[Announcer:] Two, one, zero and liftoff. The final liftoff of "Atlantis" on the shoulders of the space shuttle. America will
[Malveaux:] Awesome. This is the closest people ever get to seeing a space shuttle. But in a T-minus eight days the shuttle "Atlantis" is going to be put on public display at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. John Zarrella got a sneak peek at the shuttle's new home. Watch.
[John Zarrella, Cnn Correspondent:] Up close, nearly close enough to touch it. But still it begs the question, is it real?
[Tom Jones, Shuttle Astronaut:] You don't realize the size when you're living in the cabin up front.
[Zarrella:] Tom Jones flew four shuttle missions, one on "Atlantis." But one of the last times he saw it, it was wrapped in shrink wrap as the museum was being built around it. Now even he, an astronaut, is in awe of it.
[Jones:] To really see the spaceship up close was a rare event. It was always cloaked in scaffolding in the hangar. You saw bits and pieces like seeing the elephant as a blind man. But you never got this close to the vehicle fully revealed until it was right after landing. Even that was just for a glimpse.
[Zarrella:] When the $100 million "Atlantis" exhibit opens, this is how everyone will see it, a flying machine like none ever built.
[Jones:] Were we ever that audacious to go build spacecraft to do things like that? I think we're going to look back and it's going to be as if it was something out of a science fiction movie.
[Zarrella:] Atlantis and the other orbiters, now retired, are reminders of both the past and the present. For two years since "Atlantis" touched down at the Kennedy Space Center, the U.S. has been without its own means to put astronauts in space.
[Christopher Ferguson, Shuttle Commander:] We call it a gap. Not sure how long it's going to last. That's dependent upon these future commercial providers.
[Zarrella:] Commercial companies have taken over ferrying cargo to the international space station, but not people. That was supposed to happen by 2015. Now the gap has widened. It's a very iffy 2017. Target dates are etched in sand, not stone. Not enough money from Congress, NASA says. So astronauts fly on Russian rockets. Jones believes a new generation of space explorers will find their inspiration right here.
[Jones:] A young person can come in here and say, I want to fly something like this. I want to help design something like this. It can be a part of their future. And that's a very bright future for America in the 21st century if we capitalize on the experience we have here.
[Zarrella:] NASA is also working on a rocket for deep-space missions. That, too, is years away. So for now, the inspiration gap is being filled by vehicles, not on the launch pad, but in museums. John Zarrella, CNN, at the Kennedy Space Center.
[Malveaux:] Cool stuff. Thanks, John. In Boston today, James "Whitey" Bulger was not the most recognizable person at his murder trial. Courtroom witnesses actually say Oscar- winning actor, Robert Duvall, was sitting in the back of the room watching the trial, the judge, the lawyers, soaking in the atmosphere. Duvall is in Boston, filming a movie called "The Judge." He wouldn't tell a reporter for sure if he was there for work reasons, only that he found the trial interesting. And this. A story we've been following. A child born deaf hears for the first time. You're going to hear from his parents, up next.
[Len Clamp, Grayson's Father:] Daddy loves you. Daddy loves you.
[Len Clamp:] Daddy loves you.
[Unidentified Mother Of Grayson Clamp:] Yes.