The shuttle training aircraft or STA is ready for flight with STS-122 Commander Steve Frick and Alan Poindexter.

On the Shuttle Landing Facility at NASA's Kennedy Space Center, the shuttle training aircraft, or STA, is ready for flight with STS-122 Commander Steve Frick and Pilot Alan Poindexter at the controls. They are practicing shuttle landings in the STA before the Feb. 7 launch of space shuttle Atlantis. The STA is a Grumman American Aviation-built Gulf Stream II jet that was modified to simulate an orbiter's cockpit, motion and visual cues, and handling qualities. In flight, the STA duplicates the orbiter's atmospheric descent trajectory from approximately 35,000 feet altitude to landing on a runway. Because the orbiter is unpowered during re-entry and landing, its high-speed glide must be perfectly executed the first time. Photo credit: NASA/Kim Shiflett