MEI LLC has announced that the company was chosen to supply packaging and build crates to transport NASA's Full Fuselage Trainer (FFT) Space Shuttle for its journey from Houston's Johnson Space Center to Seattle's Museum of Flight. The FFT was carefully wrapped, crated, and packed by MEI in 22 large sections and will be reassembled later by The Museum of Flight for permanent display. The public is invited to attend today's celebration of the arrival of the NASA Super Guppy transport with the FFT crew compartment at The Museum of Flight beginning at 11:00am PDT.

"This project is very important to MEI. We were selected in a competitive bid process. We used our many years of experience and project management to provide a hassle-free experience for NASA. We had to build the right custom crates for the unusual sizes and shapes, and fit the crates with the proper packing material to make certain there would be absolutely no damage to the Shuttle Trainer in transit," said J.D. Silvers, general manager, MEI Rigging and Crating, Houston.

The larger components of the FFT Space Shuttle will be flown to Seattle by NASA's Super Guppy transport aircraft. The expected delivery schedule includes the shrink-wrapped crew compartment arriving on June 30. The payload bay sections will arrive in August. The engine bells and the OMS pods arrived safely in April. The vertical stabilizer arrived safely in May.

MEI supervised all of the crate construction and packaging at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston for each individual FFT section. An MEI representative will be on hand at the ceremony to answer any questions regarding the details related to protecting, crating, and packaging the FFT Space Shuttle.