KSC-97PC1662

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. -- The orbiter Atlantis rolls out of the Orbiter Processing Facility at Kennedy Space Center (KSC) for its journey to the Shuttle Landing Facility where it will be lifted and mated to the Shuttle Carrier Aircraft at KSC’s Shuttle Landing Facility. Atlantis will then be ferried to California for its Orbiter Maintenance Down Period at Palmdale’s Orbiter Assembly Facility, where it will remain until August 1998. At Palmdale, modifications and structural inspections will be conducted in preparation for Atlantis’ future missions to support International Space Station assembly activities. Atlantis’ next flight into space is scheduled to be Space Shuttle mission STS-92, targeted for launch from KSC in January 1999