In Brief:

(CNN) -- The space shuttle Atlantis rumbled slowly Monday morning to its liftoff location at the Kennedy Space Center for an early September mission to the International Space Station.

A mammoth crawler weighing 6 million pounds moved the upright shuttle to the launch pad, traveling about 1 mph on a nine-hour drive that began an hour before midnight Sunday and ended soon after dawn Monday.

The move from the vehicle assembly building, where the shuttle underwent a series of tests, kicks off a busy week at the Kennedy Space Center.

NASA personnel will ready the payload of the shuttle, which will carry 2.5 tons of supplies, food and water to the space station.

The seven-member Atlantis crew is expected to arrive in Cape Canaveral on Tuesday. They plan to take part in a dress rehearsal on Friday for the launch countdown, a NASA spokesman said.

The space station should host the first long-term inhabitants in November.

(CNN) -- A new space science and technology institute became a reality, as Alabama and NASA officials last week formally endorsed an agreement to operate the new center.

The National Space Science and Technology Center will bring together scientists, engineers and educators researching space science, materials science, biotechnology, Earth sciences, propulsion, optics and medical technology.

The Huntsville, Alabama-based facility research should provide better consumer products, said the director of the Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville.

Marshall Center will operate the space science center through a partnership with the Alabama Space Science and Technology Alliance, a group of six Alabama universities.

Expected to open later this month, the center will eventually house 450 people including personnel from NASA and other government agencies, academia and private industry.

Want more? Go to previous In Brief