In the Operations and Checkout Building, the Joint Airlock Module waits for transfer to the payload canister behind it after which it will be moved to the Space Station Processing Facility. There it will continue to undergo preflight processing for the STS-104 mission scheduled for launch aboard Space Shuttle Atlantis May 17, 2001. The Joint Airlock Module is the gateway from which crew members aboard the International Space Station will enter and exit the 470-ton orbiting research facility