The overhead sling in the mate demate device is moved into place on either side of the space shuttle Endeavour.

At the Shuttle Landing Facility, or SLF, at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, the overhead sling in the mate/demate device is moved into place on either side of the space shuttle Endeavour. The sling will lift the shuttle away from the shuttle carrier aircraft, or SCA, underneath. The SCA carried the shuttle piggyback from California, where Endeavour landed Nov. 30 to end the STS-126 mission. When Endeavour is on the ground, it will be towed via the two-mile tow-way from the SLF by a diesel-powered tractor to the Orbiter Processing Facility where it will begin preparations for its next mission, STS-127, targeted for May 2009. Photo credit: NASA/Jack Pfaller