The space shuttle Atlantis has linked up with the International Space Station (ISS) for its final rendezvous.

NASA said Atlantis and its crew of six astronauts successfully docked with the orbiting space lab about 350 kilometres above the South Pacific.

After an hour to check the soundness of the seal, the shuttle and station crews were to open the hatches and hold a traditional welcome ceremony before beginning preparations for the first of three planned spacewalks.

The mission is the 32nd and final scheduled voyage for Atlantis, which first launched in 1985 and has logged some 185 million kilometres over a career spanning a quarter-of-a-century.

After this mission, only two more shuttle launches remain - one in September for Discovery and the final blast-off for Endeavour in November - before the curtain falls on this era of human spaceflight.

Once the three shuttles are retired, the United States will rely on Russia to take astronauts to the station aboard three-seater Soyuz spacecraft until a new fleet of commercial space taxis is operational.