On July 26, 2000 the P-1 truss arrived at Kennedy Space Center’s Shuttle Landing Facility aboard its "Super Guppy" transport. The transport’s cargo bay was opened showing the American flag and NASA logo as the P-1 truss was off loaded in preparation for movement to the Operations and Checkout Building for processing. The P-1 truss, scheduled to fly in spring of 2002, is part of a total 10-truss, girder-like structure that will ultimately extend the length of a football field. Astronauts will attach the 14-by-15 foot structure to the port side of the center truss, SO, during the spring assembly flight. The 33,000-pound P-1 will house the thermal radiator rotating joint (TRRJ) that will rotate the International Space Station’s radiators away from the sun to increase their maximum cooling efficiency KSC-00pp1036

The Space Shuttle program was the United States government's manned launch vehicle program from 1981 to 2011, administered by NASA and officially beginning in 1972. The Space Shuttle system—composed of an orbiter launched with two reusable solid rocket boosters and a disposable external fuel tank— carried up to eight astronauts and up to 50,000 lb (23,000 kg) of payload into low Earth orbit (LEO). When its mission was complete, the orbiter would re-enter the Earth's atmosphere and lands as a glider. Although the concept had been explored since the late 1960s, the program formally commenced in 1972 and was the focus of NASA's manned operations after the final Apollo and Skylab flights in the mid-1970s. It started with the launch of the first shuttle Columbia on April 12, 1981, on STS-1. and finished with its last mission, STS-135 flown by Atlantis, in July 2011.