NASA Operations

Scenes from NASA's Kennedy Space Center featuring equipment, spacecraft preparations, and teamwork within high-tech environments.

jsc2016e073274 (6/18/2015) --- Photographic documentation taken of the MUSES payload Integrated Assembly to be flown on the SpaceX-11 flight. Photo taken during EVA tool fit checks.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - The shipping container is moved away from the Kibo Experiment Logistics Module Exposed Section, or ELM-ES, in the Space Station Processing Facility at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The ELM-ES is one of the final components of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency's Kibo laboratory for the International Space Station. It can provide payload storage space and can carry up to three payloads at launch. In addition, the ELM-ES provides a logistics function where it can be returned to the ground aboard the space shuttle. The ELM-ES will be carried aboard space shuttle Endeavour on the STS-127 mission targeted for launch May 15, 2009.

The European Service Module that will serve as the powerhouse for Orion on Exploration Mission-1 (EM-1), is in view on a work stand inside the Neil Armstrong Operations and Checkout Building high bay on March 21, 2019, at NASAs Kennedy Space Center in Florida. For EM-1, Orion will launch atop the Space Launch System rocket from Launch Pad 39B. The spacecraft will travel thousands of miles past the Moon on an approximately three-week test flight. Orion will return to Earth and splashdown in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of California, where it will be retrieved and returned to Kennedy.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- Technicians in the Payload Hazardous Servicing Facility at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida prepare an overhead crane to move NASA's Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) rover, known as Curiosity, to a rotation fixture for testing.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 Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida Nov. 25 with a window extending to Dec. 18 and arrival at Mars Aug. 2012.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- The dexterous humanoid astronaut helper, Robonaut 2, or R2, is ready to be moved to a horizontal position in the Space Station Processing Facility at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Packed inside a launch box called SLEEPR, or Structural Launch Enclosure to Effectively Protect Robonaut, R2 will be placed in the Permanent Multipurpose Module, or PMM, in the same launch orientation as space shuttle Discovery's STS-133 crew members -- facing toward the nose of the shuttle with the back taking all the weight. Although R2 will initially only participate in operational tests, upgrades could eventually allow the robot to realize its true purpose -- helping spacewalking astronauts with tasks outside the International Space Station. STS-133 is targeted to launch Nov. 1.

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. - At Astrotech Space Operations in Titusville, Fla., the GOES-N satellite is ready for encapsulation in the fairing. The fairing protects the spacecraft during launch and flight through the atmosphere. Once out of the atmosphere, the fairing is jettisoned. GOES-N is the latest in a series of Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellites for NOAA and NASA providing continuous monitoring necessary for intensive data analysis. GOES-N will be launched May 18 on a Boeing Delta IV rocket from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- The protective canister housing NASA's twin Gravity Recovery and Interior Laboratory lunar spacecraft is rolled away from the mylar-covered spacecraft in the Hazardous Processing Facility (HPF) at Astrotech Space Operation's payload processing facility in Titusville, Fla. In the HPF, the spacecraft will undergo two days of fueling activities.GRAIL will fly in tandem orbits around the moon for several months to measure its gravity field. GRAIL's primary science objectives are to determine the structure of the lunar interior, from crust to core, and to advance understanding of the thermal evolution of the moon. Launch aboard a United Launch Alliance Delta II rocket from Space Launch Complex 17B on Cape Canaveral Air Force Station is scheduled for Sept. 8.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - In the Payload Hazardous Servicing Facility at NASA's Kennedy Space Center, the open doors of the payload canister reveal the first of the carriers associated with the STS-125 mission to service the Hubble Space Telescope that have been installed in it. Four carriers in all will be transferred to Launch Pad 39A. At the pad, all the carriers will be loaded into space shuttle Atlantis payload bay. Launch of Atlantis is targeted for Oct. 10.

jsc2016e073274 (6/18/2015) --- Photographic documentation taken of the MUSES payload Integrated Assembly to be flown on the SpaceX-11 flight. Photo taken during EVA tool fit checks.

Technicians move cargo into the Orbital ATK CRS-6 pressurized cargo module during late stowage inside the Payload Hazardous Servicing Facility at NASAs Kennedy Space Center in Florida.The spacecraft is scheduled for the upcoming Orbital ATK Commercial Resupply Services-6 mission to deliver hardware and supplies to the International Space Station. The Cygnus is scheduled to lift off atop a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket on March 22.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - Inside the Operations and Checkout Building high bay at NASAs Kennedy Space Center in Florida, engineers work on the Orion crew module inside a temporary clean room. Welding on the crew module was completed this month. The Orion spacecraft is being prepared for its first unpiloted flight test, Exploration Flight Test-1, or EFT-1, scheduled for launch atop a Delta IV rocket in September 2014. The Orion spacecraft is designed to carry astronauts to destinations not yet explored by humans. It will have emergency abort capability, sustain the crew during space travel and provide safe re-entry from deep space return velocities. Orion is scheduled to launch atop NASAs Space Launch System rocket in 2017.

Equipment is set up for the processing of NOAA's Joint Polar Satellite System-1, or JPSS-1, inside the Astrotech Processing Facility at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. The spacecraft is being prepared for its upcoming liftoff aboard a United Launch Alliance Delta II rocket from Vandenberg's Space Launch Complex-2W. JPSS-1 is the first in a series four next-generation environmental satellites in a collaborative program between NOAA and NASA.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- Inside the Operations and Checkout Building high bay at NASAs Kennedy Space Center in Florida, preparations are underway to lift the Orion crew module from its processing stand and transfer it onto a dolly. Orion is being prepared for Exploration Flight Test 1, or EFT-1. Orion is the exploration spacecraft designed to carry crews to space beyond low Earth orbit. It will provide emergency abort capability, sustain the crew during the space travel and provide safe re-entry from deep space return velocities. Orions first unpiloted test flight is scheduled to launch in 2014 atop a United Launch Alliance Delta IV heavy rocket. A second uncrewed flight test is scheduled for 2017 on the Space Launch System rocket.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - NASA's International Space Station-RapidScat scatterometer instrument is revealed inside Kennedy Space Center's Space Station Processing Facility.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.

