An overhead crane in the mate demate device at the Shuttle Landing Facility lowers the orbiter Atlantis onto its wheels.

An overhead crane in the mate/demate device at the Shuttle Landing Facility lowers the orbiter Atlantis onto its wheels. A tail cone covers the aft engines. Atlantis was removed from the back of a Shuttle Carrier Aircraft after a ferry flight from California. Atlantis landed Feb. 19 at Edwards Air Force Base concluding mission STS-98. The ferry flight began March 1; unfavorable weather conditions kept it on the ground at Altus AFB, Okla., until it could return to Florida. Atlantis will be transported to the Orbiter Processing Facility to prepare it for mission STS-104, the 10th construction flight to the International Space Station, scheduled to launch June 8