Space Shuttle Operations

Images of NASA's Space Shuttle Atlantis being prepared for launch, highlighting transport preparations and equipment at Kennedy Space Center.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - At Edwards Air Force Base in California, the Shuttle Carrier Aircraft, or SCA, a modified Boeing 747, is moved beneath space shuttle Atlantis, suspended in the mate/demate device. Atlantis will be bolted to the SCA for a piggyback flight to Florida. A tail cone, which protects the aft engine area and provides a more efficient aeronautical dimension during its piggyback flight, can be seen. Atlantis landed at Edwards on May 24, which concluded mission STS-125, after two landing opportunities at Kennedy were waved off due to weather concerns. Atlantis is being returned to Florida on a ferry flight on the SCA. Atlantis' next assignment is the STS-129 mission, targeted to launch in November 2009.

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. - The orbiter Atlantis is backed out of the Vehicle Assembly Building for transfer back to the Orbiter Processing Facility. Atlantis spent 10 days in the VAB to allow work to be performed in the OPF that can only be accomplished while the bay is empty. Work included annual validation of the bay's cranes, work platforms, lifting mechanisms and jack stands. Work resumes to prepare Atlantis for launch in September 2004 on the first return-to-flight mission, STS-114.

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. -- Wheels are lowered on the orbiter Atlantis as it hangs suspended by an overhead crane in the mate_demate device at KSCs Shuttle Landing Facility. Atlantis was removed from the back of the Shuttle Carrier Aircraft in the background. Atlantis just returned from California atop the SCA after its Feb. 19 landing at Edwards Air Force Base concluding mission STS-98. The ferry flight began March 1; unfavorable weather conditions kept it on the ground at Altus AFB, Okla., until it could return to Florida. Atlantis will be transported to the Orbiter Processing Facility to prepare it for mission STS-104, the 10th construction flight to the International Space Station, scheduled to launch June 8

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - At Edwards Air Force Base in California, the Shuttle Carrier Aircraft, or SCA, a modified Boeing 747, is moved beneath space shuttle Atlantis, suspended in the mate/demate device. Atlantis will be bolted to the SCA for a piggyback flight to Florida. A tail cone, which protects the aft engine area and provides a more efficient aeronautical dimension during its piggyback flight, can be seen. Atlantis landed at Edwards on May 24, which concluded mission STS-125, after two landing opportunities at Kennedy were waved off due to weather concerns. Atlantis is being returned to Florida on a ferry flight on the SCA. Atlantis' next assignment is the STS-129 mission, targeted to launch in November 2009.

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

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- The shuttle carrier aircraft, or SCA, and its piggyback passenger space shuttle Endeavour are poised to enter the mate/demate device at the Shuttle Landing Facility at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The device will lift the shuttle and put it back on the ground. After making the three-day trip from California, touchdown at Kennedy was at 2:44 p.m. EST. The SCA is a modified Boeing 747 jetliner. Endeavour landed at Edwards Air Force Base in California Nov. 30 to end mission STS-126. The return to Kennedy began Dec. 8 and took four days after stops across the country for fuel. The last stop was at Barksdale Air Force Base in Shreveport, La. Weather conditions en route and in Florida postponed the landing at Kennedy until Dec. 12.

Total Force - The Super Guppy made a VERY rare stop at Tinker Air Force Base today for some gas on its way to Florida. The NASA aircraft was delivering an Orion Heatshield for a mission expected a few years from now.

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. - Discovery is towed into the Orbiter Processing Facility bay 3. Discovery was returned to NASA Kennedy Space Center on a ferry flight atop the Shuttle Carrier Aircraft (SCA) from Edwards Air Force Base in California, arriving Aug. 21. Discovery will be towed to the Orbiter Processing Facility where the Multi-Purpose Logistics Module Raffaello still inside will be removed from the payload bay and transferred to the Space Station Processing Facility. The orbiter will then begin processing for the second Return to Flight mission, STS-121, scheduled for launch no earlier than March 2006.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- At the Shuttle Landing Facility, or SLF, at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, the shuttle carrier aircraft with space shuttle Endeavour on top backs away from the mate/demate device for another try. A sling in the device will lift the shuttle away from the shuttle carrier aircraft, or SCA, underneath. The SCA carried the shuttle piggyback from California, where Endeavour landed Nov. 30 to end the STS-126 mission. When Endeavour is on the ground, it will be towed via the two-mile tow-way from the SLF by a diesel-powered tractor to the Orbiter Processing Facility where it will begin preparations for its next mission, STS-127, targeted for May 2009.

