S97-00249 (10 Dec. 1996) --- Having departed the giant Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB), the space shuttle Atlantis slowly moves out to Launch Pad 39B along the Crawlerway. Atlantis is scheduled to liftoff Jan. 12 on STS-81, the first dhuttle mission of 1997. The planned nine-day flight will include the fifth Shuttle-Mir docking.