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Space Shuttle (STS) Mate-Demate Device (MDD) Photo Gallery Contact Sheet Space Shuttle (STS) Mate-Demate Device MDD Photo Gallery Contact Sheet

Photo Number: N/A
Photo Date: 23 May 2000

Formats: Low Resolution Image Contact Sheet (46 KBytes)
Medium Resolution Image Contact Sheet (46 KBytes)
High Resolution Image Contact Sheet (46 KBytes)

Description:

These are the image contact sheets for each image resolution of the NASA Dryden Space Shuttle (STS) Mate-Demate Device (MDD) Photo Gallery.

Post-flight servicing of the orbiters, and the mating operation, is carried out at NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center, Edwards, California, at the Mate-Demate Device (MDD).

When the orbiters land at Dryden, they are towed to the MDD. It is a large gantry-like structure where the orbiters receive post-flight servicing and are prepared for the ferry flights back to the Kennedy Space Center with the NASA 747 Shuttle Carrier Aircraft (SCA).

Before the ferry flights begin, all orbiter systems are checked thoroughly and certain fuel lines and tanks are purged. Post-flight servicing and ferry flight preparations at the MDD normally take about five days. When the orbiter is ready for the ferry flight, it is lifted by the MDD and placed on special mounts atop the Boeing 747 SCA fuselage. Ferry flights back to the Kennedy Space Center usually take one to two days, based on weather along the route.

The 100-foot high steel truss cantilevered facility is capable of precision positioning of more than 220,000 pounds and is used to raise the orbiters onto jacks for ferry-flight servicing, and then hoist them higher to mate them atop the NASA 747 Shuttle Carrier Aircraft (SCA).

The MDD, which features three seperate hoist units, each capable of lifting 100,000 pounds, was designed by Connell Associates, Inc., Coral Gables, Fla., and built by the George A. Fuller Co., Chicago, Ill., at a cost of $1.7 million.


Keywords: Space Shuttle; NASA; Spacelab; IUS; Inertial Upper Stage; Rockwell; Rocketdyne; Boeing; Thiokol; MartinMarietta; Lockheed Martin; Dryden Flight Research Center; Kennedy Space Center; DC-9; MDD; Mate-Demate Device; SCA; Boeing 747; Shuttle Carrier Aircraft


Last Modified: February 6, 2002
Responsible NASA Official: Marty Curry
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