WIKIARCHIVES.SPACE

This aerial view of the Shuttle Landing Facility (SLF) faces northeast, with the Atlantic Ocean in the distance. In the center is the apron of the SLF with two Shuttle Training Aircraft (STA) parked there, the mate/demate device behind them, a shelter for fuel trucks (foreground), and an administrative building between. The STAs are Grumman Gulfstream 2 aircraft with converted cockpits that emulate those in the Shuttles for practice landings at the SLF. The mate/demate device is used to lift the orbiter onto or off a Shuttle Carrier Aircraft when it has to be ferried to or from KSC.