{"id":40246,"date":"2011-12-22T23:47:42","date_gmt":"2011-12-22T15:47:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp-productionenv-bjg9h2g2bgg5b8aa.southeastasia-01.azurewebsites.net\/news\/atlantis-put-to-sleep-after-26-years-loyal-service-opf-turnovers\/"},"modified":"2011-12-22T23:47:42","modified_gmt":"2011-12-22T15:47:42","slug":"atlantis-put-to-sleep-after-26-years-loyal-service-opf-turnovers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/news\/atlantis-put-to-sleep-after-26-years-loyal-service-opf-turnovers\/","title":{"rendered":"Atlantis put to sleep after 26 years loyal service \u2013 OPF turnovers"},"content":{"rendered":"

Space Shuttle orbiter Atlantis was powered down for the final time on Thursday, following a 26 year, 33 mission career. With her retirement, the world-famous space ship will at least remain at the Kennedy Space Center (KSC), a spaceport which is continuing to transition its shuttle facilities \u2013 as seen with the upping of the pace for \u201creleasing\u201d OPF-1 (Orbiter Processing Facility).<\/p>\n

Sleep Well, Atlantis:<\/p>\n

The fourth operational orbiter of NASA\u2019s fleet, Shuttle Atlantis was named, like her sisters, after previous Earth-bound vessels of exploration. However, unlike her three operational sisters to come before her, Atlantis was named after only one ship and is the only Shuttle orbiter named after a 20th century Earth-bound sailing ship.<\/p>\n

Atlantis is also the only Shuttle orbiter named after an Earth-bound American research vessel. Specifically, the orbiter Atlantis takes her name from the 1930-1966 two-mastered boat that served as the primary research vessel for the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute of Massachusetts.<\/p>\n

\"\"Construction of the fourth and originally final Space Shuttle orbiter for NASA\u2019s fleet began on January 29, 1979 when NASA awarded the contract to build OV-104 (Orbiting Vehicle 104) to Rockwell International.<\/p>\n

Start of structural assembly of OV-104\u2019s crew module began on March 30, 1980, before engineers at Palmdale began final assembly of OV-104\u2019s constituent parts \u2013 a procedure which was complete on April 10, 1984. After an additional full year of end-to-end testing of all of her systems, construction was complete, and on April 6, 1985 the new Space Shuttle orbiter Atlantis was rolled out of her construction facility.<\/p>\n

Three days after Shuttle Atlantis\u2019 rollout ceremony at Palmdale, she was transported overland to Edwards Air Force Base, CA where final preparations were made for her cross-country ferry flight \u2013 culminating in delivery to the Kennedy Space Center on April 13, 1985: 4 years and one day after the very first Shuttle flight.<\/p>\n

Atlantis\u2019 first mission would be STS-51J, which launched on October 3, 1985. Her Department of Defence (DOD) mission involved her deploying a classified payload, before returning to Earth to landing at Edwards Air Force Base, California at 13:00.08 EDT on runway 23 on October 7.<\/p>\n

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\"\"Her final mission was the last flight of the Space Shuttle Program (SSP). Carried out flawlessly, STS-135 was a late addition to the manifest, allowing Atlantis the honor of closing out the program when she returned back to the Kennedy Space Center in July. (Animation created from some of the 114 hi res photos (all available in L2) taken by Mike Fossum on the ISS)<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s bittersweet as Atlantis comes home where she will forever stay. I couldn\u2019t have more pride in this Space Shuttle team for your service to KSC, NASA, and America. What this team has accomplished over the past 30 years will be talked about and admired for generations to come,\u201d noted KSC Director Bob Cabana in an emotional address to the workforce.<\/p>\n

Work will continue on Atlantis, as she is prepared for going on display in a new facility at the visitor center, which will become her new home late in 2012, or early in 2013.<\/p>\n

However, with the final task requiring a powered up status \u2013 the stowing of the Ku-Band antenna \u2013 Thursday morning saw the orbiter put to sleep for one final time.<\/p>\n

\"\"The event \u2013 which engineers present at the time noted \u2013 was highly emotional, as the \u201cVehicle Powered\u201d sign was turned off, as it has already been for Discovery, never to be lit again.<\/p>\n

\u201cTechnicians in Orbiter Processing Facility-2 are scheduled to power down Atlantis for the final time Thursday. The shuttle\u2019s Ku-band antenna also will be stowed for the last time. Wednesday, techs removed Atlantis\u2019 airlock from the payload bay. The airlock is set to be transferred temporarily to Kennedy\u2019s Space Station Processing Facility today,\u201d noted a status report.<\/p>\n

Atlantis had already had her Forward Reaction Control System (FRCS), OMS (Orbital Manuevering System) Pods and Space Shuttle Main Engines (SSMEs) removed earlier in what is called her Transition and Retirement (T&R) flow.<\/p>\n

OPF-1:<\/p>\n

Eventually, Atlantis will depart OPF-2, as all three facilities are turned over to the 21st Century Space Launch Complex effort, which has already seen OPF-3 handed over to one of NASA\u2019s Commercial Crew Development (CCDev) suitors \u2013 Boeing and their CST-100 spacecraft \u2013 after signing a 15 year lease via a NASA agreement with Space Florida, the State\u2019s aerospace economic development agency.<\/p>\n

See Also<\/h4>\n