Space shuttle Atlantis is towed to theOrbiter Processing Facility or OPF will take place.

From the Shuttle Landing Facility runway at NASA's Kennedy Space Center, space shuttle Atlantis is towed to theOrbiter Processing Facility, or OPF, where processing Atlantis for another flight will take place. Towing normally begins within four hours after landing and is completed within six hours unless removal of time-sensitive experiments is required on the runway. In the OPF, turnaround processing procedures on Atlantis will include various post-flight deservicing and maintenance functions, which are carried out in parallel with payload removal and the installation of equipment needed for the next mission. After a round trip of nearly 5.3 million miles, Atlantis and crew returned to Earth with a landing at 9:07 a.m. EST to complete the STS-122 mission. Photo credit: NASA/Jack Pfaller