{"id":40024,"date":"2012-09-15T00:37:22","date_gmt":"2012-09-14T16:37:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp-productionenv-bjg9h2g2bgg5b8aa.southeastasia-01.azurewebsites.net\/news\/endeavour-makes-her-farewell-rollover-to-the-slf-in-darkness\/"},"modified":"2012-09-15T00:37:22","modified_gmt":"2012-09-14T16:37:22","slug":"endeavour-makes-her-farewell-rollover-to-the-slf-in-darkness","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/news\/endeavour-makes-her-farewell-rollover-to-the-slf-in-darkness\/","title":{"rendered":"Endeavour makes her farewell rollover to the SLF in darkness"},"content":{"rendered":"

Final preparations at Kennedy Space Center (KSC) are in full swing as the NASA and United Space Alliance (USA) team gets ready to send Space Shuttle orbiter Endeavour from Florida to her retirement home at the California Science Center in Los Angeles, California. Endeavour made her final rollover in the early hours of Friday, greeting the Shuttle Carrier Aircraft (SCA) that she was mated with over the weekend.<\/p>\n

Endeavour Farewell Preparations:<\/p>\n

NASA 905, the remaining operational Boeing 747 SCA, returned to the Shuttle Landing Facility (SLF) on September 11 as work ramps up for the final cross-country ferry flight, which has been delayed to Tuesday, due to poor weather forecasts.<\/p>\n

The SCA touched down on Runway 15 at the SLF late Tuesday afternoon after leaving Dryden Flight Research Center at Edwards Air Force Base Flight in California earlier in the day.<\/p>\n

As in April when they delivered orbiter Discovery to her Washington, D.C. retirement home, the 747 flight crew taxied the jumbo jet to the south end of the landing field where the Mate Demate Device (MDD) is located and parked for final preparations to get it ready for Endeavour to be mated to the aircraft over the weekend.<\/p>\n

\"\"The area around NASA 905 wasn\u2019t quite as busy as in April, since the aircraft remained largely in its orbiter ferry configuration; there\u2019s still a few things left to do, though.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve got some work to do besides\u2026refueling,\u201d Stephanie Stilson, NASA Flow Director for Orbiter Transition and Retirement, said during a question and answer session with the media in August.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ll go up and we\u2019ll inspect the attach points \u2013 right now there are some ferry struts that are on those attach points that you only use when you don\u2019t have a vehicle on top. We\u2019ll take those supportive struts off and inspect the forward and the aft attach points.\u201d<\/p>\n

Spaceflight<\/path>Aerospace & Defense<\/path>Spaceflight history books<\/path>\n

(adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Endeavour was waiting in High Bay 4 of the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) for her call to get ready to say goodbye to KSC. The retired spaceship had been on display in the VAB since vehicle processing was completed in mid-August.<\/p>\n

Click here for additional T&R Articles: http:\/\/www.nasaspaceflight.com\/tag\/tr\/<\/p>\n

\"\"The final stay in the VAB is one element providing a symbolic bookend to Endeavour\u2019s original homecoming to KSC in May, 1991.<\/p>\n

Now, as Endeavour is transported to her place of retirement, the plan is for the spaceship to retrace many of the steps of that original trip, with the mated Shuttle-747 combo stopping in most of the same places as that original, \u201cdelivery ferry\u201d twenty-one years ago.<\/p>\n

Before that happens though, Endeavour is retracing her original moves after first arrival at KSC.<\/p>\n

\"\"Endeavour was originally delivered to KSC on the back of the other Shuttle Carrier Aircraft, NASA 911.<\/p>\n

Recently retired, NASA 911 entered Shuttle ferry service with Endeavour\u2019s flight from the Rockwell International final assembly plant in Palmdale, California.<\/p>\n

The duo arrived at the Shuttle Landing Facility on May 7, 1991, landing on Runway 15 less than 24 hours after Orbiter Discovery landed on the same runway to complete the STS-39 mission.<\/p>\n

Endeavour\u2019s arrival brought the brought the Shuttle fleet back to four orbiters, but there were no vacancies in the OPF.<\/p>\n

\"\"Discovery was being deserviced in OPF-1 to be turned around for STS-48.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Atlantis was getting ready for STS-43 in OPF-2, and OPF-3 was still a few months away from completing its transformation from the Orbiter Maintenance and Refurbishment Facility to a full OPF bay with repurposed equipment from the freshly abandoned Shuttle facilities at Vandenberg Air Force Base.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Columbia was stacked out on Launch Pad 39B in the middle pad processing for the STS-40 mission.<\/p>\n

\"\"This was a typical occurrence during this period of the Shuttle program, and Endeavour was first towed from the MDD to the VAB Transfer Aisle early on the morning of May 8, 1991, and then rolled around to VAB High Bay 2 on May 10.<\/p>\n

There  she stayed for over two months while ferry flight hardware was removed, receiving inspections were performed, and some initial processing work was done.<\/p>\n

With her first flight still several months away and the other three vehicles flying a busy flight manifest, Endeavour didn\u2019t get the next shot at an OPF vacancy.<\/p>\n

See Also<\/h4>\n