The space shuttle Enterprise, mounted on transport vehicle, is backed into a temporary hanger after being demated from the NASA 747 Shuttle Carrier Aircraft (SCA) at John F. Kennedy (JFK) International Airport in Jamica, New York, Sunday, May 13, 2012. Enterprise will be placed on a barge that will move by tugboat up the Hudson River to the Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum in June. The shuttle will be lifted by crane and placed on the flight deck of the Intrepid, where it will be on exhibit to the public starting this summer in a temporary climate-controlled pavilion.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - With wheels lowered, Atlantis is placed on the ground via the hoist that is suspending it in the mate/demate device. Atlantis was separated from the Shuttle Carrier Aircraft, or SCA, a modified Boeing 747, that returned it from California after its May 24 landing at Edwards Air Force Base, concluding mission STS-125. The ferry flight from Edwards Air Force Base began June 1. Atlantis' next assignment is the STS-129 mission, targeted to launch in November 2009.

Boeing 747, technology museum, Speyer

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - At the Shuttle Landing Facility at NASAs Kennedy Space Center in Florida, preparations are under way to tow a Shuttle Carrier Aircraft to the mate-demate device for mating with space shuttle Discovery, in the foreground. This SCA, designated NASA 905, is a Boeing 747 jet originally manufactured for commercial use, which was modified by NASA to transport the shuttles between destinations on Earth. NASA 905 is assigned to the remaining ferry missions, delivering the shuttles to their permanent public display sites. Discoverys new home will be the Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center in Chantilly, Va.

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

NEWCASTLE AIRPORT CONTROL TOWER TOWER IN DISTANCE WITH PLANE TAIL IN FOREGROUND

Tupolev Tu-22M long-range supersonic strategic bomber museum exhibit

VANDENBERG AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. - At Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, the Pegasus XL rocket with the attached Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph IRIS solar observatory rolled out of the hangar on its transporter to the runway at Vandenberg. There, the rocket and spacecraft were mated with the Orbital Sciences L-1011 carrier aircraft.Scheduled for launch from Vandenberg on June 26, 2013, IRIS will open a new window of discovery by tracing the flow of energy and plasma through the chromospheres and transition region into the suns corona using spectrometry and imaging. The IRIS mission will observe how solar material moves, gathers energy and heats up as it travels through a largely unexplored region of the solar atmosphere. The interface region, located between the sun's visible surface and upper atmosphere, is where most of the sun's ultraviolet emission is generated. These emissions impact the near-Earth space environment and Earth's climate.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- Space shuttle Atlantis arrives in the transfer aisle of the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida on its move from Orbiter Processing Facility-2.Atlantis will be stored temporarily in the VAB while transition and retirement processing resumes on shuttle Endeavour in the processing hangar. Endeavour is being prepared for public display at the California Science Center in Los Angeles. A groundbreaking was held Jan. 18 for Atlantis' future home -- a 65,000-square-foot exhibit in Shuttle Plaza at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex. For additional information, visit http://www.nasa.gov/shuttle.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - The Shuttle Carrier Aircraft, or SCA, parks at the ramp area at NASA Kennedy Space Centers Shuttle Landing Facility in Florida. The SCA touched down at 5:05 p.m. EDT to prepare for shuttle Endeavours ferry flight to the Los Angeles International Airport on Sept. 17.

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, Fla. - Atlantis is towed away from the Vehicle Assembly Building. The orbiter was demated from its external tank in the high bay, lifted over the transom, then lowered and shifted to the horizontal position in the transfer aisle. Atlantis is being moved to the Orbiter Processing Facility.

NASA's Super Guppy transport plane transports the Exploration Flight Test-1 (EFT-1) Orion heat shield from Manchester, NH to the Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Dec. 4, 2013. Part of Batch image transfer from Flickr.

