KSC-08pd2023

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. – A second shipping container of major flight hardware for space shuttle Atlantis' STS-125 mission to NASA's Hubble Space Telescope is moved into the airlock at the Payload Hazardous Servicing Facility at NASA's Kennedy Space Center. The container holds the Super Lightweight Interchangeable Carrier, or SLIC, and the Orbital Replacement Unit Carrier, or ORUC. In the facility, preparations will begin for its targeted October launch. The payload carriers will be prepared for the integration of telescope science instruments, both internal and external replacement components, as well as the flight support equipment to be used by the astronauts during the servicing mission. The three payload carriers or pallets are the Flight Support System, the SLIC and the ORUC. At the end of July, a fourth and final carrier, the Multi-Use Lightweight Equipment carrier will join the others in the Payload Hazardous Servicing Facility where the Hubble payload is being prepared for launch. Photo credit: NASA/Amanda Diller