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. - Technicians in the Space Station Processing Facility check the placement of the Thermal Protection System Detailed Test Objective (DTO) box on the Lightweight Multi-Purpose Experiment Support Structure Carrier (LMC). The LMC and DTO will fly on Space Shuttle Discovery for mission STS-114. The DTO contains tile samples that will enable astronauts to test new on-orbit Thermal Protection System repair techniques. The launch window for mission STS-114 is May 12 to June 3.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- Inside the Operations and Checkout Building high bay at NASAs Kennedy Space Center in Florida, prepare the service module bulkhead for the Orion spacecraft for the move to a lifting station. The service module will be mated to the spacecraft adapter cone for testing.Orion is the exploration spacecraft designed to carry astronauts to destinations not yet explored by humans, including an asteroid and Mars. It will have emergency abort capability, sustain the crew during space travel and provide safe re-entry from deep space return velocities. The first unpiloted test flight of the Orion is scheduled to launch in 2014 atop a Delta IV rocket and in 2017 on NASAs Space Launch System rocket.

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. -- In the Space Station Processing Facility at NASA's Kennedy Space Center, the starboard arm of the Special Purpose Dexterous Manipulator, known as Dextre, is moved toward the base, in the background. The arm will be installed on the base. Dextre is a sophisticated dual-armed robot, which is part of Canada's contribution to the International Space Station (ISS). Along with Canadarm2, whose technical name is the Space Station Remote Manipulator System, and a moveable work platform called the Mobile Base System, these three elements form a robotic system called the Mobile Servicing System, or MSS. The three components have been designed to work together or independently. Dextre is part of the payload scheduled on mission STS-123, targeted to launch Feb. 14.

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. - Two parts of the Orbiter Boom Sensor System sit end to end in the Remote Manipulator System lab inside the Vehicle Assembly Building. The OBSS will be assembled and undergo final checkout and testing in the lab prior to being transferred to the Orbiter Processing Facility for installation on Space Shuttle Discovery. The 50-foot-long OBSS will be attached to the Remote Manipulator System, or Shuttle arm, and is one of the new safety measures for Return to Flight, equipping the orbiter with cameras and laser systems to inspect the Shuttle's Thermal Protection System while in space. Discovery is slated to fly mission STS-114 once Space Shuttle launches resume. The launch planning window is May 12 to June 3, 2005.

The Spacecraft Assembly and Rotation Fixture (SCARF) that will be used to process the Mars 2020 rover is photographed inside the Payload Hazardous Servicing Facility at NASAs Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Nov. 22, 2019. Attached to the SCARF is an access stand that will allow personnel to reach the spacecraft when its held above ground level. The Mars 2020 rover is being manufactured at the agencys Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California and, once complete, will be sent to Kennedy for assembly, prelaunch processing and checkouts. The rover is scheduled to launch from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in summer 2020 aboard a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket procured from NASAs Launch Services Program. The mission will help the agency better understand the geology of Mars, test new robotic technology and assist in determining if any form of life ever was supported on the Red Planet.

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. - In the high bay at Astrotech Space Operations in Titusville, Fla., workers check the bottom of the fairing halves as they close around the GOES-N satellite. The fairing protects the spacecraft during launch and flight through the atmosphere. Once out of the atmosphere, the fairing is jettisoned. GOES-N is the latest in a series of Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellites for NOAA and NASA providing continuous monitoring necessary for intensive data analysis. GOES-N will be launched May 18 on a Boeing Delta IV rocket from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - In the Space Station Processing Facility at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, the Multi-Purpose Logistics Module Leonardo is open to receive the final supplies for the STS-126 mission to the International Space Station. The 15-day flight will deliver equipment and supplies to the International Space Station in preparation for expansion from a three- to six-person resident crew aboard the complex. The mission also will include four spacewalks to service the station Solar Alpha Rotary Joints. Leonardo holds supplies and equipment, including equipment for the regenerative life support system, additional crew quarters and exercise equipment and spare hardware.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - Inside the Operations and Checkout Building high bay at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, a crane is being moved into position to lift the Orion crew module from a test stand. Activities are underway to prepare Orion for future installation of the heat shield.Orion is the exploration spacecraft designed to carry astronauts to destinations not yet explored by humans, including an asteroid and Mars. It will have emergency abort capability, sustain the crew during space travel and provide safe re-entry from deep space return velocities. The first unpiloted test flight of the Orion is scheduled to launch in 2014 atop a Delta IV rocket and in 2017 on NASAs Space Launch System rocket.

Technicians and engineers put finishing touches on the Orion Exploration Flight Test-1 (EFT-1) crew module and service module stack in the Operations and Checkout (O&C) Building at Kennedy Space Center on Sept. 7, 2014. Part of Batch image transfer from Flickr.

Engineers and technicians moved the Orion service module test article into the Reverberant Acoustic Test Facility at NASA Glenn Research Centers Plum Brook Station in Sandusky, Ohio on April 8, 2016. Acoustic testing is scheduled to begin April 18. The blue structure sitting on top of the test article is a mass simulator that represents the Orion crew module...The test article will be blasted with at least 152 decibels and 20-10,000 hertz of sound pressure and vibration to simulate the intense sounds the Orion service module will be subjected to during launch and ascent into space atop the agencys Space Launch System (SLS) rocket. This is part of a series of tests to verify the structural integrity of Orions service module for Exploration Mission-1, the spacecrafts first flight atop SLS...Provided by ESA (European Space Agency) and built by Airbus Defence and Space, the service module will power, propel and cool the vehicle and also supply it with air and water.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - The second set of two Ogive panels for the Orion Launch Abort System have arrived by truck at the Launch Abort System Facility, or LASF, at NASAs Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The Ogive panels will be uncrated inside the LASF. During processing, the panels will be secured around the Orion crew module and attached to the Launch Abort System.Orion is the exploration spacecraft designed to carry astronauts to destinations not yet explored by humans, including an asteroid and Mars. It will have emergency abort capability, sustain the crew during space travel and provide safe re-entry from deep space return velocities. The first unpiloted test flight of Orion is scheduled to launch in 2014 atop a Delta IV rocket and in 2017 on NASAs Space Launch System rocket.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - In the Space Station Processing Facility at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency's Kibo Exposed Facility, or EF, rests in the high bay. When it is installed on the Kibo laboratory, the EF will provide a multipurpose platform where science experiments can be deployed and operated in the exposed environment. The payloads attached to the EF can be exchanged or retrieved by Kibo's robotic arm, the JEM Remote Manipulator System. The EF, along with the Experiment Logistics Module Exposed Section, will be carried aboard space shuttle Endeavour on the STS-127 mission targeted for launch May 15, 2009.