Orion - EM-1 - Artemis Spacecraft Arrival at Mansfield Lahm Airport, Transportation to Plum Brook Station and Installation in the Space Environment Complex, SEC Thermal Vacuum Chamber

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

A close-up view of the X-38 research vehicle mounted under the wing of the B-52 mothership prior to a 1997 test flight. The X-38, which was designed to help develop technology for an emergency crew return vehicle (CRV) for the International Space Station, is one of many research vehicles the B-52 has carried aloft over the past 40 years..

Aviation, airport, Munich, aircraft, Airbus, A380. Fuselage, Landing Gear

Detail view of an abandoned 1938 Douglas DC-4 airliner in a rural, desert junkyard.

A left rear fisheye view of a P-3B Orion aircraft of Naval Air Reserve Patrol Squadron 68 (VP-68). VP-68 is in Rota for active duty training. Base: Naval Station, Rota Country: Spain (ESP)

Turkish F-4E Phantom with Israeli built Elta ECM pod during the bi-annual ELITE exercise at Lechfeld Airfield, Germany.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - Space shuttle Discovery rolls toward Orbiter Processing Facility 3 at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Discovery landed at 3:13:17 p.m. EDT after completing a 13-day journey of more than 5.3 million miles on the STS-119 mission. The mission was the 28th flight to the station, the 36th flight of Discovery and the 125th in the Space Shuttle Program, as well as the 70th landing at Kennedy.

DN-SC-89-04610. Country: Unknown

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- NASA's Gravity Recovery and Interior Laboratory, or GRAIL, spacecraft will be offloaded from an Air Force C-17 cargo plane on the Shuttle Landing Facility at Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The spacecraft traveled from the Lockheed Martin plant in Denver, Colo., and will undergo further processing in the Astrotech payload processing facility in Titusville, Fla. The United Launch Alliance Delta II rocket that will carry GRAIL into lunar orbit already is fully stacked at NASA's Space Launch Complex 17B and launch is scheduled for Sept. 8.The GRAIL mission is a part of NASA's Discovery Program. GRAIL will fly twin spacecraft in tandem orbits around the moon for several months to measure its gravity field. The mission also will answer longstanding questions about Earth's moon and provide scientists a better understanding of how Earth and other rocky planets in the solar system formed.

Fuselage and tailplane of Boeing 727

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

The Northrop Grumman Pegasus XL rocket, with NASA's Ionospheric Connection Explorer (ICON) secured in its payload fairing, begins rollout from Building 1555 at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California on Sept. 25, 2019. The Pegasus XL rocket will be attached beneath the company's L-1011 Stargazer aircraft for the flight to Cape Canaveral Air Force Station (CCAFS) in Florida. ICON will launch from the Skid Strip at CCAFS. Launch is scheduled for Oct. 10, 2019. 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 and communications systems.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - A C-17 transport aircraft carrying NASA's TDRS-L satellite opens its cargo doors on the ramp at the Shuttle Landing Facility at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The TDRS is 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.

Vintage Photograph. A massive aircraft stationed on a clear runway day.

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. - The orbiter Discovery, sitting on an orbiter transporter, slowly backs out of NASA's Orbiter Processing Facility to begin the rollover to the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB). The rollover marks the start of the journey to the launch pad and, ultimately, launch. Once inside the VAB, Discovery will be raised to vertical and lifted up and over into high bay 3 for stacking with its redesigned external tank and twin solid rocket boosters. The rollout of Space Shuttle Discovery to Launch Pad 39B is expected in approximately a week. Launch of Discovery on mission STS-121 is scheduled to take place in a window extending July 1 to July 19.

The Orion Exploration Mission-1 (EM-1) structural test article, secured inside its transport container, is loaded into NASA's Super Guppy aircraft at the Shuttle Landing Facility at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The test article will be transported to Lockheed Martin's Denver facility for testing. The Orion spacecraft will launch atop NASAs Space Launch System rocket on EM-1, its first deep space mission.

The Artemis I Orion crew module pressure vessel is loaded on NASA's Super Guppy plane in New Orleans for transport to Kennedy Space Center on Feb. 1, 2016. Part of Batch image transfer from Flickr.

