KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. - While one solid rocket booster (SRB) is suspended in the launch tower on Launch Complex 17-A, Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, another is raised from its transporter for a similar lift. They are two of nine SRBs that will be mated to the Delta rocket to launch Mars Exploration Rover 2. NASAs twin Mars Exploration Rovers are designed to study the history of water on Mars. These robotic geologists are equipped with a robotic arm, a drilling tool, three spectrometers, and four pairs of cameras that allow them to have a human-like, 3D view of the terrain. Each rover could travel as far as 100 meters in one day to act as Mars scientists' eyes and hands, exploring an environment where humans cant yet go. MER-2 is scheduled to launch June 5 as MER-A. MER-1 (MER-B) will launch June 25.

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. - While one solid rocket booster (SRB) is suspended in the launch tower on Launch Complex 17-A, Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, another is raised from its transporter for a similar lift. They are two of nine SRBs that will be mated to the Delta rocket to launch Mars Exploration Rover 2. NASAs twin Mars Exploration Rovers are designed to study the history of water on Mars. These robotic geologists are equipped with a robotic arm, a drilling tool, three spectrometers, and four pairs of cameras that allow them to have a human-like, 3D view of the terrain. Each rover could travel as far as 100 meters in one day to act as Mars scientists' eyes and hands, exploring an environment where humans cant yet go. MER-2 is scheduled to launch June 5 as MER-A. MER-1 (MER-B) will launch June 25.
SuperStock offers millions of photos, videos, and stock assets to creatives around the world. This image of KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. - While one solid rocket booster (SRB) is suspended in the launch tower on Launch Complex 17-A, Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, another is raised from its transporter for a similar lift. They are two of nine SRBs that will be mated to the Delta rocket to launch Mars Exploration Rover 2. NASAs twin Mars Exploration Rovers are designed to study the history of water on Mars. These robotic geologists are equipped with a robotic arm, a drilling tool, three spectrometers, and four pairs of cameras that allow them to have a human-like, 3D view of the terrain. Each rover could travel as far as 100 meters in one day to act as Mars scientists' eyes and hands, exploring an environment where humans cant yet go. MER-2 is scheduled to launch June 5 as MER-A. MER-1 (MER-B) will launch June 25. by Piemags/PL Photography Limited is available for licensing today.

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CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- At Cape Canaveral Air Force Station's Space Launch Complex 41, the United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket set to carry NASA's Tracking and Data Relay Satellite, TDRS-K, begins its move from the Vertical Integration Facility to the launch pad. Liftoff for the TDRS-K is planned for Jan. 30, 2013. The TDRS-K spacecraft is part of the next-generation series in the Tracking and Data Relay Satellite System, a constellation of space-based communication satellites providing tracking, telemetry, command and high-bandwidth data return services.
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CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- At Cape Canaveral Air Force Station's Space Launch Complex 41 in Florida, preparations are underway to mate the Centaur stage to the Atlas V rocket that will carry the Tracking and Data Relay Satellite, TDRS-K, into orbit.Launch of the TDRS-K on the Atlas V rocket is planned for January 29, 2013. The TDRS-K spacecraft is part of the next-generation series in the Tracking and Data Relay Satellite System, a constellation of space-based communication satellites providing tracking, telemetry, command and high-bandwidth data return services.
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CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - Workers on Launch Complex 37 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station monitor the progress of the mobile service tower as it slowly rolls back from the Boeing Delta IV rocket that will launch the GOES-O satellite into orbit. The terminal countdown to the liftoff of GOES-O will begin at 12:59 p.m. EDT for a launch window that extends from 6:14 p.m. to 7:14 p.m. June 26. The latest Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite, GOES-O was developed by NASA for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, or NOAA. Each of the GOES satellites continuously provides observations of 60 percent of the Earth including the continental United States, providing weather monitoring and forecast operations as well as a continuous and reliable stream of environmental information and severe weather warnings. Once in orbit, GOES-O will be designated GOES-14, and NASA will provide on-orbit checkout and then transfer operational responsibility to NOAA.
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KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. - At Space Launch Complex 2 on North Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif., the Aura spacecraft arrives at the base of the mobile service tower, or gantry. The latest in the Earth Observing System (EOS) series, Aura is scheduled to launch July 10 aboard the Boeing Delta II rocket. Auras four state-of-the-art instruments will study the dynamics of chemistry occurring in the atmosphere. The spacecraft will provide data to help scientists better understand the Earths ozone, air quality and climate change.