21st Century Ground System Tour

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - In the Payload Hazardous Servicing Facility at NASA's Kennedy Space Center, workers move flight support system (FSS) access scaffolding that will be used to prepare the Hubble Space Telescope, or HST, carriers for the STS-125 servicing mission 4. The FSS will berth, secure and furnish power to Hubble and also contains the soft capture mechanism to be attached to the telescope. Upon completion of STS-125, the Hubble will provide even deeper and more detailed views of the Universe. The STS-125 mission will be the final space shuttle mission to the Hubble Space Telescope.

On April 29, Orions Service Module, shown here on May 3, 2019, moved to the lift station inside the assembly bay for installation and fastening of systems in preparation for Direct Field Acoustics Test (DFAT). The Service Module will move down to the east end of the bay next week where it will be surrounded with speakers and exposed to the acoustic level that will be experienced in space.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - In Orbiter Processing Facility 1 at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, space shuttle Atlantis' payload bay doors are being closed. The Orbiter Boom Sensor System, or OBSS, is seen on the starboard side (right) of the payload bay. The 50-foot-long OBSS attaches to the Remote Manipulator System, or Shuttle arm. It equips the orbiter with cameras and laser systems to inspect the shuttles Thermal Protection System while in space. The designated shuttle for the STS-129 mission, Atlantis will deliver to the International Space Station two spare gyroscopes, two nitrogen tank assemblies, two pump modules, an ammonia tank assembly and a spare latching end effector for the station's robotic arm. Atlantis is targeted to launch Nov. 12.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - Inside the Operations and Checkout Building high bay at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, a crane is attached to the middle back shell tile panel in order to lift it for installation on the Orion crew module. Preparations are underway for Exploration Flight Test-1, or EFT-1.Orion is the exploration spacecraft designed to carry astronauts to destinations not yet explored by humans, including an asteroid and Mars. It will have emergency abort capability, sustain the crew during space travel and provide safe re-entry from deep space return velocities. The first unpiloted test flight of the Orion is scheduled to launch later this year atop a Delta IV rocket from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida to an altitude of 3,600 miles above the Earth's surface. The two-orbit, four-hour flight test will help engineers evaluate the systems critical to crew safety including the heat shield, parachute system and launch abort system.

At NASAs Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans, technicians from Orion prime contractor Lockheed Martin have welded together three cone-shaped panels on Orions crew module for the Artemis III mission that will land the first woman and next man on the Moon.The crew modules primary structure, the pressure vessel, is comprised of seven machined aluminum alloy pieces that are welded together through a weld process that produces a strong, air-tight habitable space for astronauts during the mission. The pressure vessel is designed to withstand the harsh and demanding environment of deep space, and is the core structure upon which all the other elements of Orions crew module are integrated. Infographic showing the seven pieces of Orion's underlying structureWith welding complete on the crew module cone panels - one of which contains windows providing astronauts views of the Moon and Earth - work will begin joining the forward bulkhead to the tunnel to create the top of the spacecr

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - The components of NASA's International Space Station-RapidScat scatterometer instrument rest side by side after removal of their shipping cover inside Kennedy Space Center's Space Station Processing Facility.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.

Workers help offload the abort motor for NASAs Artemis 1 mission from a heavy transport truck inside the Launch Abort System Facility (LASF) at the agencys Kennedy Space Center in Florida on June 6, 2019. The abort motor, manufactured by Northrop Grumman, will be integrated with Orion subcomponents and prepared for Artemis 1. The abort motor is one of three motors located on the tower of the Launch Abort System (LAS). The LAS is designed to pull the Orion capsule and its crew away to safety if an emergency occurs during ascent of the Space Launch System (SLS) rocket. During Artemis 1, the uncrewed Orion spacecraft will launch atop the SLS from Launch Pad 39B at Kennedy. Orion will embark on an approximately three-week mission that will take the spacecraft thousands of miles past the Moon. Orion will return to Earth and splashdown in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of California, where it will be retrieved and returned to Kennedy.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - In the Payload Hazardous Servicing Facility at NASA's Kennedy Space Center, workers move flight support system (FSS) access scaffolding that will be used to prepare the Hubble Space Telescope, or HST, carriers for the STS-125 servicing mission 4. The FSS will berth, secure and furnish power to Hubble and also contains the soft capture mechanism to be attached to the telescope. Upon completion of STS-125, the Hubble will provide even deeper and more detailed views of the Universe. The STS-125 mission will be the final space shuttle mission to the Hubble Space Telescope.

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. -- In the Space Station Processing Facility, STS-92 Pilot Pamela A. Melroy gets a close look at the Integrated Truss Structure Z1 that will fly on the mission, the fifth U.S. flight in the construction of the International Space Station. Other crew members are Commander Brian Duffy, and Mission Specialists Koichi Wakata, Leroy Chaio, Peter J.K. Wisoff, Michael E. Lopez-Alegria, and William S. McArthur Jr. Wakata is with the National Space Development Agency of Japan. The Z1 is an early exterior framework to allow the first U.S. solar arrays on a future flight to be temporarily installed on Unity for early power. Another part of the payload is a pressurized mating adapter, PMA-3, to provide a Shuttle docking port for solar array installation on the sixth ISS flight and Lab installation on the seventh ISS flight. Launch of STS-92 is scheduled for Sept. 21, 2000

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. -- In the Space Station Processing Facility at NASA's Kennedy Space Center, an overhead crane moves the integrated cargo carrier-lite, or ICC-L, into the payload canister below. The ICC-L is an unpressurized cross-bay carrier providing launch and return transportation with the space shuttle. It rests on a keel yoke assembly, seen underneath. The ICC-L carries three elements: a nitrogen tank assembly that is part of the external active thermal control system on the International Space Station, the European technology Exposure Facility composed of nine science instruments and an autonomous temperature measurement unit, and the SOLAR payload designed for sun observation. The nitrogen tank assembly is mounted underneath. The exposure facility is seen at left on top, and the SOLAR is on the right. The SOLAR will be transferred and stowed on the Columbus module during the third spacewalk of the mission. STS-122 is targeted for launch on Dec. 6 on space shuttl

VANDENBERG AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. -- Inside the Astrotech processing facility at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, technicians prepare to remove the shipping container surrounding NASA's Glory spacecraft. Next, technicians will take off Glory's protective covering before it is encapsulated in a protective payload fairing for flight. In early February, Glory is scheduled to be transported Space Launch Complex 576-E where it will be joined with the Taurus XL rocket, which is manufactured by Orbital Sciences Corp.Once Glory reaches orbit, it will collect data on the properties of aerosols and black carbon. It also will help scientists understand how the sun's irradiance affects Earth's climate. Launch is scheduled for 5:09 a.m. EST Feb. 23. For information, visit www.nasa.gov/glory.