Refueling planes at the airport

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - Sunrise at the Shuttle Landing Facility at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida finds space shuttle Endeavour secured atop NASA's Shuttle Carrier Aircraft, or SCA. Preparations are under way to roll them away from the mate-demate device surrounding them.The SCA, a modified 747 jetliner, will fly Endeavour to Los Angeles where it will be placed on public display at the California Science Center. This is the final ferry flight scheduled in the Space Shuttle Program era.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - The space shuttle Atlantis is towed into Bay 2 of the Orbiter Processing Facility OPF at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Atlantis is switching places with Endeavour that moved into the Vehicle Assembly Building. In the OPF, Atlantis will undergo final preparations for its transfer to the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex targeted for November. The work is part of Transition and Retirement of the remaining space shuttles, Atlantis and Endeavour. Atlantis is being prepared for public display at Kennedy's Visitor Complex. Over the course of its 26-year career, Atlantis spent 293 days in space during 33 missions.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - Seen from the mate-demate device at the Shuttle Landing Facility at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, the space shuttle Endeavour, mounted atop NASA's Shuttle Carrier Aircraft, or SCA, has been rolled back in preparation for its ferry flight to California.The SCA, a modified 747 jetliner, will fly Endeavour to Los Angeles where it will be placed on public display at the California Science Center. This is the final ferry flight scheduled in the Space Shuttle Program era.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - Sunrise at the Shuttle Landing Facility at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida finds space shuttle Endeavour secured atop NASA's Shuttle Carrier Aircraft, or SCA. Preparations are under way to roll them away from the mate-demate device surrounding them.The SCA, a modified 747 jetliner, will fly Endeavour to Los Angeles where it will be placed on public display at the California Science Center. This is the final ferry flight scheduled in the Space Shuttle Program era.

Sultana Bomber, Allied Museum, Clayallee, Dahlem, Berlin, Germany, Europe

Wing of Space Shuttle Pilot Trainer Jet

Orbiter Atlantis is suspended by an overhead crane in the mate_demate device at KSCs Shuttle Landing Facility. It was removed from the back of the Shuttle Carrier Aircraft in the background. Atlantis just returned from California atop the SCA after its Feb. 19 landing at Edwards Air Force Base concluding mission STS-98. The ferry flight began March 1; unfavorable weather conditions kept it on the ground at Altus AFB, Okla., until it could return to Florida. Atlantis will be transported to the Orbiter Processing Facility to prepare it for mission STS-104, the 10th construction flight to the International Space Station, scheduled to launch June 8

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- A shuttle monitor is in position underneath space shuttle Atlantis as it is pulled from Orbiter Processing Facility-2 to the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Atlantis will be stored temporarily in the VAB while transition and retirement processing resumes on shuttle Endeavour in the processing hangar. Endeavour is being prepared for public display at the California Science Center in Los Angeles. A groundbreaking was held Jan. 18 for Atlantis' future home -- a 65,000-square-foot exhibit in Shuttle Plaza at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex. For additional information, visit http://www.nasa.gov/shuttle.

A front view of the first B-1B bomber testbed aircraft (originally the No. 2 B-1 prototype) being serviced on the flight line at the Air Force Flight Test Center. Base: Edwards Air Force Base State: California (CA) Country: United States Of America (USA)

T&R Enterprise Demated from SCA

STS-131 DISCOVERY ROLLOVER FROM OPF-3 TO VAB

A Northrop Grumman Antares rocket is seen as it rolls out to Pad-0A, Tuesday, Oct. 29, 2019, at NASA's Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia. Northrop Grummans 12th contracted cargo resupply mission with NASA to the International Space Station will deliver about 8,200 pounds of science and research, crew supplies and vehicle hardware to the orbital laboratory and its crew. Launch is scheduled for 9:59 a.m. EDT Saturday, Nov. 2.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - Space shuttle Discovery approaches the mate-demate device, or MDD, at the Shuttle Landing Facility at NASAs Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The MDD is a large gantry-like steel structure used to hoist a shuttle off the ground and position it onto the back of a Shuttle Carrier Aircraft, or SCA. The SCA is a Boeing 747 jet, originally manufactured for commercial use, which was modified by NASA to transport the shuttles between destinations on Earth. The SCA designated NASA 905 is assigned to the remaining ferry missions, delivering the shuttles to their permanent public display sites. Discoverys new home will be the Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center in Chantilly, Va.

