water instead of fuel, they would drain an average-sized swimming pool every 25 seconds. Because liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen fuel the main engines, the majority of exhaust produced is water vapor.

Sparklers aren't for show

Hydrogen is the reason videos of shuttle launches always include a burst of sparklers around the base of the pad seconds before liftoff. The idea is to burn up any liquid hydrogen that might have leaked during fueling.

Solid rockets generate 14,700 locomotives worth of power

The shuttle's two solid rockets generate 44 million horsepower, equal to 14,700 locomotives. They produce power equivalent to 13 times that produced by the Hoover Dam.

Not your average kitchen aluminum

The shuttle's solid rockets burn powdered aluminum as fuel - a different form of the same type of material that is used as a foil wrap in most kitchens.

Extreme cold to extreme heat

The temperatures inside the shuttle's main engines and solid rockets reach more than 6,000 degrees Fahrenheit, higher than the boiling point of iron, yet the main engine's fuel, liquid hydrogen, is the second coldest liquid on Earth at minus 423 degrees Fahrenheit. Temperatures experienced by the shuttle range from as low as minus 250 degrees Fahrenheit in space to as high as 3,000 degrees Fahrenheit as it re-enters the atmosphere.

Night launches rare

The space shuttle launched at night for 34 of its 135 total flights, counting the scheduled last launch on July 8.

Michelin-tough tires help shuttle land

The orbiter lands on special Michelin tires not much larger than truck tires. Like most aviation tires, the shuttle's tires are filled with nitrogen to a pressure of 340 psi. Michelin says "a main landing gear tire can carry three times the load of a Boeing 747 tire or the entire starting line-up of a NASCAR race - 40 race cars - all hitting the pavement at up to 250 miles per hour."