CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - At the Shuttle Landing Facility at NASAs Kennedy Space Center in Florida, space shuttle Discovery is lifted off the ground into the mate-demate device. Operations are under way to position Discovery on top of a Shuttle Carrier Aircraft in preparation for its departure from Kennedy on Tuesday.The device, known as the MDD, is a large gantry-like steel structure used to hoist a shuttle off the ground and position it onto the back of the aircraft, or SCA. The SCA is a Boeing 747 jet, originally manufactured for commercial use, which was modified by NASA to transport the shuttles between destinations on Earth. The SCA designated NASA 905 is assigned to the remaining ferry missions, delivering the shuttles to their permanent public display sites. NASA 905 is scheduled to ferry Discovery to the Washington Dulles International Airport in Virginia on April 17, after which the shuttle will be placed on display in the Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum Steven F

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - At the Shuttle Landing Facility at NASAs Kennedy Space Center in Florida, space shuttle Discovery is lifted off the ground into the mate-demate device. Operations are under way to position Discovery on top of a Shuttle Carrier Aircraft in preparation for its departure from Kennedy on Tuesday.The device, known as the MDD, is a large gantry-like steel structure used to hoist a shuttle off the ground and position it onto the back of the aircraft, or SCA. The SCA is a Boeing 747 jet, originally manufactured for commercial use, which was modified by NASA to transport the shuttles between destinations on Earth. The SCA designated NASA 905 is assigned to the remaining ferry missions, delivering the shuttles to their permanent public display sites. NASA 905 is scheduled to ferry Discovery to the Washington Dulles International Airport in Virginia on April 17, after which the shuttle will be placed on display in the Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum Steven F
SuperStock offers millions of photos, videos, and stock assets to creatives around the world. This image of CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - At the Shuttle Landing Facility at NASAs Kennedy Space Center in Florida, space shuttle Discovery is lifted off the ground into the mate-demate device. Operations are under way to position Discovery on top of a Shuttle Carrier Aircraft in preparation for its departure from Kennedy on Tuesday.The device, known as the MDD, is a large gantry-like steel structure used to hoist a shuttle off the ground and position it onto the back of the aircraft, or SCA. The SCA is a Boeing 747 jet, originally manufactured for commercial use, which was modified by NASA to transport the shuttles between destinations on Earth. The SCA designated NASA 905 is assigned to the remaining ferry missions, delivering the shuttles to their permanent public display sites. NASA 905 is scheduled to ferry Discovery to the Washington Dulles International Airport in Virginia on April 17, after which the shuttle will be placed on display in the Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum Steven F by Piemags/PL Photography Limited is available for licensing today.

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KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. - The orbiter Atlantis is backed out of the Vehicle Assembly Building for transfer back to the Orbiter Processing Facility. Atlantis spent 10 days in the VAB to allow work to be performed in the OPF that can only be accomplished while the bay is empty. Work included annual validation of the bay's cranes, work platforms, lifting mechanisms and jack stands. Work resumes to prepare Atlantis for launch in September 2004 on the first return-to-flight mission, STS-114.
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KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. -- Wheels are lowered on the orbiter Atlantis as it hangs suspended by an overhead crane in the mate_demate device at KSCs Shuttle Landing Facility. Atlantis was removed from the back of the Shuttle Carrier Aircraft in the background. Atlantis just returned from California atop the SCA after its Feb. 19 landing at Edwards Air Force Base concluding mission STS-98. The ferry flight began March 1; unfavorable weather conditions kept it on the ground at Altus AFB, Okla., until it could return to Florida. Atlantis will be transported to the Orbiter Processing Facility to prepare it for mission STS-104, the 10th construction flight to the International Space Station, scheduled to launch June 8
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CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - At Edwards Air Force Base in California, the Shuttle Carrier Aircraft, or SCA, a modified Boeing 747, is moved beneath space shuttle Atlantis, suspended in the mate/demate device. Atlantis will be bolted to the SCA for a piggyback flight to Florida. A tail cone, which protects the aft engine area and provides a more efficient aeronautical dimension during its piggyback flight, can be seen. Atlantis landed at Edwards on May 24, which concluded mission STS-125, after two landing opportunities at Kennedy were waved off due to weather concerns. Atlantis is being returned to Florida on a ferry flight on the SCA. Atlantis' next assignment is the STS-129 mission, targeted to launch in November 2009.
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CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - At the Shuttle Landing Facility at NASAs Kennedy Space Center in Florida, workers attach space shuttle Discovery to the Shuttle Carrier Aircraft in the mate-demate device.The device, known as the MDD, is a large gantry-like steel structure used to hoist a shuttle off the ground and position it onto the back of the aircraft, or SCA. The SCA is a Boeing 747 jet, originally manufactured for commercial use, which was modified by NASA to transport the shuttles between destinations on Earth. This SCA, designated NASA 905, is assigned to the remaining ferry missions, delivering the shuttles to their permanent public display sites. NASA 905 is scheduled to ferry Discovery to the Washington Dulles International Airport in Virginia on April 17, after which the shuttle will be placed on display in the Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center.
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CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- The shuttle carrier aircraft, or SCA, and its piggyback passenger space shuttle Endeavour are poised to enter the mate/demate device at the Shuttle Landing Facility at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The device will lift the shuttle and put it back on the ground. After making the three-day trip from California, touchdown at Kennedy was at 2:44 p.m. EST. The SCA is a modified Boeing 747 jetliner. Endeavour landed at Edwards Air Force Base in California Nov. 30 to end mission STS-126. The return to Kennedy began Dec. 8 and took four days after stops across the country for fuel. The last stop was at Barksdale Air Force Base in Shreveport, La. Weather conditions en route and in Florida postponed the landing at Kennedy until Dec. 12.
