Remaining payloads, fuels and fluids were installed on the pad closer to launch day. Prior to rollout to the Vehicle Assembly Building, several weeks before scheduled launch, the orbiter was prepared for the next mission by installing mission flight kits, payloads, consumable fluids and gases where possible. After all its flights, the orbiter went through "Down Mission Processing.".any modifications to the orbiter were completed in the OPF.the Orbital Maneuvering System and Reaction Control System pods were possibly removed and transferred to the Hypergol Maintenance Facility for troubleshooting, repair or other services.any needed repairs on the orbiter's thermal protection system including the thermal blankets and thousands of tiles were completed.main engines were removed and transferred to the Main Engine Processing Facility for checkout and service.scaffolding was installed around the orbiters aft to allow technicians to access the main engines.main engines were locked in place and covers installed.heat shields were removed from the engines and aft access were opened.refuse and other waste products including draining of the potable water system were offloaded.high-pressure gases were vented from the environmental control and life support systems.The oxygen system was rendered inert with gaseous nitrogen and the hydrogen system with gaseous helium. fuel cell tanks were drained of remaining cryogenic reactants.payload bay doors were opened and any hazardous payloads were processed for safety.The orbiter's main engines were purged to remove the moisture that was a by-product of liquid oxygen and liquid hydrogen combustion. Any remaining payloads from the previous mission were removed and the vehicle was fully inspected, tested, and refurbished. When a Shuttle mission was completed, the orbiter was towed from the Shuttle Landing Facility to its assigned OPF where it spent several months (typically less than 100 days) being prepared for the next mission. All rights reserved.Discovery inside OPF-3 following the completion of mission STS-114 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.
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