A NASA Orbiter Processing Facility (OPF) is one of three hangars where space shuttle orbiter undergo maintenance between flights.

Processing flow

When a shuttle mission is completed, the orbiter is parked in its OPF. Its previous mission payload are removed and the vehicle is fully inspected, tested, and refurbished, including re-tiling areas of the Thermal Protection System (TPS) where necessary. Then, part of the payloads for its next mission are installed and checked out.

All three such facilities, OPF-1, OPF-2 and OPF-3, are located at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. OPF-1 and OPF-2 are connected together with a low bay in between them, while OPF-3 is across the street. They are located west of the Vehicle Assembly Building, where the orbiter is mated with its External Tank and Solid Rocket Booster before launch.

Assignments to orbiters

OPF-1 is assigned to , OPF-2 to and OPF-3 to .

External links

• Kennedy Space Center page on the Orbiter Processing Facility