Inside the Multi-Payload Processing Facility, the lid covering the Shuttle Radar Topography Mission (SRTM) is lifted from the crate. The primary payload on mission STS-99, the SRTM consists of a specially modified radar system that will fly onboard the Space Shuttle during the 11-day mission scheduled for September 1999. This radar system will gather data that will result in the most accurate and complete topographic map of the Earth's surface that has ever been assembled. SRTM is an international project spearheaded by the National Imagery and Mapping Agency and NASA, with participation of the German Aerospace Center DLR. Its objective is to obtain the most complete high-resolution digital topographic database of the Earth

VANDENBERG AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. -- In the airlock of processing facility 1555 at Vandenberg Air Force Base (VAFB) in California, workers lift the top half of the shipping container from around NASA's Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array (NuSTAR), wrapped in a protective shroud.The spacecraft arrived at VAFB Jan. 27 after a cross-country trip which began from Orbital Sciences' manufacturing plant in Dulles, Va., on Jan. 24. Next, NuSTAR will be transferred from the airlock into the processing hangar, joining the Pegasus XL rocket that is set to carry it to space. After checkout and other processing activities are complete, the spacecraft will be integrated with the Pegasus in mid-February and encapsulation in the vehicle fairing will follow. The rocket and spacecraft then will be flown on Orbital's L-1011 carrier aircraft to the Ronald Reagan Ballistic Missile Defense Test Site at the Pacific Ocean's Kwajalein Atoll for launch in March. The high-energy X-ray telescope will conduct a

This photograph depicts an air-breathing rocket engine that completed an hour or 3,600 seconds of testing at the General Applied Sciences Laboratory in Ronkonkoma, New York. Referred to as ARGO by its design team, the engine is named after the mythological Greek ship that bore Jason and the Argonauts on their epic voyage of discovery. Air-breathing engines, known as rocket based, combined-cycle engines, get their initial take-off power from specially designed rockets, called air-augmented rockets, that boost performance about 15 percent over conventional rockets. When the vehicle's velocity reaches twice the speed of sound, the rockets are turned off and the engine relies totally on oxygen in the atmosphere to burn hydrogen fuel, as opposed to a rocket that must carry its own oxygen, thus reducing weight and flight costs. Once the vehicle has accelerated to about 10 times the speed of sound, the engine converts to a conventional rocket-powered system to propel the craft into orbit or s

The right hand aft skirt for NASA's Space Launch System (SLS) rocket has been painted and is in a drying cell in a support building at the Hangar AF facility at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. The space shuttle-era aft skirt will be used on the right hand booster of NASA's Space Launch System rocket for Exploration Mission 1 (EM-1). NASA is preparing for EM-1, deep space missions, and the Journey to Mars.

The fins for Northrop Grumman's Pegasus XL rocket arrive at Building 1555 at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, on July 30, 2018. Technicians will prepare the fins for installation on the Pegasus XL rocket, which will be attached beneath the company's L-1011 Stargazer aircraft, to launch NASA's Ionospheric Connection Explorer (ICON) from the Skid Strip at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. Launch is scheduled for Oct. 26. ICON will study the frontier of space - the dynamic zone high in Earth's atmosphere where terrestrial weather from below meets space weather above. The explorer will help determine the physics of Earth's space environment and pave the way for mitigating its effects on our technology, communications systems and society.

VANDENBERG AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. - In Orbital Sciences Corp. Building 1555 at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, Orbital Sciences technicians continue to work on cabling on the aft end of the Taurus XL rocket's first stage motor. To the left is the interstage associated with the first stage.The Orbital Sciences Taurus XL rocket, targeted to lift off Feb. 23, 2011, from Vandenberg's Space Launch Complex 576-E, will take NASA's Glory satellite into low Earth orbit. Once in orbit, Glory will collect data on the properties of aerosols and black carbon. It also will help scientists understand how the sun's irradiance affects Earth's climate.

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. -- At Astrotech Space Operations in Titusville, Fla., a worker examines connections on the THEMIS spacecraft, which is expected to be fueled Jan. 3-5. THEMIS consists of five identical probes, the largest number of scientific satellites ever launched into orbit aboard a single rocket. This unique constellation of satellites will resolve the tantalizing mystery of what causes the spectacular sudden brightening of the aurora borealis and aurora australis - the fiery skies over the Earth's northern and southern polar regions. THEMIS is scheduled to launch Feb. 15 from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- In the Space Station Processing Facility at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer-2 (AMS) is prepared for its move from the weight and center of gravity stand, where final measurements were taken before launch, to a payload canister. The canister will protect the space-bound payload on its journey to Launch Pad 39A, where it will later be installed into space shuttle Endeavours payload bay. AMS is a particle physics detector, designed to operate as an external experiment on the International Space Station. It will use the unique environment of space to study the universe and its origin by searching for dark matter. AMS-2 will fly to the station aboard Endeavour's STS-134 mission targeted to launch April 19 at 7:48 p.m. EDT.

Part of the Boeing CST-100 Structural Test Article awaits testing inside the Commercial Crew and Cargo Processing Facility, or C3PF, at NASAs Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The test article will serve as a pathfinder for assembling and processing operational CST-100 spacecraft inside the revitalized facility, which for 20 years served as a shuttle processing hangar.

Electrodynamic Dust Shield. Inside of the Electrostatics and Surface Physics Laboratory at NASAs Kennedy Space Center in Florida, an electrodynamic dust shield (EDS) is in view on Jan. 18, 2023. The dust shield is one of the payloads that will fly aboard Firefly Aerospaces Blue Ghost lunar lander as part of NASAs Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) initiative. During the mission, EDS will generate a non-uniform electric field using varying high voltage on multiple electrodes. This traveling field, in turn, carries away the particles and has potential applications in thermal radiators, spacesuit fabrics, visors, camera lenses, solar panels, and many other technologies. The CLPS initiative is a key part of NASAs Artemis lunar exploration efforts. The science and technology payloads sent to the Moons surface as part of the initiative will help lay the foundation for human missions and a sustainable human presence on the lunar surface.

