VANDENBERG AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. - A 20-ton crane lifts NASA's Orbiting Carbon Observatory-2, or OCO-2, from its transporter beside the mobile service tower at Space Launch Complex 2 at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California.The spacecraft will be mated with the United Launch Alliance Delta II rocket inside the tower. Launch is scheduled for July 1. 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.

VANDENBERG AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. - A 20-ton crane lifts NASA's Orbiting Carbon Observatory-2, or OCO-2, from its transporter beside the mobile service tower at Space Launch Complex 2 at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California.The spacecraft will be mated with the United Launch Alliance Delta II rocket inside the tower. Launch is scheduled for July 1. 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.
SuperStock offers millions of photos, videos, and stock assets to creatives around the world. This image of VANDENBERG AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. - A 20-ton crane lifts NASA's Orbiting Carbon Observatory-2, or OCO-2, from its transporter beside the mobile service tower at Space Launch Complex 2 at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California.The spacecraft will be mated with the United Launch Alliance Delta II rocket inside the tower. Launch is scheduled for July 1. 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. 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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CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - In the Horizontal Integration Facility at Launch Complex 37 on Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida, the second stage of a Delta IV rocket, at left, is joined to its first stage.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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Pictured is the Saturn V S-IC-T stage (static testing stage) being assembled in the horizontal assembly station at the Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC), building 4705. This stage underwent numerous static firings at the newly-built S-IC Static Test Stand at the MSFC west test area. The S-IC (first) stage used five F-1 engines that produced a total thrust of 7,500,000 pounds as each engine produced 1,500,000 pounds of thrust. The S-IC stage lifted the Saturn V vehicle and Apollo spacecraft from the launch pad.
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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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JSC2003-E-34758 (16 April 2003) --- The Kibo Japanese Experiment Module's (JEM) Pressurized Module, a science laboratory bound for the International Space Station, is lowered into a shipping crate, in preparation for shipment to the Kennedy Space Center where it will be prepared for launch aboard the Space Shuttle. A container transport ship carrying Kibo left Yokohama Harbor, Japan, May 2, 2003, bound for Port Canaveral, Florida, where it is expected to arrive in early June. It will then be transported to KSC's Space Station Processing Facility.
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The first Northrop Grumman aft exit cone to arrive for the Space Launch Systems solid rocket boosters is moved by crane inside the Rotation, Processing and Surge Facility at NASAs Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Nov. 4, 2019. The 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. They are attached to the aft skirts, which contain the booster separation motors. The exit cones help to protect the aft skirts during launch.
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KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. -- The second stage of the Delta II launch vehicle for NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander arrives on Launch Pad 17-A at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. The second stage will be lifted into the mobile service tower and mated with the Delta's first stage. The second stage will be lifted into the mobile service tower and mated with the first stage. Phoenix is scheduled to launch Aug. 3. Phoenix will land in icy soils near the north polar permanent ice cap of Mars and explore the history of the water in these soils and any associated rocks, while monitoring polar climate. Landing on Mars is planned in May 2008 on arctic ground where a mission currently in orbit, Mars Odyssey, has detected high concentrations of ice just beneath the top layer of soil.
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In High Bay 4 of the Vehicle Assembly Building at NASAs Kennedy Space Center in Florida, a crane lowers one Space Launch System (SLS) solid rocket booster pathfinder segment onto another segment during a training exercise on Jan. 8, 2020. A team of engineers with Exploration Ground Systems and crane operators and technicians with contractor Jacobs are practicing lifting, moving and stacking maneuvers, using important ground support equipment to train employees and certify all the equipment works properly. The booster pathfinders are inert, full-scale replicas of the actual booster hardware that will be attached to the SLS rocket for Artemis missions. The five-segment, 17-story-tall twin boosters will provide 3.6 million pounds of thrust each at liftoff to help launch Orion on Artemis I, its first uncrewed mission beyond the Moon.
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CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - In Orbiter Processing Facility-2 at NASAs Kennedy Space Center in Florida, a technician monitors the progress as a large crane lifts the forward reaction control system (FRCS) for installation on space shuttle Endeavour. The work is part of the Space Shuttle Program transition and retirement processing of Endeavour. The FRCS helped maneuver a shuttle while it was in orbit. The FRCS was removed from Endeavour and sent to White Sands Test Facility in N.M. to be cleaned of its toxic propellants. Endeavour is being prepared for display at the California Science Center in Los Angeles.
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The Shuttle Orbiter Enterprise inside of Marshall Space Flight Center's Dynamic Test Stand for Mated Vertical Ground Vibration tests (MVGVT). The tests marked the first time ever that the entire shuttle complement including Orbiter, external tank, and solid rocket boosters were vertically mated.
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KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. -- In the Vehicle Assembly Building at NASA's Kennedy Space Center, external tank No. 120 is lowered into high bay 1 where it will be mated with the solid rocket boosters. The external tank-SRB stack is being prepared for the orbiter Discovery, which will be mated to the stack in the VAB in two weeks. Space Shuttle Discovery is targeted to launch Oct. 23 on mission STS-120 to the International Space Station.
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KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. -- In the Vehicle Assembly Building, external tank No. 117 is lifted into the upper regions in order to move it over a crossbeam into the checkout cell in high bay 2 for processing. ET-117 arrived aboard the Pegasus barge after its voyage around the Florida Peninsula from the Michoud Assembly Facility near New Orleans. The tank is slated for mission STS-118, which is targeted for launch in early August.
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CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - In High Bay 4 of the Vehicle Assembly Building at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, a large crane lifts the Ares I-X upper stage simulator service module/service adapter segment to move it to a stand. Ares I-X is the test vehicle for the Ares I, which is part of the Constellation Program to return men to the moon and beyond. The Ares I-X is targeted for launch in July 2009.
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KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. - Inside the Vehicle Assembly Building at NASA's Kennedy Space Center, a solid rocket booster segment is being lifted by a 325-ton crane for stacking. 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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Teams from NASAs Exploration Ground Systems and Space Launch System (SLS) practice SLS booster stacking with pathfinders inside Kennedy Space Centers Vehicle Assembly Building on Nov. 19, 2019. Using overhead cranes and booster handling activities, the teams focused on procedures for mating a center segment onto a cylinder that simulated another segment. The exercise was performed around the clock, operating three shifts per day. SLS will launch the first woman and next man to the Moon by 2024 through the Artemis program.
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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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Image Number: 6145-45061211Royalty FreeCredit Line:Piemags/PL Photography Limited/SuperStockCollection:PL Photography LimitedStory:Rocket Testing and AssemblyContributor:PiemagsModel Release:NoProperty Release:NoResolution:1993×3000