With Atlantis' mission payload now secured inside the launch pad, NASA will have a busy few weeks preparing for the final flight of a space shuttle mission.

The Atlantis mission, STS-135, is set to lift off on July 8, and it will mark the end of a monumental chapter in the history of science and technology.

The four veteran astronauts, especially chosen by NASA as the last to ride aboard a space shuttle, will arrive Monday at the Cape Canaveral launch site to begin rehearsals for the mission.

"We're really excited to finish the program off and looking forward to sharing it with everybody when we get back to Florida on July 20," crew member Doug Hurley said this week.

NASA did a fuel test on the shuttle Wednesday, and put Atlantis into position on the launch pad earlier this month.

"The fact is, we've had this vehicle behind us and we've had it working for us for 30 years," said shuttle commander Chris Ferguson.

"And we're going to look upon this final mission as a celebration of all the shuttle has accomplished over its 30-year life span."

The bittersweet liftoff, the 135th mission of NASA's shuttle program, will mark the end of the program. Many NASA veterans will be without jobs.

"Many people came up and said, ‘hey, this is my last day' and it was really inspiring to see how upbeat they were about their time on the space program," said mission specialist Rex Waheim.

The shuttle program began in 1976 and stayed in service longer than expected.

Atlantis, the fourth orbiter built, first went into space on Oct. 3, 1985, on the STS-51-J

mission.

This time, Atlantis will be packed with supplies for the International Space Station so that the orbiting outpost is well stocked until a private cargo carrier can arrive.

The 12-day mission to the International Space Station will deliver the Raffaello multi-purpose logistics module, filled with supplies and spare parts.

NASA officials expect the first supply run by a U.S. company should take place by year's end, but they are sending up enough stock to keep personnel on the ISS fed for another full year, in case of delays.

With reports from CTV's John Vennavally-Rao and The Associated Press