During a media tour of the Rotation, Processing and Surge Facility (RPSF) at NASAs Kennedy Space Center in Florida, two cranes are used to lift one of two pathfinders, or test versions, of solid rocket booster segments for NASAs Space Launch System rocket into the vertical position. The pathfinder booster segment will be moved to the other end of the RPSF and secured on a test stand. The Ground Systems Development and Operations Program and Jacobs Engineering, on the Test and Operations Support Contract, will prepare the booster segments, which are inert, for a series of lifts, moves and stacking operations to prepare for Exploration Mission-1, deep-space missions and the journey to Mars.

During a media tour of the Rotation, Processing and Surge Facility (RPSF) at NASAs Kennedy Space Center in Florida, two cranes are used to lift one of two pathfinders, or test versions, of solid rocket booster segments for NASAs Space Launch System rocket into the vertical position. The pathfinder booster segment will be moved to the other end of the RPSF and secured on a test stand. The Ground Systems Development and Operations Program and Jacobs Engineering, on the Test and Operations Support Contract, will prepare the booster segments, which are inert, for a series of lifts, moves and stacking operations to prepare for Exploration Mission-1, deep-space missions and the journey to Mars.
SuperStock offers millions of photos, videos, and stock assets to creatives around the world. This image of During a media tour of the Rotation, Processing and Surge Facility (RPSF) at NASAs Kennedy Space Center in Florida, two cranes are used to lift one of two pathfinders, or test versions, of solid rocket booster segments for NASAs Space Launch System rocket into the vertical position. The pathfinder booster segment will be moved to the other end of the RPSF and secured on a test stand. The Ground Systems Development and Operations Program and Jacobs Engineering, on the Test and Operations Support Contract, will prepare the booster segments, which are inert, for a series of lifts, moves and stacking operations to prepare for Exploration Mission-1, deep-space missions and the journey to Mars. by Piemags/PL Photography Limited is available for licensing today.

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NASA engineers install test hardware for the agency's new heavy lift rocket, the Space Launch System, into a newly constructed 50-foot structural test stand at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center. In the stand, hydraulic cylinders will be electronically controlled to push, pull, twist and bend the test article with millions of pounds of force. Engineers will record and analyze over 3,000 channels of data for each test case to verify the capabilities of the engine section and validate that the design and analysis models accurately predict the amount of loads the core stage can withstand during launch and ascent. The engine section, recently delivered via NASA's barge Pegasus from NASA's Michoud Assembly Facility, is the first of four core stage structural test articles scheduled to be delivered to Marshall for testing. The engine section, located at the bottom of SLS's massive core stage, will house the rocket's four RS-25 engines and be an attachment point for the two solid rocket boos
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Inside the United Launch Alliance (ULA) Horizontal Integration Facility at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida, a crane lifts the Interim Cryogenic Propulsion Stage (ICPS) for NASA's Space Launch System rocket away from the base of its shipping container. The ICPS is the first integrated piece of flight hardware to arrive for the SLS. The ICPS arrived from the ULA facility in Decatur, Alabama. The ICPS is the in-space stage that is located toward the top of the rocket, between the Launch Vehicle Stage Adapter and the Orion Spacecraft Adapter. It will provide some of the in-space propulsion during Orion's first flight test atop the SLS on Exploration Mission 1.
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NASA engineers install test hardware for the agency's new heavy lift rocket, the Space Launch System, into a newly constructed 50-foot structural test stand at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center. In the stand, hydraulic cylinders will be electronically controlled to push, pull, twist and bend the test article with millions of pounds of force. Engineers will record and analyze over 3,000 channels of data for each test case to verify the capabilities of the engine section and validate that the design and analysis models accurately predict the amount of loads the core stage can withstand during launch and ascent. The engine section, recently delivered via NASA's barge Pegasus from NASA's Michoud Assembly Facility, is the first of four core stage structural test articles scheduled to be delivered to Marshall for testing. The engine section, located at the bottom of SLS's massive core stage, will house the rocket's four RS-25 engines and be an attachment point for the two solid rocket boos
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CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- In Orbiter Processing Facility-2 at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, an overhead crane removes shuttle Discovery's right-hand orbital maneuvering system, or OMS, pod. It then will be transported to the Hypergol Maintenance Facility. The removal is part of Discovery's transition and retirement processing. Work performed on Discovery is expected to help rocket designers build next-generation spacecraft and prepare the shuttle for future public display.
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KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. -- External tank No. 124 is lowered into high bay 1 of the Vehicle Assembly Building where it will be mated with the solid rocket boosters for mission STS-117. The boosters are already in place on the mobile launcher platform in the VAB. The mission is targeted to launch on March 16 aboard Space Shuttle Atlantis.
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CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - In the Assembly and Refurbishment Facility at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, technicians closely watch the Ares I-X forward skirt as it is lowered toward the forward skirt extension for mating. The forward skirt is the initial piece of first-stage hardware in preparation for the August 2009 test flight of NASA's next-generation spacecraft and launch vehicle system. Built entirely of armored steel, the 14,000-pound segment is seven feet tall and 12-1/4 feet wide.
