We've got video now that we'll show you of some of the processing of orbiter Atlantis for STS-115.
Some of the tile work is under way. Orbiter's payload bay and the installation of one of the Canada arms.
Moving over to the Vehicle Assembly Building to the start of stacking of the solid rocket boosters.
Work on one of the orbiter's windows. Window installation.
This is the external tank arriving by barge into the turn basin adjacent to the Vehicle Assembly Building.
Coming from Michoud in Louisiana by barge.
It is offloaded and towed to the transfer aisle of the Vehicle Assembly Building, where it is then raised to vertical and hoisted
into a test cell, and that's where it can be checked out and any final work that needs to be done can be
performed before it moves to the other side of the transfer aisle to be mated to the solid rocket boosters.
It's in the test cell and here we see, it's actually mated here to the tank and the boosters, and the next step will be to bring
over the orbiter to mate to that stack. Rollover from the Orbiter Processing Facility to the Vehicle Assembly Building transfer aisle.
About a 20-minute trip from the hangar over to the VAB. The lifting sling is attached and then the transporter is moved
out from under it so that the orbiter can be rotated to vertical.
It is then mated to the stack we saw previously, the external tank/solid rocket booster stack,
and then the sling is removed. After the shuttle interface test to verify all of the electrical/mechanical connections,
which takes about five to seven days, rollout occurs, with the crawler transporter lifting up underneath the mobile
launcher platform and hoisting it off the pedestals to carry it out to Launch Pad 39B.
Once at the pad, all the pad validations are done, that's establishing the electrical, mechanical connections with the pad,
that sets the stage for the astronauts' terminal countdown demonstration test, a countdown
dress rehearsal which customarily occurs the following week.
Again, here we see members of the final inspection team looking up at the external tank from the mobile launcher platform,
looking for any signs of, of ice. But most frost that's forming, as we can see, is melting right off.
This is the bottom of the tank, where the interface with the orbiter is.
The final inspection team has been fairly quiet this morning. They haven't had anything of note to
report back to the firing room. But as we said, they'll be giving a final report to
the mission management team after they leave the pad later on this morning.