nasa orbiter processing facility shuttle flo

An umbilical tower also usually includes an elevator which allows maintenance and crew access. See space shuttle Discovery’s payload bay doors close in ’s Photo Gallery.įollow collectSPACE on Facebook and Twitter collectSPACE and editor Robert Pearlman robertpearlman. The Shuttle Landing Facility ( SLF) also known as Launch and Landing Facility (LLF) 1 ( IATA: QQS, ICAO: KTTS, FAA LID: TTS) is an airport located on Merritt Island in Brevard County, Florida, United States. Space Shuttle Discovery is carried by a Crawler-transporter, a launch tower is visible in the background A service structure is a steel framework or tower that is built on a rocket launch pad to facilitate assembly and servicing. Enterprise in turn will be flown to New York City, where it is to go on exhibit at the Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum. McDonnell Space Hangar as its centerpiece attraction.ĭiscovery will replace the prototype shuttle Enterprise, which the Udvar-Hazy has displayed since 2003.

There it will be unloaded by cranes and rolled into the Udvar-Hazy's James S. Ferried atop NASA's modified Boeing 747 carrier aircraft, the shuttle will be flown to Dulles Airport in Virginia. We then transported Spartan Halley to the Orbiter Processing Facility where we supported NASA and the Shuttle Processing Contractor during the installation. As with the fuel cells, the Smithsonian requested NASA keep Discovery as complete as possible so as to serve as a resource for future study.ĭiscovery is targeted to make one last flight in April 2012, though not under its own power and well within the atmosphere. Inside its crew cabin, Discovery's waste collection system - otherwise known as its toilet - was removed, cleaned, and replaced, and its flight deck configured to appear ready for another mission, one that will never come. Its engines have been removed and replaced with replicas and its thrusters cleaned of their hazardous materials. All rights reserved.Since landing back on Earth after its 39th and final mission in March, Discovery has been carefully taken apart to preserve some of its components for future use while making the vehicle safe for public display.

See for continuing coverage of the delivery and display of NASA's retired space shuttles.įollow collectSPACE on Facebook and Twitter collectSPACE and editor Robert Pearlman robertpearlman. The Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex's Atlantis Exhibit is slated to open to the public in July 2013. Set to be displayed as if it was flying in space again, Atlantis' move on Thursday was expected to be the last time it would roll on its own landing gear wheels. 30.Ītlantis meanwhile, will forgo the 747 ferry flight and instead leave Kennedy atop a wheeled transporter for its short drive to the spaceport's visitor center, where a new $100 million display building is now under construction. The CSC's new Samuel Oschin Space Shuttle Endeavour Display Pavilion is set to open to the public on Oct. The shuttle will then embark on a slow road trip to the California Science Center (CSC), completing the 12-mile journey through the streets of Inglewood and L.A. Once on the ground in Los Angeles, Endeavour will spend two weeks at LAX as it is hoisted off the carrier aircraft by crane and loaded onto an overland transporter. The shuttle carrier aircraft's refueling stops and ceremonial flyovers along the way to California have yet to be publicly announced. Endeavour is targeted to leave Florida on Sept. 14 with the rollout of Endeavour to Kennedy's Shuttle Landing Facility, where it will be mated atop the SCA jumbo jet. (Image credit: /Ben Cooper)Įndeavour will be the next one to depart its launch and landing site for the final time.įerry flight preparations are expected to get underway on or around Sept. Space shuttle Atlantis (foreground) faces its younger sister, space shuttle Endeavour as the latter leaves the Orbiter Processing Facility for the last time at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Aug.

Nasa orbiter processing facility shuttle flo