theatlantic:

The Broken Beyond: How Space Turned Into an Office Park

Last summer the Shuttle retired. Last week it began its funeral procession. Endeavour meandered around California on a tour of its monumuents. Awkward like a big RV, Endeavour was hoisted atop its Shuttle Carrier Aircraft (SCA), a modified version of the Boeing 747-100, a once miraculous jumbo jet that’s itself reached middle age. It was like watching an adult man taking an elderly father on a final tour: the Golden Gate, the State Capitol, the Hollywood sign. To mount Endeavour to the SCA, NASA uses a custom-built mate-demate device (MDD) that lifts the orbiter on and off the jumbo’s back. A NASA file photo of the MDD mating process taken after STS-44 in December 1991 shows the proud orbiter taking its position on a shiny 747, evening light pouring over both. Today, the image reads differently: a cripple hoisted uncomfortably by machine for an easy-does-it orbit measured in feet rather than miles. Sunsetting.

Read more. [Image: Reuters]