At NASA's Ames-Dryden Flight Research Facility (later redesignated Dryden Flight Research Center), Edwards, CA, technicians begin the task of mounting the Space Shuttle Atlantis atop NASA's 747 Shuttle Carrier Aircraft (NASA #911) for the ferry flight back to the Kennedy Space Center, FL.
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At NASA’s Ames-Dryden Flight Research Facility (later redesignated Dryden Flight Research Center), Edwards, CA, technicians begin the task of mounting the Space Shuttle Atlantis atop NASA’s 747 Shuttle Carrier Aircraft (NASA #911) for the ferry flight back to the Kennedy Space Center, FL, following its STS-37 flight April 5 – 11. Post-flight servicing of the orbiters, and the mating operation, is carried out at Dryden at the Mate-Demate Device (MDD), the large gantry-like structure that hoists the spacecraft to various levels during post-space flight processing and attachment to the 747.April 1991NASA Photo / Jim Ross› Mate-Demate Project Description