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Total Force - The Super Guppy made a VERY rare stop at Tinker Air Force Base today for some gas on its way to Florida. The NASA aircraft was delivering an Orion Heatshield for a mission expected a few years from now.
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KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. - Discovery is towed into the Orbiter Processing Facility bay 3. Discovery was returned to NASA Kennedy Space Center on a ferry flight atop the Shuttle Carrier Aircraft (SCA) from Edwards Air Force Base in California, arriving Aug. 21. Discovery will be towed to the Orbiter Processing Facility where the Multi-Purpose Logistics Module Raffaello still inside will be removed from the payload bay and transferred to the Space Station Processing Facility. The orbiter will then begin processing for the second Return to Flight mission, STS-121, scheduled for launch no earlier than March 2006.
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CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- At the Shuttle Landing Facility, or SLF, at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, the shuttle carrier aircraft with space shuttle Endeavour on top backs away from the mate/demate device for another try. A sling in the device will lift the shuttle away from the shuttle carrier aircraft, or SCA, underneath. The SCA carried the shuttle piggyback from California, where Endeavour landed Nov. 30 to end the STS-126 mission. When Endeavour is on the ground, it will be towed via the two-mile tow-way from the SLF by a diesel-powered tractor to the Orbiter Processing Facility where it will begin preparations for its next mission, STS-127, targeted for May 2009.
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The space shuttle Enterprise, mounted on transport vehicle, is backed into a temporary hanger after being demated from the NASA 747 Shuttle Carrier Aircraft (SCA) at John F. Kennedy (JFK) International Airport in Jamica, New York, Sunday, May 13, 2012. Enterprise will be placed on a barge that will move by tugboat up the Hudson River to the Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum in June. The shuttle will be lifted by crane and placed on the flight deck of the Intrepid, where it will be on exhibit to the public starting this summer in a temporary climate-controlled pavilion.
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CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - With wheels lowered, Atlantis is placed on the ground via the hoist that is suspending it in the mate/demate device. Atlantis was separated from the Shuttle Carrier Aircraft, or SCA, a modified Boeing 747, that returned it from California after its May 24 landing at Edwards Air Force Base, concluding mission STS-125. The ferry flight from Edwards Air Force Base began June 1. Atlantis' next assignment is the STS-129 mission, targeted to launch in November 2009.
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Boeing 747, technology museum, Speyer
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CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - At the Shuttle Landing Facility at NASAs Kennedy Space Center in Florida, preparations are under way to tow a Shuttle Carrier Aircraft to the mate-demate device for mating with space shuttle Discovery, in the foreground. This SCA, designated NASA 905, is a Boeing 747 jet originally manufactured for commercial use, which was modified by NASA to transport the shuttles between destinations on Earth. NASA 905 is assigned to the remaining ferry missions, delivering the shuttles to their permanent public display sites. Discoverys new home will be the Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center in Chantilly, Va.
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NEWCASTLE AIRPORT CONTROL TOWER TOWER IN DISTANCE WITH PLANE TAIL IN FOREGROUND
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Tupolev Tu-22M long-range supersonic strategic bomber museum exhibit
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VANDENBERG AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. - At Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, the Pegasus XL rocket with the attached Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph IRIS solar observatory rolled out of the hangar on its transporter to the runway at Vandenberg. There, the rocket and spacecraft were mated with the Orbital Sciences L-1011 carrier aircraft.Scheduled for launch from Vandenberg on June 26, 2013, IRIS will open a new window of discovery by tracing the flow of energy and plasma through the chromospheres and transition region into the suns corona using spectrometry and imaging. The IRIS mission will observe how solar material moves, gathers energy and heats up as it travels through a largely unexplored region of the solar atmosphere. The interface region, located between the sun's visible surface and upper atmosphere, is where most of the sun's ultraviolet emission is generated. These emissions impact the near-Earth space environment and Earth's climate.
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CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- Space shuttle Atlantis arrives in the transfer aisle of the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida on its move from Orbiter Processing Facility-2.Atlantis will be stored temporarily in the VAB while transition and retirement processing resumes on shuttle Endeavour in the processing hangar. Endeavour is being prepared for public display at the California Science Center in Los Angeles. A groundbreaking was held Jan. 18 for Atlantis' future home -- a 65,000-square-foot exhibit in Shuttle Plaza at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex. For additional information, visit http://www.nasa.gov/shuttle.
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CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - The Shuttle Carrier Aircraft, or SCA, parks at the ramp area at NASA Kennedy Space Centers Shuttle Landing Facility in Florida. The SCA touched down at 5:05 p.m. EDT to prepare for shuttle Endeavours ferry flight to the Los Angeles International Airport on Sept. 17.
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KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, Fla. - Atlantis is towed away from the Vehicle Assembly Building. The orbiter was demated from its external tank in the high bay, lifted over the transom, then lowered and shifted to the horizontal position in the transfer aisle. Atlantis is being moved to the Orbiter Processing Facility.
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NASA's Super Guppy transport plane transports the Exploration Flight Test-1 (EFT-1) Orion heat shield from Manchester, NH to the Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Dec. 4, 2013. Part of Batch image transfer from Flickr.
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Orion - EM-1 - Artemis Spacecraft Arrival at Mansfield Lahm Airport, Transportation to Plum Brook Station and Installation in the Space Environment Complex, SEC Thermal Vacuum Chamber
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