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One of the most significant updates for NASA's fleet of space shuttles was the installation of the Multi-function Electronic

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Display System, or MEDS, in the shuttle's cockpits, making the orbiters safer and easier to fly.

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The "glass" instruments gave the cockpit a unique appearance, which suggested its well-known name, the "glass cockpit."

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The new display system improved the handling of the vehicle using easy-to-see flight information, such as attitude, altitude,

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speed -- and many indicators the astronauts need to know during liftoff, landing and for navigation.

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The electronic system included 11 full-color, flat-panel display screens in the shuttle's cockpit.

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The screens replaced 32 gauges and electromechanical displays and four cathode-ray tube, or CRT, displays.

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It's 75 pounds lighter and used less power than the older system.

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NASA research eventually led to the Federal Aviation Administration certification of electronic flight displays and

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MEDS became mainstream equipment on all commercial aircraft.

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What was important on a commercial airliner also was beneficial to the astronauts flying the shuttle.

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Space shuttle Atlantis was chosen as the first orbiter to receive the glass cockpit during its 1998 modification period

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and lifted off with its new cockpit display on the STS-101 mission in May of 2000.

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Shuttle Endeavour was the last spacecraft in the fleet to be outfitted with the electronic display and made its first

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flight with the improved system in August 2007 on the STS-118 mission.