Friday, January 20, 2012

A groundbreaking ceremony is held for space shuttle Atlantis' new museum exhibit at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex, on January 18, 2012.
NASA / Kim Shiflett

Atlantis: Retirement Update... Two significant milestones occurred this week in regards to space shuttle Atlantis and her sister ship Endeavour undergoing their decommissioning activities: Last Wednesday's groundbreaking ceremony (above) for a new $100 million exhibit that will house Atlantis at the Kennedy Space Center (KSC) Visitor Complex in Florida starting next year, and today's transport of Atlantis from Orbiter Processing Facility (OPF)-2 to the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) at KSC for temporary storage. With OPF-2 now empty, Endeavour—which has been in storage inside the VAB since last August—will be moved back to this hangar to continue transition and retirement operations. Discovery should also be moved to the assembly building pretty soon...since her decommissioning is all but complete, and her flight to the Udvar-Hazy Center (Discovery's final home) in Virginia is less than three months from now.

Making a brief appearance at Kennedy Space Center, the Stanley Cup championship trophy is displayed inside Atlantis' cockpit on January 18, 2012.
NASA / Kim Shiflett

The photo directly above is of the National Hockey League's (NHL) Stanley Cup trophy resting between the pilot and commander seats inside Atlantis' cockpit. The championship trophy, won by the NHL's Boston Bruins last year, made a quick visit to KSC this week.

Atlantis is transported from Orbiter Processing Facility-2 to the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) on January 20, 2012.
NASA / Charisse Nahser

Atlantis is about to enter the VAB to be placed in temporary storage, on January 20, 2012.
NASA / Charisse Nahser

Atlantis enters temporary storage inside the VAB on January 20, 2012.
NASA / Jim Grossmann
Posted by Richard Par at 10:27 AM
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