A tow tractor pushes a Patrol Squadron 10 (VP-10) P-3C Orion aircraft into its place on the ramp at the 1991 Paris Air Show.. Base: Paris Country: France(FRA)

At Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, an Orbital ATK Pegasus XL rocket is mated to the company's L-1011 carrier aircraft near Vandenberg's runway. On board Pegasus are eight NASA Cyclone Global Navigation Satellite System, or CYGNSS, spacecraft. When preparations are competed at Vandenberg, the L-1011/Pegasus XL combination will be flown to NASAs Kennedy Space Center in Florida. On Dec. 12, 2016, the carrier aircraft is scheduled to take off from the Skid Strip at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station and CYGNSS will launch on the Pegasus XL rocket with the L-1011 flying off shore. CYGNSS satellites will make frequent and accurate measurements of ocean surface winds throughout the life cycle of tropical storms and hurricanes. The data that CYGNSS provides will enable scientists to probe key air-sea interaction processes that take place near the core of storms, which are rapidly changing and play a critical role in the beginning and intensification of hurricanes.

Low angle view of a C-17 Globemaster III.

A close-up front view of a Boeing T-43 flown by 562 Fighter Training Squadron. Base: Randolph Air Force Base State: Texas (TX) Country: United States Of America (USA)

An air-to-air close-up view of a Tu-95 Bear aircraft tail showing the tail gunner and 23mm gun turret. Country: Unknown

Northrop Grumman's Pegasus XL rocket, containing NASA's Ionospheric Connection Explorer (ICON), is transported to the hot pad at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, on Oct. 14, 2018. Pegasus will be attached beneath the company's L-1011 Stargazer aircraft for the trip to Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. The Pegasus XL rocket will launch ICON from the Skid Strip at the Cape. 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 and communications systems.

Low angle view of a bomber plane on the runway, B-52 Stratofortress, US Air Force

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - The Shuttle Carrier Aircraft, or SCA, parks at the ramp area at NASA Kennedy Space Centers Shuttle Landing Facility in Florida. The SCA touched down at 5:05 p.m. EDT to prepare for shuttle Endeavours ferry flight to the Los Angeles International Airport on Sept. 17.

LC-130 "Skibirds" from the New York Air National Guard's 109th Airlift Wing in Scoita, New York, sit on the runway at Kangerlussuaq, Greenland, on June 27, 2016. Four LC-130s and about 80 Airmen from the Wing recently completed the third rotation of the 2016 Greenland season. Airmen and aircraft for the 109th Airlift Wing stage out of Kangerlussuaq, Greenland, during the summer months, supplying fuel and supplies and transporting passengers in and out of various National Science Foundation camps throughout the entire season and also train for the Operation Deep Freeze mission in Antarctica. The unique capabilities of the ski-equipped LC-130 aircraft make it the only one of its kind in the U.S. military, able to land on snow and ice.

010513-F-1644L-014. Complete Scene Caption: Northrop Grumman contractors tow the Global Hawk to its hangar after working on its sensors at RAAF Base Edinburgh, Adelaide, Australia, during the support of Exercise TANDEM THRUST 01. Able to cover more than 40,000 square miles, the jet powered Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) RQ-4A Global Hawk has a wing span of 116 feet, equal to a Boeing 737, able to fly up to 65,000 feet and loiter for more than 24 hours. The Global Hawk deployed to Australia from April to June 2001, flying more than a dozen missions. This Global Hawk completed its biggest challenge to date the non-stop Trans-Pacific flight from Edwards to Edinburgh. TANDEM THRUST 2001 a combined US, Australian, and Canadian military exercise for crisis action planning and execution of contingency response operations. The biannual exercise is held in the vicinity of Shoalwater Bay training area in Queensland, Australia. Subject Operation/Series: TANDEM THRUST 01 Base: Adelaide State: Que

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. - The mated Pegasus XL and Galaxy Evolution Explorer (GALEX) satellite move under the Orbital Sciences L-1011 aircraft at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. The GALEX, to be launched April 28 from the L-1011, will carry into space an orbiting telescope that will observe a million galaxies across 10 billion years of cosmic history to help astronomers determine when the stars and elements we see today had their origins. The spacecraft will sweep the skies for 28 months using state-of-the-art ultraviolet detectors to single out galaxies dominated by young, hot, short-lived stars that give off a great deal of energy at that wavelength. These galaxies are actively creating stars, and therefore provide a window into the history and causes of star formation in galaxies.