The jettison motor for Orions Launch Abort System (LAS) is shown inside the Launch Abort System Facility (LASF) at NASAs Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The motor, which arrived at Kennedy on Sept. 10, 2018, will be stored in the LASF until processing for a full-stress test of the LAS called Ascent Abort-2 (AA-2), scheduled for April 2019. Designed and built by NASA and Lockheed Martin, the LAS will protect astronauts if a problem arises during launch by pulling the spacecraft away from a failing rocket. The jettison motor is one of three solid propellant rocket motors in the LAS (the abort motor and attitude control motor are the other two). The jettison motor will pull the LAS away from the crew module, allowing Orions parachutes to deploy and the spacecraft to safely land in the ocean.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - In the Space Station Processing Facility at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, engineers load experiments requiring low temperatures into the General Laboratory Active Cryogenic International Space Station ISS Experiment Refrigerator, or GLACIER. The samples will then be transported to Space Launch Complex-40 on Cape Canaveral Air Force Station where the GLACIER will be loaded aboard the SpaceX Dragon capsule. Scheduled for launch on March 1 atop a Falcon 9 rocket, Dragon will be marking its third trip to the space station. The mission is the second of 12 SpaceX flights contracted by NASA to resupply the orbiting laboratory.

Technicians are positioned at the hatch of the Orbital ATK CRS-6 pressurized cargo module as a forklift moves a cargo package into position for installation into the spacecraft inside the Payload Hazardous Servicing Facility at NASAs Kennedy Space Center in Florida.The spacecraft is scheduled for the upcoming Orbital ATK Commercial Resupply Services-6 mission to deliver hardware and supplies to the International Space Station. The Cygnus is scheduled to lift off atop a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket on March 22

Workers in the Space Station Processing Facility attach an overhead crane to the Multi-Purpose Logistics Module Donatello to lift it out of the shipping container. In the SSPF, Donatello will undergo processing by the payload test team, including integrated electrical tests with other Station elements in the SSPF, leak tests, electrical and software compatibility tests with the Space Shuttle (using the Cargo Integrated Test equipment) and an Interface Verification Test once the module is installed in the Space Shuttles payload bay at the launch pad. The most significant mechanical task to be performed on Donatello in the SSPF is the installation and outfitting of the racks for carrying the various experiments and cargo. Donatello will be launched on mission STS-130, currently planned for September 2004

The Dormant Inertial Navigation System (DINS) is installed for input power test in the advanced maneuvering re-entry vehicle (AMARV) control section. Base: Vandenberg Air Force Base State: California (CA) Country: United States Of America (USA)

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. - Additional segments of the payload canister are ready for installation around the Space Infrared Telescope Facility (SIRTF). SIRTF is currently scheduled for transportation to Launch Complex 17-B, Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, and mating with the Delta II on or about April 4.

OA-7 Cargo Module In the Space Station Processing Facility at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, technicians and engineers load thousands of pounds of supplies, equipment and scientific research materials aboard a Cygnus spacecraft's pressurized cargo module (PCM) for the Orbital ATK CRS-7 mission to the International Space Station. Scheduled to launch on March 19, 2017, the commercial resupply services mission will lift off atop a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket from Space launch Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Stationbeing loaded inside the SSPF building, located at Kennedy Space Center.

Workers in the Space Station Processing Facility move the Space Station Remote Manipulator System (SSRMS), also known as the Canadian arm,” to a pallet for testing. The SSRMS is part of Canada’s Mobile Servicing System, an essential component of the International Space Station. This robotic system will play a key role in Space Station assembly and maintenance, moving equipment and supplies around the Station, releasing and capturing satellites, supporting astronauts working in space and servicing instruments and other payloads attached to the Space Station. SSRMS will be on Shuttle mission STS-100, flight 6A, to the Space Station, scheduled for launch April 19, 2001

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- A view of one of the test stands in the Operations and Checkout O&C Facility at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida where the Orion ground test vehicle has arrived. The vehicle traveled more than 1,800 miles from the company's Waterton Facility near Denver where it successfully completed a series of rigorous tests that simulated launch and spaceflight environments. The ground test vehicle will be used for pathfinding operations in the O&C, including simulated manufacturing and assembly procedures. After those operations are completed, new backshell panels will be installed on the ground test vehicle at the O&C prior to the vehicles trek to NASA's Langley Research Center in Virginia for splashdown testing at the agency's Hydro Impact Basin.Launching atop NASA's heavy-lift Space Launch System SLS, which also is under development, the Orion Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle MPCV will serve as the exploration vehicle that will carry astronaut crews beyond low Earth o

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- One of the three main parachutes for the Orion spacecraft is enclosed in its shipping container on a pallet inside the Operations and Checkout Building high bay at NASAs Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Technicians will prepare the parachute for installation on Orion.The Orion spacecraft is being prepared for its first unpiloted flight test, Exploration Flight Test-1, or EFT-1, scheduled for launch atop a Delta IV rocket in September 2014. The Orion spacecraft is designed to carry astronauts to destinations not yet explored by humans. It will have emergency abort capability, sustain the crew during space travel and provide safe re-entry from deep space return velocities. Orion is scheduled to launch atop NASAs Space Launch System rocket in 2017.

VANDENBERG AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. -- In the airlock of processing facility 1555 at Vandenberg Air Force Base (VAFB) in California, NASA's Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array (NuSTAR) hovers above its shipping container during transfer to a handling dolly.The spacecraft arrived at VAFB Jan. 27 after a cross-country trip which began from Orbital Sciences' manufacturing plant in Dulles, Va., on Jan. 24. Next, NuSTAR will be transferred from the airlock into the processing hangar, joining the Pegasus XL rocket that is set to carry it to space. After checkout and other processing activities are complete, the spacecraft will be integrated with the Pegasus in mid-February and encapsulation in the vehicle fairing will follow. The rocket and spacecraft then will be flown on Orbital's L-1011 carrier aircraft to the Ronald Reagan Ballistic Missile Defense Test Site at the Pacific Ocean's Kwajalein Atoll for launch in March. The high-energy X-ray telescope will conduct a census for black hole

VANDENBERG AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. -- In the airlock of processing facility 1555 at Vandenberg Air Force Base (VAFB) in California, workers lift NASA's Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array (NuSTAR) from its shipping container.The spacecraft arrived at VAFB Jan. 27 after a cross-country trip which began from Orbital Sciences' manufacturing plant in Dulles, Va., on Jan. 24. Next, NuSTAR will be transferred from the airlock into the processing hangar, joining the Pegasus XL rocket that is set to carry it to space. After checkout and other processing activities are complete, the spacecraft will be integrated with the Pegasus in mid-February and encapsulation in the vehicle fairing will follow. The rocket and spacecraft then will be flown on Orbital's L-1011 carrier aircraft to the Ronald Reagan Ballistic Missile Defense Test Site at the Pacific Ocean's Kwajalein Atoll for launch in March. The high-energy X-ray telescope will conduct a census for black holes, map radioactive material in

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- In the Space Station Processing Facility at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, workers prepare the Heat Rejection Subsystem, or HRS, radiator for installation onto the Express Logistics Carrier-4, or ELC-4. Space shuttle Discovery and its STS-133 crew will deliver the ELC-4 filled with external payloads and experiments, as well as the spare radiator and the Permanent Multipurpose Module, or PMM, to the International Space Station. Launch is targeted for Nov. 1 at 4 33 p.m. EDT.

