SPACEPHOTOS

(09/23/1999) -- The orbiter Columbia (foreground) moves under the Mate-Demate Device at KSC's Shuttle Landing Facility (SLF). The crane seen above it will lift the orbiter so that the Boeing 747 Shuttle Carrier Aircraft (SCA) in the background can move underneath Columbia, which will then be attached to the back of the SCA for a ferry flight to Palmdale, Calif. On the rear of the orbiter is the tail cone, a fairing that is installed over the aft fuselage of the orbiter to decrease aerodynamic drag and buffet when the Shuttle Carrier Aircraft is transporting the orbiter cross-country. It is 36 feet long, 25 feet wide, and 22 feet high. Columbia, the oldest of four orbiters in NASA's fleet, will undergo extensive inspections and modifications in Boeing's Orbiter Assembly Facility during a nine-month orbiter maintenance down period (OMDP), the second in its history. Orbiters are periodically removed from flight operations for an OMDP. Columbia's first was in 1994. Along with more than 100 modifications on the vehicle, Columbia will be the second orbiter to be outfitted with the multifunctional electronic display system, or 'glass cockpit.' Columbia is expected to return to KSC in July 2000