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    The Orbiter Processing Facility (OPF) is the hangar where NASA's Space Shuttle Orbiter undergoes maintenance between flights.


    When a mission is completed, the orbiter is parked in its OPF. Its previous mission payloads are removed and the vehicle is fully inspected, tested, and refurbished, including re-tiling of the Thermal Protection System. Then part of the payloads for its next mission are installed and checked out.

    There are three such facilities, OPF-1, OPF-2, and OPF-3, at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. OPF-1 and OPF-2 are connected together with a low bay in between them, while OPF-3 is across the street. They are located west of the Vehicle Assembly Building, where the orbiter is mated with its External Tank and Solid Rocket Boosters before launch.

    Currently, OPF-1 contains Atlantis, OPF-2 contains Endeavour and OPF-3 is assigned to Discovery, which is currently in the VAB in preparation for mission STS-116.


        Orbiter Processing Facility
     
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    This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License [copyleft]. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Orbiter Processing Facility". link