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, Fla. -- In the Space Station Processing Facility, an overhead crane lifts the Multi-Purpose Logistics Module Leonardo from a workstand to move it to the payload canister. The MPLM is the primary payload on mission STS-105, the 11th assembly flight to the International Space Station. Leonardo, fitted with supplies and equipment for the crew and the Station, will be transported to Launch Pad 39A and installed into Discoverys payload bay. Launch is scheduled no earlier than Aug. 9

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. -- Suspended from an overhead crane in the Space Station Processing Facility, the P3 Integrated Truss Structure glides along the ceiling to a workstand. The port-side P3 truss is scheduled to be added to the International Space Station on mission STS-115 in 2002 aboard Space Shuttle Atlantis. . The P3 will be attached to the first port truss segment, P1, being installed in an earlier mission.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - In the Payload Hazardous Servicing Facility at NASA's Kennedy Space Center, the transporter holds the container with the second shipment of hardware space shuttle Atlantis' STS-125 mission to NASA's Hubble Space Telescope. The container holds the Super Lightweight Interchangeable Carrier, or SLIC, and the Orbital Replacement Unit Carrier, or ORUC. Another payload carrier, the Flight Support System, has already been delivered, and the Multi-Use Lightweight Equipment carrier will be delivered in late July. The carriers will be prepared for the integration of telescope science instruments, both internal and external replacement components, as well as the flight support equipment to be used by the astronauts during the Hubble servicing mission, targeted for launch Oct. 8.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - In Orbiter Processing Facility 1 at NASA's Kennedy Space Center, the payload bay doors on space shuttle Atlantis are nearly closed. The payload bay has been thoroughly cleaned and is ready to receive the carriers transporting the instruments and equipment needed to service the Hubble Space Telescope. Atlantis is targeted to launch Oct. 8 on the STS-125 mission to service Hubble. The mission crew will perform history-making, on-orbit surgery” on two important science instruments aboard the telescope. After capturing the telescope, two teams of spacewalking astronauts will perform the repairs during five planned spacewalks.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - In the Space Station Processing Facility at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, the interior of the International Space Station's Node 3, named Tranquility, is seen for the last time on Earth before its hatch is shut.Hatch closure follows the completion of preparations for the node's transport to the pad and is a significant milestone in launch processing activities. The primary payload for the STS-130 mission, Tranquility is a pressurized module that will provide room for many of the space station's life support systems. Attached to one end of Tranquility is a cupola, a unique work area with six windows on its sides and one on top. The cupola resembles a circular bay window and will provide a vastly improved view of the station's exterior. The multi-directional view will allow the crew to monitor spacewalks and docking operations, as well as provide a spectacular view of Earth and other celestial objects. The module was built in Turin, Italy, by Thales Al

Workers inspect the solar arrays on the Magnetospheric Multiscale, or MMS, observatories in the Building 1 D high bay of the Astrotech payload processing facility in Titusville, Florida, near Kennedy Space Center. The two MMS spacecraft comprising the upper deck arrived Nov. 12; the two comprising the lower stack arrived Oct. 29. MMS, led by a team from NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, is a Solar Terrestrial Probes mission consisting of four identically instrumented spacecraft that will use Earths magnetosphere as a laboratory to study the microphysics of three fundamental plasma processes: magnetic reconnection, energetic particle acceleration and turbulence. Launch aboard a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket from Space Launch Complex 41 on Cape Canaveral Air Force Station is targeted for March 12, 2015.

At Kennedy Space Center in Florida, technicians bond thermal protection system tiles to Orion's backshell panels on July 8, 2016...While similar to those used on the space shuttle, Orion only requires about 1,300 tiles compared to more than 24,000 on the shuttle. The tiles, along with the spacecrafts heat shield, will protect Orion from the 5,000 degree Fahrenheit heat of re-entry.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- In Building 1555 at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, workers do a fit check on the mating of the Stage 1 to Stage 2 motors for the Taurus XL rocket that will launch NASA's Orbiting Carbon Observatory, or OCO, spacecraft. At right can be seen the avionics shelf. The avionics skirt, a graphite/epoxy structure, supports the avionics shelf and carries the primary structural loads from the fairing and payload cone. The aluminum avionics shelf supports the third stage avionics. The OCO is a new Earth-orbiting mission sponsored by NASA's Earth System Science Pathfinder Program. The launch of OCO is targeted for January.

Inside the Launch Abort System Facility (LASF) at NASAs Kennedy Space Center in Florida, workers assemble the Launch Abort System (LAS) on Feb. 5, 2019, that will be used for the Orion Ascent Abort-2 (AA-2) Flight Test. AA-2 is a full-stress test of the LAS, scheduled for Spring 2019. AA-2 will launch from Space Launch Complex 46, carrying a fully functional LAS and a 22,000-pound Orion test vehicle to an altitude of 31,000 feet and traveling at more than 1,000 miles an hour. The test will verify the LAS can steer the crew module and astronauts aboard to safety in the event of an issue with the Space Launch System (SLS) rocket when the spacecraft is under the highest aerodynamic loads it will experience during a rapid climb into space. NASA's Orion and Exploration Ground Systems programs and contractors from Jacob's and Northrop Grumman in conjunction with the Air Force Space and Missile Center's Launch Operations branch are performing flight operations for AA-2.

Inside the Neil Armstrong Operations and Checkout Building high bay at NASAs Kennedy Space Center in Florida, a crane lifts the Orion heat shield for Exploration Mission 1 away from the base of its shipping container. The heat shield arrived aboard the agencys Super Guppy aircraft at the Shuttle Landing Facility, managed and operated by Space Florida, from Lockheed Martins manufacturing facility near Denver. The heat shield will be moved onto a test stand to begin processing. The Orion spacecraft will launch atop NASAs Space Launch System rocket on EM-1, an uncrewed test flight, in 2018.

