CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- A forklift moves the multi-mission radioisotope thermoelectric generator (MMRTG) for NASA's Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) mission into the high bay of the RTG storage facility (RTGF) at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The MMRTG is enclosed in a mesh container, known as the "gorilla cage," which protects it during transport and allows any excess heat generated to dissipate into the air. The MMRTG is returning to the RTGF following a fit check on MSL's Curiosity rover in the Payload Hazardous Servicing Facility (PHSF).The MMRTG will generate the power needed for the mission from the natural decay of plutonium-238, a non-weapons-grade form of the radioisotope. Heat given off by this natural decay will provide constant power through the day and night during all seasons. MSL's components include a compact car-sized rover, Curiosity, which has 10 science instruments designed to search for signs of life, including methane, and help determine if the gas is fr

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- A forklift moves the multi-mission radioisotope thermoelectric generator (MMRTG) for NASA's Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) mission into the high bay of the RTG storage facility (RTGF) at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The MMRTG is enclosed in a mesh container, known as the "gorilla cage," which protects it during transport and allows any excess heat generated to dissipate into the air. The MMRTG is returning to the RTGF following a fit check on MSL's Curiosity rover in the Payload Hazardous Servicing Facility (PHSF).The MMRTG will generate the power needed for the mission from the natural decay of plutonium-238, a non-weapons-grade form of the radioisotope. Heat given off by this natural decay will provide constant power through the day and night during all seasons. MSL's components include a compact car-sized rover, Curiosity, which has 10 science instruments designed to search for signs of life, including methane, and help determine if the gas is fr
SuperStock offers millions of photos, videos, and stock assets to creatives around the world. This image of CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- A forklift moves the multi-mission radioisotope thermoelectric generator (MMRTG) for NASA's Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) mission into the high bay of the RTG storage facility (RTGF) at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The MMRTG is enclosed in a mesh container, known as the "gorilla cage," which protects it during transport and allows any excess heat generated to dissipate into the air. The MMRTG is returning to the RTGF following a fit check on MSL's Curiosity rover in the Payload Hazardous Servicing Facility (PHSF).The MMRTG will generate the power needed for the mission from the natural decay of plutonium-238, a non-weapons-grade form of the radioisotope. Heat given off by this natural decay will provide constant power through the day and night during all seasons. MSL's components include a compact car-sized rover, Curiosity, which has 10 science instruments designed to search for signs of life, including methane, and help determine if the gas is fr by Piemags/PL Photography Limited is available for licensing today.

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VANDENBERG AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. -- Orbital Sciences Corp. workers uncrate the wing of the Pegasus XL launch vehicle at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. Orbital's Pegasus rocket is being processed to launch the Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array (NuSTAR) into space.After the rocket and spacecraft are processed at Vandenberg, they will be flown on the Orbital Sciences' L-1011 carrier aircraft to the Ronald Reagan Ballistic Missile Defense Test Site at the Pacific Oceans Kwajalein Atoll for launch. The high-energy X-ray telescope will conduct a census for black holes, map radioactive material in young supernovae remnants, and study the origins of cosmic rays and the extreme physics around collapsed stars.
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Another shipment of Columbia debris arrives at the KSC RLV Hangar. Inside, the Columbia Reconstruction Project Team is identifying pieces and placing them on a floor grid in a configuration of the orbiter. The team will attempt to reconstruct the orbiter as part of the investigation into the accident that caused the destruction of Columbia and loss of its crew as it returned to Earth on mission STS-107.
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VANDENBERG AFB, Calif. - Workers unload NASA's IRIS spacecraft from a truck at the processing facility at Vandenberg where the spacecraft will be readied for launch aboard an Orbital Sciences Pegasus XL rocket. IRIS is short for Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph and the spacecraft's mission will improve our understanding of how heat and energy move through the deepest levels of the suns atmosphere, thereby increasing our ability to forecast space weather.
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KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. - Workers on Launch Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida stand by as the solid rocket booster in front of them is prepared to be raised to vertical. The booster rocket will be mated, along with others, to the Atlas V already in the Vertical Integration Facility, at right. The Atlas V is the launch vehicle for NASAs New Horizons spacecraft, scheduled to launch in January 2006 on a journey to Pluto and its moon, Charon.