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At the Vertical Integration Facility at Space Launch Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida, a United Launch Alliance Centaur upper stage has been mated to an Atlas V booster. The rocket is scheduled to launch the Tracking and Data Relay Satellite, TDRS-M. It will be the latest spacecraft destined for the agency's constellation of communications satellites that allows nearly continuous contact with orbiting spacecraft ranging from the International Space Station and Hubble Space Telescope to the array of scientific observatories. Liftoff atop the ULA Atlas V rocket is scheduled to take place from Cape Canaveral's Space Launch Complex 41 in early August.
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CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - On Launch Pad 17-B at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida, the mobile service tower closes in on the first stage of the Delta 2 launch vehicle for the Kepler spacecraft. The solid rocket boosters in the tower will be installed on the Delta 2. The Kepler mission is specifically designed to survey our region of the Milky Way galaxy to discover hundreds of Earth-size and smaller planets in or near the habitable zone and determine how many of the billions of stars in our galaxy have such planets. Results from this mission will allow us to place our solar system within the continuum of planetary systems in the Galaxy. NASA's planet-hunting Kepler mission is scheduled to launch no earlier than March 5, 2009.
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The United Launch Alliance Atlas V payload fairing, containing the Solar Orbiter spacecraft, is hoisted up by crane at the Vertical Integration Facility at Space Launch Complex 41 on Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida on Jan. 31, 2020. The payload fairing will be mated to the Atlas V rocket. Solar Orbiter is an international cooperative mission between ESA (European Space Agency) and NASA. The mission aims to study the Sun, its outer atmosphere and solar wind. The spacecraft will provide the first images of the Suns poles. NASAs Launch Services Program based at Kennedy is managing the launch. The spacecraft has been developed by Airbus Defence and Space. Solar Orbiter will launch in February 2020 aboard the Atlas V rocket.
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The Boeing CST-100 Starliner spacecraft is secured atop a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket at the Vertical Integration Facility at Space Launch Complex 41 at Floridas Cape Canaveral Air Force Station on Nov. 21, 2019. Starliner will launch on the Atlas V for Boeings Orbital Flight Test to the International Space Station for NASAs Commercial Crew Program. The spacecraft rolled out from Boeings Commercial Crew and Cargo Processing Facility at NASAs Kennedy Space Center earlier in the day.
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A United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket exits the Vertical Integration Facility on its way to the launch pad at Space Launch Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. The launch vehicle will send the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's, or NOAA's, Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite, or GOES-S, into orbit. The GOES series is designed to significantly improve the detection and observation of environmental phenomena that directly affect public safety, protection of property and the nation's economic health and prosperity. GOES-S is slated to lift off at 5:02 p.m. EST on March 1, 2018 aboard a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket.
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Crawler-transporter 2, with NASA's mobile launcher atop, is stopped at the top of Launch Pad 39B on Aug. 31, 2018, at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The ML will undergo a fit check, followed by several days of systems testing. The 380-foot-tall mobile launcher is equipped with the crew access arm and several umbilicals that will provide power, environmental control, pneumatics, communication and electrical connections to NASA's Space Launch System (SLS) and Orion spacecraft. Exploration Ground Systems is preparing the ground systems necessary to launch SLS and Orion on Exploration Mission-1, missions to the Moon and on to Mars.
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CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - At Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida, the United Launch Alliance Atlas V first stage is lifted for stacking at Launch Pad 41 in preparation for the Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution, or MAVEN, mission.MAVEN is being prepared for its scheduled launch on Nov 18, 2013 from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Fla. atop a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket. Positioned in an orbit above the Red Planet, MAVEN will study the upper atmosphere of Mars in unprecedented detail.
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KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. - The first stage of the Boeing Delta II rocket is lifted off its transporter on Pad 17-B, Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, into the mobile service tower. The Delta II is the launch vehicle for the MESSENGER spacecraft, scheduled to lift off Aug. 2, bound for Mercury. The spacecraft is expected to reach orbit around Mercury in March 2011. MESSENGER was built for NASA by the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory in Laurel, Md.
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KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. - The Boeing Delta II Heavy second-stage engine, the Aerojet AJ10-118K, is ready for lifting up the mobile service tower at Pad 17-B, Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. The Delta II is the launch vehicle for the MESSENGER (Mercury Surface, Space Environment, Geochemistry and Ranging) spacecraft, scheduled to lift off Aug. 2. Bound for Mercury, the spacecraft is expected to reach orbit around the planet in March 2011. MESSENGER was built for NASA by the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory in Laurel, Md.
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CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- Rubble begins to build as the rotating service structure (RSS) on Launch Pad 39B is dismantled at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Starting in 2009, the structure at the pad was no longer needed for NASA's Space Shuttle Program, so it is being restructured for future use. The new design will feature a "clean pad" for rockets to come with their own launcher, making it more versatile for a number of vehicles.