NASA's Ionospheric Connection Explorer (ICON) is being attached to the Orbital ATK Pegasus XL rocket May 14, 2018, inside a clean room in Building 1555 at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. The explorer will launch on June 15, 2018, from Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands (June 14 in the continental United States) on the Pegasus XL rocket, which is attached to the company's L-1011 Stargazer aircraft. ICON will study the frontier of space - the dynamic zone high in Earth's atmosphere where terrestrial weather from below meets space weather above. The explorer will help determine the physics of Earth's space environment and pave the way for mitigating its effects on our technology, communications systems and society.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - Inside the Vehicle Assembly Building at NASA's Kennedy Space Center, a technician holds the replacement valve for Atlantis external tank. Technicians removed an old valve after small dings were found on the sealing surface of the quick disconnect system that handles liquid-hydrogen fuel for the shuttles three main engines. The tank will be attached to the twin solid rocket boosters on Aug. 3 for the STS-125 mission, the fifth and final shuttle servicing mission to NASAs Hubble Space Telescope. During the mission, the crew will install new instruments on the telescope, including the Cosmic Origins Spectrograph and the Wide Field Camera 3. A refurbished Fine Guidance Sensor will replace one unit of three now onboard. Mission specialists will also install new gyroscopes, batteries and thermal blankets on the telescope. Launch is targeted for Oct. 8.

These photos show highlights from Artemis II NASA astronauts Victor Glover, Reid Wiseman, and Christina Koch of NASA and CSA (Canadian Space Agency) astronaut Jeremy Hansen visit to NASAs Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, Nov. 27. The crew met and spoke to employees and viewed facilities for SLS (Space Launch System) rocket. All four astronauts signed the Orion stage adapter (OSA), a small ring structure that connects SLS to NASAs Orion spacecraft, that will be used for Artemis II. Koch and Wiseman also visited the Systems Integration Lab, where SLS flight software testing is conducted. The four astronauts will launch atop SLS inside Orion to venture around the Moon on Artemis II, the first crewed flight for Artemis.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- At the Neo Liquid Propellant Testbed inside a facility near Kennedy Space Centers Shuttle Landing Facility in Florida, engineers are working on the buildup of the Neo test fixture and an Injector 71 engine that uses super-cooled propellants. NASA engineers are working on the design and assembly of the Neo Liquid Propellant Testbed as part of the Engineering Directorates Rocket University training program.

jsc2017e119290 (Sep. 28, 2017) --- Total and Spectral Solar Irradiance Sensor (TSIS) Thermal Pointing System (TPS) in its deployed configuration during spacewalk tool fit-checks and sharp edge inspection at NASA's Johnson Space Center. TSIS examines how Earth's atmosphere responds to solar ouput changes.

The Orion Exploration Flight Test-1 (EFT-1) crew module is prepared for mating with the heat shield in the Operations and Checkout (O&C) Building at Kennedy Space Center on May 9, 2014. Part of Batch image transfer from Flickr.

The Japanese Experiment Module or JEM (first element in left row), and other hardware undergoing processing for transport to the International Space Station, are made available for viewing by the media, assembling in the aisle of the Space Station Processing Facility (SSPF). Members of the media were invited to commemorate the fifth anniversary of the launch of the first element of the International Space Station by touring the SSPF. Reporters had the opportunity to see Space Station hardware that is being processed for deployment once the Space Shuttles return to flight, as well as talk with NASA and Boeing mission managers about the various hardware elements currently being processed for flight.

A variety of space hardware for the Orion crew module is in view in the Neil Armstrong Operations and Checkout Building high bay at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Orion is undergoing processing to prepare it for its first uncrewed integrated flight atop the Space Launch System rocket on Exploration Mission-1.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - In the Payload Hazardous Servicing Facility at NASA's Kennedy Space Center, the Soft Capture and Rendezvous System, or SCRS, is revealed after removal of the shipping container cover. The SCRS will enable the future rendezvous, capture and safe disposal of Hubble by either a crewed or robotic mission. The SCRS greatly increases the current shuttle capture interfaces on Hubble, therefore significantly reducing the rendezvous and capture design complexities associated with the disposal mission. The SCRS comprises the Soft Capture Mechanism system and the Relative Navigation System and is part of the payload on the fifth and final Hubble servicing mission, STS-125, targeted for launch Oct. 8.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - In Orbiter Processing Facility-3 at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, a lifting device moves the multi-purpose logistics module Leonardo and an ammonia tank assembly from space shuttle Discovery's payload bay. Discovery landed on Runway 33 at Kennedy's Shuttle Landing Facility at 9 08 a.m. EDT April 20 after 15 days in space, completing the more than 6.2-million-mile STS-131 mission on orbit 238. The seven-member STS-131 crew carried the multi-purpose logistics module Leonardo, filled with supplies, a new crew sleeping quarters and science racks that were transferred to the International Space Station's laboratories. Leonardo now will be modified into a permanent multi-purpose module, or PMM, and left aboard the station on space shuttle Discovery's STS-133 mission, targeted for launch Sept. 16.

Flight hardware for NASAs Orbital Syngas Commodity Augmentation Reactor, or OSCAR, is inside the Applied Physics Lab inside the Neil Armstrong Operations and Checkout Facility at the agencys Kennedy Space Center in Florida on July 21, 2022. OSCAR began as an Early Career Initiative project at the spaceport that studies technology to convert trash and human waste into useful gasses such as methane, hydrogen, and carbon dioxide. By processing small pieces of trash in a high-temperature reactor, OSCAR is advancing new and innovative technology for managing waste in space.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - Inside the Operations and Checkout Building high bay at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, technicians prepare the middle back shell tile panel for installation on the Orion crew module. Preparations are underway for Exploration Flight Test-1, or EFT-1.Orion is the exploration spacecraft designed to carry astronauts to destinations not yet explored by humans, including an asteroid and Mars. It will have emergency abort capability, sustain the crew during space travel and provide safe re-entry from deep space return velocities. The first unpiloted test flight of the Orion is scheduled to launch later this year atop a Delta IV rocket from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida to an altitude of 3,600 miles above the Earth's surface. The two-orbit, four-hour flight test will help engineers evaluate the systems critical to crew safety including the heat shield, parachute system and launch abort system.

Press tour as part of SPIN2030, a campaign to highlight the diversity, excellence and attractiveness of Saxony as a centre of science, Fraunhofer Institute for Photonic Microsystems IPMS (CNT) Wafer production in the clean room

VANDENBERG AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. -- At Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, the third stage of the Pegasus XL rocket that will launch the Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array (NuSTAR) to orbit is moved onto a jackable rail for processing in Building 1555. After the rocket and spacecraft are processed at Vandenberg, they will be shipped to the Ronald Reagan Ballistic Missile Defense Test Site located 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.

