Cape Canaveral, FL - The Space Shuttle Atlantis and it's crew prepares to make one final supply run to the International Space Station before retiring. As many as 1 million spectators are expected to jam the Cape Canaveral area for the historic send-off.  NASA test director Jeremy Graeber said the launch team is doing its best to put off any emotions associated with the end of the 30-year shuttle era, until Atlantis flies.

The crew is made up of three men, one woman, none of whom are minorities.

Even though it seems NASA's astronaut class is going out the way it began, much has changed since missions began in 1961, things are very different at the U.S. space agency. In the history of the U.S. space program there have been 19 African American Astronauts, 14 have gone into space.

* Robert Henry Lawrence - 1st African-American Astronaut, Died in plane crash before mission

* Guion "Guy" Bluford - 1st African-American in Space, Flew 4 STS Missions

* Doctor Bernard Harris, Jr. - 1st African-American to walk in space

* Frederick Gregory - 1st African American to pilot a spacecraft, 1st African-American to command a spacecraft, Flew 4 STS Missions

* Doctor Mae Jemison - 1st African-American Woman in space * Doctor Ronald E. McNair - Hero lost aboard Challenger

* Michael P. Anderson - Hero lost aboard Columbia * Leland Melvin - Fiber Optics Specialist Flew on STS 122 & 129

* Charles Bolden - First African American Astronaut to oversee NASA on a permanent basis

* Stephanie Wilson - Flew on STS-120, 121, & 131. 2nd African American woman in space

* Robert Satcher - First orthopedic surgeon in space, Flew on STS-129 * Alvin Drew - Flew on STS-118 & STS-133 Last African American in space

* Robert Curbeam - Flew on STS-85, STS-98 & STS-116. 7 spacewalks

* Joan Higginbotham - Flew on STS-116 * Winston Scott - Flew on STS-72 & STS 87, 3 Spacewalks

* Livingston Holder - (Did not fly) Mission canceled by Challenger accident reviews * Michael Belt - (Did not fly)

* Doctor Yvonne Cagle - (Did not fly) Colonel U.S. Air Force

* Jeanette Epps - Last African American Astronaut candidate (Did not fly)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_African-American_astronauts