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KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. -- On Launch Pad 39B at NASA's Kennedy Space Center, the payload canister holding Space Shuttle Discovery's payloads is lifted off its transporter toward the payload changeout room on the rotating service structure. The payload changeout room provides an environmentally clean or "white room" condition in which to receive a payload transferred from a protective payload canister. After the shuttle arrives at the pad, the rotating service structure will close around it and the payloads, which include the multi-purpose logistics module and integrated cargo carrier, will then be transferred from the changeout room into Discovery's payload bay. Discovery's launch to the International Space Station on mission STS-121 is targeted for July 1 in a launch window that extends to July 19. During the 12-day mission, crew members will test new hardware and techniques to improve shuttle safety.
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VANDENBERG AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. - Operations to attach three solid rocket motors, or SRMs, for NASA's Orbiting Carbon Observatory-2 mission, or OCO-2, to the Delta II first stage in the mobile service tower at Space Launch Complex 2 on Vandenberg Air Force Base in California are complete. The SRMs used to give the first stage additional thrust are known as graphite epoxy motors. OCO-2 is scheduled to launch into a polar Earth orbit aboard a United Launch Alliance Delta II 7320-10C rocket in July. Once in orbit, OCO-2 will collect precise global measurements of carbon dioxide in the Earth's atmosphere and provide scientists with a better idea of the chemical compound's impacts on climate change. Scientists will analyze this data to improve our understanding of the natural processes and human activities that regulate the abundance and distribution of this important atmospheric gas.
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MSL - Atlas 2nd Stage Move Lift & Stacking
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CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - The United Launch Alliance Centaur second stage that will help boost the Tracking and Data Relay Satellite, or TDRS-L, spacecraft into orbit arrives at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station's Launch Complex 41. It will be lifted and mounted atop the Atlas V first stage already in position inside the Vertical Integration Facility.TDRS-L is the second of three next-generation satellites designed to ensure vital operational continuity for the NASA Space Network. It is scheduled to launch from Cape Canaveral's Space Launch Complex 41 atop an Atlas V rocket in January 2014. The current Tracking and Data Relay Satellite system consists of eight in-orbit satellites distributed to provide near continuous information relay service to missions such as the Hubble Space Telescope and International Space Station.
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A United Launch Alliance Atlas V Centaur upper stage arrives at the Vertical Integration Facility at Space Launch Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. The rocket is scheduled to help launch the Tracking and Data Relay Satellite, TDRS-M. It will be the latest spacecraft destined for the agency's constellation of communications satellites that allows nearly continuous contact with orbiting spacecraft ranging from the International Space Station and Hubble Space Telescope to the array of scientific observatories. Liftoff atop the ULA Atlas V rocket is scheduled to take place from Cape Canaveral's Space Launch Complex 41 in early August.
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CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- On a cloudy and overcast day on Launch Pad 39A at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, workers prepare to roll the rotating service structure (RSS) away from space shuttle Atlantis. The RSS provides weather protection and access to the shuttle while it awaits liftoff. RSS "rollback" marks a major milestone in Atlantis' STS-135 mission countdown.Atlantis and its crew of four; Commander Chris Ferguson, Pilot Doug Hurley and Mission Specialists Sandy Magnus and Rex Walheim, are scheduled to lift off at 11:26 a.m. EDT on July 8 to deliver the Raffaello multi-purpose logistics module packed with supplies and spare parts to the International Space Station. Atlantis also will fly the Robotic Refueling Mission experiment that will investigate the potential for robotically refueling existing satellites in orbit. In addition, Atlantis will return with a failed ammonia pump module to help NASA better understand the failure mechanism and improve pump designs for fut
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CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. --- On Pad 17-B on Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, the third solid rocket booster joins two others in the mobile service tower. They will be mated with the Delta II rocket that will launch NASA's Gamma-ray Large Area Space Telescope, or GLAST, spacecraft. A series of nine strap-on solid rocket motors will help power the first stage. Because the Delta rocket is configured as a Delta II 7920 Heavy, the boosters are larger than those used on the standard configuration. The GLAST is a powerful space observatory that will explore the Universe's ultimate frontier, where nature harnesses forces and energies far beyond anything possible on Earth; probe some of science's deepest questions, such as what our Universe is made of, and search for new laws of physics; explain how black holes accelerate jets of material to nearly light speed; and help crack the mystery of stupendously powerful explosions known as gamma-ray bursts. Launch is currently planned for May 16 fro
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Image Number: 6145-44595465Royalty FreeCredit Line:Piemags/PL Photography Limited/SuperStockCollection:PL Photography LimitedStory:Rocket Launch PreparationsContributor:PiemagsModel Release:NoProperty Release:NoResolution:1955×3000