Orbiter Processing Facility, Part 1

In case you haven't heard, we have decided to keep fixing the tank that got hit by the hail storm. Launch is now NET (No Earlier Than) June 8th, 2007. It looks like Myca will have to wait a little longer to see her first one.

About two months ago I wrote about watching the rollover of Atlantis from the Orbiter Processing Facility (OPF) to the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB). This week I took Myca back to that area for a closer look at OPF 1 and 2, pictured below from that morning. OPF 1 is the one on the left with the doors open, OPF 2 is the building that looks just like it toward the right.

This picture shows the doors to get in and out of OPF 1. You might have noticed there are no handles on them. This is because it's what we call a Controlled Area - one that we don't allow everybody working at the space center to go into. People with permission to go inside are given a special access card that they can swipe to make the door open.

When you first walk in there's a control desk where people sit who know all of the work that's being done on the vehicle at that time. There's nobody there right now because Atlantis is still over in the VAB.


The first time I went into an OPF I was surprised that the orbiter wasn't sitting out in the open. It is actually enclosed on all sides by a large structure that lets technicians get to all of the systems they have to check. This is from the back of the OPF looking to where the nose of the orbiter is when it's parked.

And this is from the nose area looking toward the door the orbiter uses. Part of the white structure closes around the back of the vehicle when it is there, surrounding it by platforms on all four sides. We need access there so we can work on parts like the tail and engines

We also have to do things like change the tires, so we can't have the orbiter resting on its wheels like a car parked in a garage. The yellow posts in the picture below are the jacks that hold it up.

How do we get it up there? We use these:

There is one under each wheel that rises to pick it up to the right height. We can then attach the orbiter to the jacks and lower them back into the floor.

Like the other areas where we need to get into the vehicle, we also have a white room.


And here's Myca in the empty space under where the orbiter would usually be. The white room is above her head.

Wow, I had a lot more to talk about for an empty OPF than I thought. I'm going to make this a two part trip and pick up with our visit to Endeavour in OPF 2 another time. Thanks this week go to Joe and Rick, who I met randomly as I walked around. I learned several things I didn't know about life in Orbiter Processing and enjoyed talking with both of them while I was there.

See you next time.