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Technicians ready two NASA Space Launch System (SLS) solid rocket boosters for mating to the rockets two aft skirts on June 19, 2020, inside Kennedy Space Centers Rotation, Processing and Surge Facility. Together, the twin boosters provide more than 75 percent of the total SLS thrust at launch. Manufactured by Northrop Grumman in Promontory, Utah, the boosters arrived at Kennedy via train. The cross-country journey was an important milestone for the agencys Artemis I launch. The first in a series of increasingly complex missions, Artemis I will test the Orion spacecraft and SLS as an integrated system prior to crewed missions to the Moon. Once the boosters are mated with the aft skirts, they will be moved to the Vehicle Assembly Building for stacking on the mobile launcher.
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T&R Endeavour, Final Buildup of Tail Cover for Ferry Flight
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Space Launch System Corestage-2 (Artemis-2) Liquid Oxygen tank is under work at NASA's Michoud Assembly Facility.
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CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - In the Horizontal Integration Facility at Launch Complex 37 on Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida, the mating of the second stage of a Delta IV rocket, at left, to its first stage is under way.This United Launch Alliance Delta IV rocket is slated to launch GOES-P, the latest Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite developed by NASA for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, or NOAA. Launch is targeted for Feb. 25.
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CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- In Hanger AF at Cape Canaveral, Fla., separation rings are moved above two segments of one of the retrieved solid rocket boosters from the STS-126 launch. The rings will be lowered and locked around the segments. The pins attaching the segments to each other are removed at the start. Each separation ring has three joints that help mold the ring around the segment and an air motor is used to rotate the rings to separate the segments. After disassembly, the segments will be sent to ATK (Alliant Techsystems) in Utah for final processing and return to Kennedy for another shuttle launch.
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SPACE X MMRTG Offload and Lift for Insertion
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The Space Launch System Core Stage pathfinder has arrived at the north end of the transfer aisle inside the Vehicle Assembly Building at NASAs Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Oct. 3, 2019. A cover, called a spider, will be attached to the top of the pathfinder. With the spider secured in place, a crane will be attached to it to lift the pathfinder into the vertical position. The 212-foot-long core stage pathfinder arrived in NASA's Pegasus Barge at Kennedys Launch Complex 39 turn basin wharf on Sept. 27, 2019. The Pegasus Barge made its first delivery to Kennedy in support of the agency's Artemis missions. The upgraded 310-foot-long barge arrived, ferrying the SLS core stage pathfinder, a full-scale mock-up of the rocket's core stage. It will be used by Exploration Ground Systems and its contractor, Jacobs, to practice offloading, moving and stacking maneuvers, using important ground support equipment to train employees and certify all the equipment works properly. The pathfinder
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KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. -- In the transfer aisle of the Vehicle Assembly Building at KSC, an overhead crane raises external tank No. 120 to a vertical position. The tank will next be lifted into a checkout cell. ET-120 will be prepared for stacking with solid rocket boosters to launch Space Shuttle Discovery on mission STS-120 in October. The mission is the 23rd to the International Space Station and will launch an Italian-built, U.S. multi-port module known as Harmony for the station. Christened after a school contest, Harmony will provide attachment points for European and Japanese laboratory modules. NASA/George Shelton
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Inside the Vehicle Assembly Building at NASAs Kennedy Space Center in Florida, two cranes are used to lift the Space Launch System (SLS) Core Stage pathfinder horizontally above the transfer aisle on Oct. 15, 2019. The 212-foot-long core stage pathfinder arrived on NASA's Pegasus Barge at Kennedys Launch Complex 39 turn basin wharf on Sept. 27, 2019. The Pegasus Barge made its first delivery to Kennedy in support of the agency's Artemis missions. The pathfinder is being used by Exploration Ground Systems and its contractor, Jacobs, to practice offloading, moving and stacking maneuvers, using important ground support equipment to train employees and certify all the equipment works properly. The pathfinder will stay at Kennedy through at least the month of October before trekking back to NASA's Michoud Assembly Facility in Louisiana.
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KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. -- External tank No. 124 is lowered between the twin solid rocket boosters in high bay 1 of the Vehicle Assembly Building. The tank will be mated with the SRBs, already in place on the mobile launcher platform, for mission STS-117. The mission is targeted to launch on March 16 aboard Space Shuttle Atlantis.
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NASA AND BOEING ENGINEERS INSPECT AND PREPARE ONE OF THE LARGEST COMPSITE ROCKET PROPELLANT TANKS EVER MANUFACTURED. THE COMPOSITE CRYOTANK PROMISES A 30% WEIGHT REDUCTION AND A 25 % COST REDUCTION OVER THE PREVIOUSLY USED METAL TANKS.
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The Passive Aeroelastic Tailored (PAT) wing bends under pressure from the highest loads applied during testing at NASAs Armstrong Flight Research Center in California.
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VANDENBERG AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. -- Inside a Pegasus booster processing facility at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, an overhead crane lifts the first of the fins for the aft end of the Pegasus XL rocket's first stage as technicians guide it into place for installation.The Orbital Sciences Corp. Pegasus rocket will 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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KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. - Inside the Vehicle Assembly Building at NASA's Kennedy Space Center, a solid rocket booster segment (upper left) is mated with the lower segment. The booster is part of the shuttle stack for Discovery and mission STS-121. Launch of Discovery is scheduled for no earlier than May.
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