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A88274 MINERAL QUARRY FAC DELIVERY AT E-MAD STALLER (PROJECT ENGINEER) MAR 8 88 EG&G/NTS PHOTO LAB Publication Date: 3/8/1988 COMPOUNDS; DELIVERIES; DELIVERING; DELIVERY TRUCKS; E-MAD; EDGERTON, GERMESHAUSEN & GRIER; EG&G; EQUIPMENT & INSTRUMENTS; FAC DELIVERY; HARD HATS; HARD-HATS; INSTRUMENTS & EQUIPMENT; MALE; MEN (ADD MALE MODIFIER); MINERAL QUARRY; NEVADA; NEVADA TEST SITE; NTS; NUCLEAR ENERGY TECHNOLOGY; NUCLEAR TESTING; NUCLEAR TESTS; TEST SITES; TRUCKS; UGT; UNDERGROUND TESTING; MINERAL QUARRY - FAC DELIVERY historical images. 1972 - 2012. Department of Energy. National Nuclear Security Administration. Photographs Related to Nuclear Weapons Testing at the Nevada Test Site.
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CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- The multi-mission radioisotope thermoelectric generator (MMRTG) for NASA's Mars Science Laboratory mission, enclosed in a shipping cask, is seen through the open door of the MMRTG trailer that delivered it to the RTG storage facility at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida.The MMRTG will generate the power needed for the mission from the natural decay of plutonium-238, a non-weapons-grade form of the radioisotope. Heat given off by this natural decay will provide constant power through the day and night during all seasons. Waste heat from the MMRTG will be circulated throughout the rover system to keep instruments, computers, mechanical devices and communications systems within their operating temperature ranges. MSL's components include a compact car-sized rover, Curiosity, which has 10 science instruments designed to search for evidence on whether Mars has had environments favorable to microbial life, including chemical ingredients for life. The uniqu
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VANDENBERG AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. - A worker steadies the lid of the transportation trailer containing the fairing for NASA's Soil Moisture Active Passive mission, or SMAP, in the Building 836 high bay on Vandenberg Air Force Base in California.The fairing will protect the SMAP spacecraft from the heat and aerodynamic pressure generated during its ascent to orbit aboard a United Launch Alliance Delta II rocket from Space Launch Complex 2. SMAP will provide global measurements of soil moisture and its freeze/thaw state. These measurements will be used to enhance understanding of processes that link the water, energy and carbon cycles, and to extend the capabilities of weather and climate prediction models. SMAP data will also be used to quantify net carbon flux in boreal landscapes and to develop improved flood prediction and drought monitoring capabilities. Launch is scheduled for November 2014.
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A flatbed truck carrying the left-hand forward skirt for NASA's Space Launch System (SLS) solid rocket boosters arrives at the Hangar AF facility at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. The forward skirt was transported from booster prime contractor Orbital ATK in Promontory, Utah. The forward skirt will be staged in Hangar AF where refurbishment will continue. It will be inspected and prepared for use on the left-hand solid rocket booster for Exploration Mission 1. NASA's Orion spacecraft will fly atop the SLS rocket on its first uncrewed flight test.
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RS-25 series rocket engine No. 2059 is unloaded and positioned at Stennis Space Center on April 10, 2012, for future testing and use on NASA's new Space Launch System. The engine was the last of 15 RS-25 engines to be delivered from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida to Stennis, where all will be stored until testing begins.
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CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - The Fine Guidance Sensor, or FGS, is offloaded from the truck at NASA's Kennedy Space Center for the STS-125 mission. The FGS will be integrated onto the Orbital Replacement Unit carrier in the clean room of the Payload Hazardous Servicing Facility. The sensor will extend the life of the pointing control system on the Hubble Space Telescope. On the mission, this FGS will replace one of the three sensors that is failing and thus outfit the telescope with two completely healthy units, which are needed. A third, older FGS aboard the telescope will provide additional target-pointing efficiency and redundancy. Space shuttle Atlantis is targeted to launch on the STS-125 mission Oct. 8.
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CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- Workers load onto a transporter a container holding the cruise stage, one of the first three elements for NASA's Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) that arrived at NASA Kennedy Space Center's Shuttle Landing Facility aboard an Air Force C-17 cargo plane. The cruise stage, back shell and heat shield, the first flight elements to arrive for the MSL mission, were taken to the Payload Hazardous Servicing Facility (PHSF) located in the KSC Industrial Area to begin processing. The Curiosity rover will arrive next month. A United Launch Alliance Atlas V-541 configuration will be used to loft MSL into space. Curiositys 10 science instruments are designed to search for evidence on whether Mars has had environments favorable to microbial life, including chemical ingredients for life. The unique rover will use a laser to look inside rocks and release its gasses so that the rovers spectrometer can analyze and send the data back to Earth. MSL is scheduled to launch from
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Parts for NASAs Cyclone Global Navigation Satellite System (CYGNSS) arrive in shipping containers at Building 1555 at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. CYGNSS is being prepared at Vandenberg, and then will be transported to NASAs Kennedy Space Center in Florida in the Orbital ATK Pegasus XL rocket which will be attached to the Orbital ATK L-1011 carrier aircraft. CYGNSS will launch on the Pegasus XL rocket from the Skid Strip at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. CYGNSS will make frequent and accurate measurements of ocean surface winds throughout the life cycle of tropical storms and hurricanes. The data that CYGNSS provides will enable scientists to probe key air-sea interaction processes that take place near the core of storms, which are rapidly changing and play a critical role in the beginning and intensification of hurricanes.
