SPACEPHOTOS

(02/28/2002) - Rollback of the Rotating Service Structure for the second time, after a scrub of mission STS-109 the day before, provides an unfettered look at Space Shuttle Columbia on Launch Pad 39A. The nearby water gives an impressionistic view. Above the orange-colored external tank is poised the 'beanie cap,' the gaseous oxygen vent hood. Extending to the side of Columbia is the Orbiter Access Arm with the environmentally controlled White Room at the end. The White Room provides entry for the crew into the orbiter. Columbia sits atop the Mobile Launcher Platform. At right is the 290-foot-tall water tower that holds 300,000 gallons of water, part of the sound suppression system during a launch. Columbia is rescheduled for launch on mission STS-109 March 1 at 6:22 a.m. EST (11:22 GMT). The 11-day mission will provide maintenance and upgrade to the Hubble Space Telescope, replacing Solar Array 2 with Solar Array 3, replacing the Power Control Unit, installing the ACS (after removing the Faint Object Camera ), the Near Infrared Camera, the Multi-Object Spectrometer (NICMOS) Cooling System, and the New Outer Blanket Layer insulation.