The Space Archive | Dryden Flight Research Center Space Shuttle Mate-Demate Device @TheSpaceArchive | Uploaded December 2019 | Updated October 2024, 1 hour ago.
A Mate-Demate Device (MDD) is a specialized crane designed to lift a Space Shuttle orbiter onto and off the back of a Shuttle Carrier Aircraft. Four Mate-Demate Devices were built.
The first MDD was located at NASA's Armstrong Flight Research Center on Edwards Air Force Base, California 34.958559°N 117.883818°W. Construction of the MDD was completed in late 1976. It was first used during mate-demate operations with the prototype Space Shuttle Enterprise during the five Approach and Landing Tests (ALT) in 1977. It was then used for post-landing and Shuttle Carrier Aircraft mating operations at NASA Armstrong following shuttle orbital missions that landed at Edwards.[1] Fifty-four of the 135 shuttle missions landed at Edwards between STS-1 in 1981 through STS-128 in 2009. All but one (STS-3) of these flights landed at Kennedy Space Center instead.[citation needed] This MDD was used to hoist a Space Shuttle orbiter onto a Shuttle Carrier Aircraft for the flight back to Florida. The MDD was dismantled in 2014 following the retirement of Space Shuttle.
A Mate-Demate Device (MDD) is a specialized crane designed to lift a Space Shuttle orbiter onto and off the back of a Shuttle Carrier Aircraft. Four Mate-Demate Devices were built.
The first MDD was located at NASA's Armstrong Flight Research Center on Edwards Air Force Base, California 34.958559°N 117.883818°W. Construction of the MDD was completed in late 1976. It was first used during mate-demate operations with the prototype Space Shuttle Enterprise during the five Approach and Landing Tests (ALT) in 1977. It was then used for post-landing and Shuttle Carrier Aircraft mating operations at NASA Armstrong following shuttle orbital missions that landed at Edwards.[1] Fifty-four of the 135 shuttle missions landed at Edwards between STS-1 in 1981 through STS-128 in 2009. All but one (STS-3) of these flights landed at Kennedy Space Center instead.[citation needed] This MDD was used to hoist a Space Shuttle orbiter onto a Shuttle Carrier Aircraft for the flight back to Florida. The MDD was dismantled in 2014 following the retirement of Space Shuttle.