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. -- The Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS), foreground, is part of the STS-109 flight hardware for maintenance of the Hubble Space Telescope (HST). The ACS and other hardware, installed on four principle payload carriers, are being processed inside the clean room at the Vertical Processing Facility (VPF). The STS-109 launch aboard Columbia is targeted for Feb. 14, 2002, and will be the 108th flight in the Space Shuttle program

Technicians at NASAs Michoud Assembly Facility move a piece of the engine section of NASAs Space Launch System rocket for Artemis III in preparation for its next step in production. This hardware is the first large piece manufactured for the Artemis III mission and makes up the lowest portion of the 212-foot-tall core stage. When complete, the engine section will house the four RS-25 engines and include vital systems for mounting, controlling and delivering fuel from the propellant tanks to the rockets engines. Together with its four RS-25 engines and its twin solid rocket boosters, it will produce 8.8 million pounds of thrust to send NASAs Orion spacecraft, astronauts, and supplies beyond Earths orbit to the Moon and, ultimately, Mars. Offering more payload mass, volume capability, and energy to speed missions through space, the SLS rocket, along with NASAs Gateway in lunar orbit, the Human Landing System, and Orion spacecraft, is part of NASAs backbone for deep space explora

NASA Evolutionary Xenon Thruster - Commercial, NEXT-C Flight Power Processing Unit, PPU

Press tour as part of SPIN2030, a campaign to highlight the diversity, excellence and attractiveness of Saxony as a centre of science, Fraunhofer Institute for Photonic Microsystems IPMS (CNT) Wafer production in the clean room

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. -- Inside the Space Station Processing Facility, the Pressurized Mating Adapter-3 (PMA-3), an element for the International Space Station, awaits testing. The PMA-3, once launched, will be mated to Node 1, a connecting passageway to the living and working areas of the Space Station. The primary purpose of PMA-3 is to serve as a Shuttle docking port through which crew members and equipment will transfer to the Space Station during later assembly missions. PMA-3 is scheduled as payload on mission STS-92, whose date for launch is not yet determined

NASA's Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS), inside its shipping container, is moved into Payload Hazardous Servicing Facility (PHSF) at the agency's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Inside the PHSF, the satellite will be processed and prepared for its flight. TESS is scheduled to launch atop a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. TESS is the next step in NASA's search for planets outside our solar system, known as exoplanets. TESS is a NASA Astrophysics Explorer mission led and operated by MIT in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and managed by NASAs Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. Dr. George Ricker of MITs Kavli Institute for Astrophysics and Space Research serves as principal investigator for the mission. Additional partners include Orbital ATK, NASAs Ames Research Center, the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics and the Space Telescope Science Institute. More than a dozen universities, research instit

Lockheed Martin engineers assemble Orion's Artemis I crew module at NASA's Kennedy Space Center Operations and Checkout Building on April 27, 2018.

5 Degree of Freedom - Manned Flight Simulator

A control desk from which an entire industrial plant is controlled. A control desk from which an entire industrial plant is controlled.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- A crane moves one of three main parachutes for the Orion spacecraft inside the Operations and Checkout Building high bay at NASAs Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The parachute is being prepared for installation on Orion. The Orion spacecraft is being prepared for its first unpiloted flight test, Exploration Flight Test-1, or EFT-1, scheduled for launch atop a Delta IV rocket in September 2014. The Orion spacecraft is designed to carry astronauts to destinations not yet explored by humans. It will have emergency abort capability, sustain the crew during space travel and provide safe re-entry from deep space return velocities. Orion is scheduled to launch atop NASAs Space Launch System rocket in 2017.

An Integrated Equipment Assembly (IEA) is moved into the center of the Space Station Processing Facility clean room at KSC for transition to the high bay. The IEA, a large truss segment of the International Space Station (ISS), is one of four power modules to be used on the International Space Station. The modules contain batteries for the ISS solar panels and power for the life support systems and experiments that will be conducted. This first IEA will fly on the Space Shuttle Endeavour as part of STS-97, scheduled to launch August 5, 1999

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - Inside the Operations and Checkout Building high bay at NASAs Kennedy Space Center in Florida, a bulkhead is being prepared for installation on the Orion service module for Exploration Flight Test 1, or EFT-1. Orion is the exploration spacecraft designed to carry crews to space beyond low Earth orbit. It will provide emergency abort capability, sustain the crew during the space travel and provide safe re-entry from deep space return velocities. Orions first unpiloted test flight is scheduled to launch in 2014 atop a United Launch Alliance Delta IV heavy rocket. A second uncrewed flight test is scheduled for 2017 on the Space Launch System rocket.

NASA engineers work on the Restore-L payload in the high bay inside the Space Station Processing Facility (SSPF) at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, on May 16, 2019. Restore-L, managed by the agencys Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, is an in-flight robotic satellite servicer spacecraft. The center is celebrating the SSPFs 25th anniversary. The SSPF was built to process elements for the International Space Station. Now it is providing support for current and future NASA and commercial provider programs, including Commercial Resupply Services, Artemis 1, sending the first woman and next man to the Moon, and deep space destinations including Mars.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- Department of Energy contractor employees roll the multi-mission radioisotope thermoelectric generator (MMRTG) for NASA's Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) mission, enclosed in a protective mesh container known as the "gorilla cage," out of the high bay of the RTG storage facility at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida for its move to the Payload Hazardous Servicing Facility (PHSF). The cage protects the MMRTG and allows any excess heat generated to dissipate into the air. In the PHSF, the MMRTG temporarily will be installed on the MSL rover, Curiosity, for a fit check but will be installed on the rover for launch at the pad. 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. Curiosity, MSL's car-sized rover, has 10 science instruments designed to search for

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. -- Viewed from the top of Launch Pad 17-A, Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, two solid rocket boosters are lifted for mating to a Boeing Delta II rocket, as another waits its turn on the transporter below. The rocket will be the launch vehicle for the CONTOUR spacecraft, scheduled to launch July 1. CONTOUR will provide the first detailed look into the heart of a comet -- the nucleus. The spacecraft will fly close to at least two comets, Encke and Schwassmann-Wachmann 3, taking pictures of the nucleus while analyzing the gas and dust that surround these rocky, icy building blocks of the solar system.

One of the two MarCO (Mars Cube One) CubeSat spacecraft, with its insides displayed, is seen at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, California.

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