WIKIARCHIVES.SPACE

After dark on the Shuttle Landing Facility at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, the hoist in the mate/demate device is lowered toward space shuttle Atlantis, secured on top of the Shuttle Carrier Aircraft, or SCA. The hoist will lift the shuttle from the SCA and place it on the ground. Atlantis returned from California atop the SCA after its May 24 landing at Edwards Air Force Base, concluding mission STS-125. The ferry flight from Edwards Air Force Base began June 1. Atlantis' next assignment is the STS-129 mission, targeted to launch in November 2009.