Orion Spacecraft Arrives in Ohio Aboard the Super Guppy at Mansfield Lahm Airport

A front view of the B-1 bomber aircraft on the runway. Base: Andrews Air Force Base State: Maryland (MD) Country: United States Of America (USA)

VANDENBERG AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. - At Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, the Pegasus XL rocket with the attached Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph IRIS solar observatory rolled out of the hangar on its transporter to the runway at Vandenberg. There, the rocket and spacecraft were mated with the Orbital Sciences L-1011 carrier aircraft.Scheduled for launch from Vandenberg on June 26, 2013, IRIS will open a new window of discovery by tracing the flow of energy and plasma through the chromospheres and transition region into the suns corona using spectrometry and imaging. The IRIS mission will observe how solar material moves, gathers energy and heats up as it travels through a largely unexplored region of the solar atmosphere. The interface region, located between the sun's visible surface and upper atmosphere, is where most of the sun's ultraviolet emission is generated. These emissions impact the near-Earth space environment and Earth's climate.

A C-5B Galaxy from 436th Airlift Wing, Dover, Delaware, sits with its nose visor up exposing the, soon to be lowered, hydraulic ramps as it is prepared to download four fuel trucks for the 100th Supply Squadron at RAF Mildenhall, United Kingdom. The aircraft will "kneel" down on the landing gear to facilitate the offloading of the trucks. The fuel trucks are needed to support the increased KC-135 tanker operations at RAF Mildenhall as part of NATO Operation ALLIED FORCE. ALLIED FORCE objective "is to degrade and damage the military and security structure that President Milosevic (Yugoslav President) has used to depopulate and destroy the Albanian majority in Kosovo," William S. Cohen, .... A C-5B Galaxy from 436th Airlift Wing, Dover, Delaware, sits with its nose visor up exposing the, soon to be lowered, hydraulic ramps as it is prepared to download four fuel trucks for the 100th Supply Squadron at RAF Mildenhall, United Kingdom. The aircraft will "kneel" down on the landing gear to f

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. -- NASA's Super Guppy aircraft arrives at Kennedy Space Center's Shuttle Landing Facility. The plane carries a component for the International Space Station (ISS), the port-side P3 truss. The truss is scheduled to be added to the ISS on mission STS-115 in 2002 aboard Space Shuttle Atlantis. The second port truss segment, P3 will be attached to the first port truss segment (P1). The P3 truss will be taken to the Operations and Checkout Building.

NASA's Super Guppy airplane arrives in New Orleans, Louisiana on Jan. 31, 2016. The Guppy will transport Orion's Artemis I crew module pressure vessel to Kennedy Space Center for final assembly. Part of Batch image transfer from Flickr.

VANDENBERG AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. - Preparations are under way for the departure of Orbital Sciences L-1011 carrier aircraft from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. The aircraft is transporting Orbitals Pegasus rocket and NASAs Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array, or NuSTAR, to the U.S. Army's Ronald Reagan Ballistic Missile Defense Test Site on Kwajalein Atoll, part of the Marshall Islands in the Pacific Ocean. The Pegasus, mated to its NuSTAR payload, will be launched from the carrier aircraft 117 nautical miles south of Kwajalein at latitude 6.75 degrees north of the equator. The high-energy X-ray telescope will conduct a census of black holes, map radioactive material in young supernovae remnants, and study the origins of cosmic rays and the extreme physics around collapsed stars. Launch is scheduled for June 13.