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CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - A forklift moves containers from a truck at the processing hangar used by Space Exploration Technologies, or SpaceX, at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Fla. The truck is carrying solar array fairings to be installed on the Dragon spacecraft undergoing launch preparations inside the hangar. The spacecraft will launch on the upcoming SpaceX CRS-2 mission. The flight will be the second commercial resupply mission to the International Space Station by SpaceX. NASA has contracted for a total of 12 commercial resupply flights from SpaceX and eight from the Orbital Sciences Corp.
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CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, or LRO, spacecraft is offloaded from the truck at Astrotech Space Operations in Titusville, Fla. The spacecraft was built by engineers at Goddard Space Flight Center, where it recently completed two months of tests in a thermal vacuum chamber. The orbiter will carry seven instruments to provide scientists with detailed maps of the lunar surface and enhance our understanding of the moon's topography, lighting conditions, mineralogical composition and natural resources. Information gleaned from LRO will be used to select safe landing sites, determine locations for future lunar outposts and help mitigate radiation dangers to astronauts. The polar regions of the moon are the main focus of the mission because continuous access to sunlight may be possible and water ice may exist in permanently shadowed areas of the poles. Accompanying LRO on its journey to the moon will be the Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite, or LCR
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CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- In the Space Station Processing Facility at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, a forklift moves shipping containers packed with tools and flight support equipment for orbital replacement units into a tractor-trailer for their trip to the Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency's Tanegashima Space Center. There, the six units, including the flex hose rotary coupler, will be processed for launch to the International Space Station aboard HTV-2, scheduled for Jan. 20, 2011.HTV-2 is an uncrewed cargo transporter that will be launched by the H-IIB launch vehicle. It is designed to deliver up to 6 tons of supplies, including food, clothes and experiment devices to the space station.
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CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - A crane lifts and transfers an Ares I-X upper stage simulator segment from the Delta Mariner at Port Canaveral, Fla., onto a flatbed truck. They will be transported to the Vehicle Assembly Building's high bay 4 at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The upper stage simulator will be used in the test flight identified as Ares I-X in 2009. The Ares I-X test flight will provide NASA an early opportunity to test and prove hardware, facilities and ground operations associated with the Ares I crew launch vehicle. It also will allow NASA to gather critical data during ascent of the integrated Orion crew exploration vehicle and the Ares I rocket. The data will ensure the entire vehicle system is safe and fully operational before astronauts begin traveling to orbit. The simulator segments will simulate the mass and the outer mold line and will be more than 100 feet of the total vehicle height of 327 feet. The simulator comprises 11 segments that are approximately
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CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - A component of NASA's International Space Station-RapidScat scatterometer instrument is moved via forklift into the Space Station Processing Facility at Kennedy Space Center in Florida.ISS-RapidScat is the first scientific Earth-observing instrument designed to operate from the exterior of the space station. It will measure Earth's ocean surface wind speed and direction, providing data to be used in weather and marine forecasting. Built at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, ISS-RapidScat is slated to fly on the SpaceX-4 commercial cargo resupply flight in 2014.
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The second of two Northrop Grumman-manufactured aft exit cones for the Space Launch Systems solid rocket boosters arrives by truck in its shipping container at the Rotation, Processing and Surge Facility at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Dec. 9, 2019. The right aft exit cone was shipped from Promontory, Utah. It will be checked out and prepared for the Artemis I uncrewed test flight. The aft exit cones sit at the bottommost part of the twin boosters. The cones help provide added thrust for the boosters, while protecting the aft skirts from the thermal environment during launch.
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KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. -- At Astrotech, the shipping container holding the Dawn spacecraft is moved into the high bay of the Payload Processing Facility. The spacecraft will next be removed from the container. Dawn's mission is to explore two of the asteroid belt's most intriguing and dissimilar occupants: asteroid Vesta and the dwarf planet Ceres. The Dawn mission is managed by JPL, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, for NASA's Science Mission Directorate in Washington, D.C.
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KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. - Pieces of debris of Space Shuttle Columbia are offloaded from a flatbed truck in the transfer aisle of the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB). The debris is being moved from the Columbia Debris Hangar to the VAB for permanent storage. More than 83,000 pieces of debris were shipped to KSC during search and recovery efforts in East Texas. That represents about 38 percent of the dry weight of Columbia, equaling almost 85,000 pounds.
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NUSTAR/Pegasus, Transfer of the Pegasus to the AIT
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