Atlantis (OV-104) rolled out ceremony from Building 150 at the Palmdale, California. The orbiter was delivered to Kennedy Space Center on April 9.
Atlantis was named after RV Atlantis, a two-masted sailing research vessel operated by the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution. From 1930 to 1966, she made 299 cruises and covered 700,000 miles while conducting oceanographic research.
Commemorative stamp from Rockwell International
Construction milestones:
1979 January 29: Contract Award to Rockwell International's Space Transportation Systems Division
1980 March 30: Start structural assembly of crew module
1980 July 28: start fabrication of aft-fuselage
1980 October 1: start fabrication of mid-fuselage
1981 June 1: start fabrication of elevons
1981 June 1: start fabrication of wings
1981 July 13: start fabrication of crew module
1981 October 19: start fabrication of lower forward-fuselage
1981 November 23: start structural assembly of aft-fuselage
1981 December 9: start fabrication of upper forward-fuselage
1982 February 15: start structural assembly of crew module
1982 May 24: start fabrication of forward RCS module
1982 July 7: start structural assembly of payload bay doors
1982 October 4: start fabrication/assembly of vertical stabilizer
1982 November 12: start fabrication of OMS/RCS pods
1983 March 14: start fabrication/assembly of body flap
1983 May 6: Mid-fuselage on dock, Palmdale, arrived from General Dynamics
1983 June 13: Wings on dock, Palmdale, from Grumman
1983 June 17: elevons on dock, Palmdale
1983 November 7: lower forward-fuselage on dock, Palmdale
1983 December 2: payload bay doors on dock, Palmdale
1983 December 2: Start of final assembly
1984 January 6: upper forward-fuselage on dock, Palmdale
1984 January 20: body flap on dock, Palmdale
1984 February 17: left hand OMS/RCS pod on dock, Palmdale
1984 February 24: right hand OMS/RCS pod on dock, Palmdale
1984 March 16: aft-fuselage on dock, Palmdale
1984 April 9: crew module on dock, Palmdale
1984 April 24: upper forward-fuselage on dock, Palmdale
1984 April 27: forward RCS on dock, Palmdale
1984 May 25: Final assembly and closeout installation, Palmdale
1984 May 28: start initial subsystem test, power-on, Palmdale
1984 August 10: complete initial subsystem test, power-on, Delta F, Palmdale
1984 October 26: complete subsystem tests, Palmdale
1985 March 6: Rollout from Palmdale
Date: March 6, 1985
source, source, source, source
Boeing Images: link
SDASM Archives: 5349995, 75349983
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