Under the watchful gaze of payload workers in Hangar AE, Cape Canaveral Air Station, the Wake Shield Facility (WSF) free-flying experiment platform is lowered onto a Shuttle payload bay carrier supporting a containment vessel to protect experiment equipment from contamination prior to deployment during the STS-69 Space Shuttle mission. The disk-shaped satellite is primarily designed to generate an "ultra-vacuum" environment in which to grow and process thin films for next-generation advanced electronics. The ram side of the disk, facing up, houses the avionics platform and other cooperative experiments and space technology applications. Up to seven advanced semiconductor thin films will be grown during the mission on the other side of the disk called the wake side. STS-69 is targeted for a July 20 liftoff aboard Endeavour.
