HOUSTON - The command cabin of Space Shuttle Atlantis just received a face-lift. Now it's got a new space-age look that's straight from the information age.

The Multifunction Electronic Display Subsystem (MEDS), or the "glass cockpit" as it's called, is a giant leap from the shuttle's classic 1970s analog look. Gone are the gauges, tapes and computer screens. For the 21^st century, nothing less than liquid-crystal-display panels will do.

For shuttle commanders like Ken Cockrell, the new, improved control panels mean he won't have to take the ribbing of airline pilot buddies any longer.

"I've got a friend who flies triple-sevens (Boeing's 777 aircraft), and he says they've had something like MEDS for a while," Cockrell said.

Atlantis is the first orbiter to be decked out with the modern cockpit. The other three shuttles are to be completed by 2002.

"MEDS is a great improvement - it brings the shuttle cockpit up to the current technology," said shuttle commander Jim Halsell. "Any airliner coming off of the assembly line today has that same sort of technology."

Halsell and pilot Scott Horowitz will be the first crew to fly the "glass cockpit" when Atlantis makes a servicing flight to the International Space Station on April 24.

The MEDS cockpit is an interim step to what NASA calls the "smart cockpit." To be installed by 2005, it is designed to reduce the crew's work load during critical events such as ascent and entry.

That was then: Astronauts John Young (left) and Robert Crippen in Columbia's cockpit in 1980

At present the "glass cockpit" displays the information in a friendlier manner with colors, graphics and the ability to move instruments to different screens to suit the needs and tastes of the crew.

The new displays weigh 75 pounds (34 kilograms) less than the old and consume less power.

"Most of the same information is there," Horowitz said. "It gives us much more versatility in where we put that information and interface with it."

Before the cockpit upgrade, the control panel held three monochrome, green-tinted cathode ray tubes displaying lines of text and surrounded by analog gauges. Pilots had to scroll through the text to find critical information. Also replaced are monitors at the flight engineer's station and in the aft flight-deck station used for docking operations.

This is now: Atlantis has cleaner, lighter, brighter control panels

Another problem with the green-tinted monitors was that bright sun or light could wash out the views, making it difficult to pull up information.

"Sorting through all that information in a time-critical scenario can get difficult," said former shuttle commander, Andy Allen, now with United Space Alliance. "Whenever we can reduce work load or have increased margin for the crew, it's advantageous."

He added that one of the reasons for the upgrade is manufacturers for the 1970s era have either gone out of business or on to more modern technology.

"This vehicle [shuttle] is extremely robust and has a lot of life left in it," he said. "With electronic components, the state of the art moves along pretty quickly and this becomes an obsolescence issue for us."

Allen said the improved cockpit is part of a safety-upgrade program that includes better main engines, hydraulics and solid-rocket boosters.

What smart cockpits will eventually offer pilots is additional computing power. Rather than just displaying information, the more powerful computers will help the astronauts solve problems.

"It's still a cacophony of messages. It talks about what is wrong, but the root cause is left to the crew to determine," Cockrell said.

Cockrell, who is scheduled to command the flight to take the third resident crew to the International Space Station, said it takes about only six hours of training to get used to the new displays and the ability to change them.

The Johnson Space Center's full-motion shuttle cockpit simulator has been equipped with MEDS to assist crews in the transition to the new system.