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. -- At the mate/demate device at Kennedy Space Center's Shuttle Landing Facility, Atlantis is lifted up from the shuttle carrier aircraft, or SCA. The SCA is backed away from the mate/demate device. Visible on Atlantis is the tail cone that covers and protects the main engines during the ferry flight. The orbiter will be lowered to the ground and then towed to the Orbiter Processing Facility to begin processing for its next launch, mission STS-122 in December. Atlantis arrived at Kennedy Space Center atop the SCA on July 3 after a three-day, cross-country flight due to fuel stops and weather delays. Touchdown was at 8:27 a.m. EDT. Atlantis landed at Edwards Air Force Base in California on June 22 to end mission STS-117.

The plane carrying U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry to Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, for meetings related to Yemen, as seen on December 17, 2016, as it sits in a hangar at Joint Base Andrews in Camp Springs, Maryland, due to freezing rain passing through the area.

Bearing NASA tail number 870, NASA's Ikhana unmanned aircraft is a civil version of the Predator B designed for high-altitude, long-endurance science flights.

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, Fla. -- A Super Guppy aircraft arrives at the KSC Shuttle Landing Facility to deliver its cargo, the P5 truss. The truss will be transported to the Space Station Processing Facility. The P5 is scheduled for delivery to the International Space Station on mission 12A.1 in April 2003

A McDonnel RF-4C Phantom AR 68-557, 10TRW, from the American Air Force, stationed in Alconbury Air Force Base in Great Britain.

747 LANDING GEAR INSPECTION

VANDENBERG AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. - At Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, the Pegasus XL rocket with the attached Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph IRIS solar observatory rolled out of the hangar on its transporter to the runway at Vandenberg. There, the rocket and spacecraft were mated with the Orbital Sciences L-1011 carrier aircraft.Scheduled for launch from Vandenberg on June 26, 2013, IRIS will open a new window of discovery by tracing the flow of energy and plasma through the chromospheres and transition region into the suns corona using spectrometry and imaging. The IRIS mission will observe how solar material moves, gathers energy and heats up as it travels through a largely unexplored region of the solar atmosphere. The interface region, located between the sun's visible surface and upper atmosphere, is where most of the sun's ultraviolet emission is generated. These emissions impact the near-Earth space environment and Earth's climate.

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. -- The L-1011 aircraft waits on Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Fla., with its cargo, the Pegasus XL and Solar Radiation and Climate Experiment (SORCE), attached underneath. . The L-1011 will carry the Pegasus to the launch altitude of 39,000 feet over the Atlantic Ocean approximately 100 miles east-southeast of Cape Canaveral. SORCE, built by Orbital Sciences Corporation, will study and measure solar irradiance as a source of energy in the Earth's atmosphere. The launch of SORCE is scheduled for Jan. 25 at 3:14 p.m. from CCAFS.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - At NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, space shuttle Atlantis arrives in the transfer aisle of the Vehicle Assembly Building, or VAB. The shuttle was moved from Orbiter Processing Facility-1 where it was processed for its upcoming STS-132 mission. In the VAB, Atlantis will be lifted into a high bay where it will be mated to its external fuel tank and solid rocket boosters. The six-member STS-132 crew will deliver an Integrated Cargo Carrier, or ICC, and the Russian-built Mini-Research Module-1, or MRM-1, to the International Space Station. The ICC is an unpressurized flat bed pallet and keel yoke assembly used to support the transfer of exterior cargo from the shuttle to the space station. The MRM-1, known as Rassvet, is the second in a series of new pressurized components for Russia and will be permanently attached to the Earth-facing port of the Zarya control module. Rassvet, which translates to 'dawn,' will be used for cargo storage and will provide an add

Colonel (ret) Gail S. Halvorsen, the legendary "Candy Bomber" from the Berlin Airlift, tests out the new Air Force Next Generation Small Loader (NGSL) 25k named after himself at Dover AFB, Delaware on 19 June 2001. The Halvorsen has the highest reach of any loader with a height of 225 inches. The C-54 Sky MASTER behind the Halvorsen 25k loader is the plane that COL (ret) Halvorsen flew during the Berlin Airlift. Base: Dover State: Delaware (DE) Country: United States Of America (USA) Scene Major Command Shown: AMC

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. -- At the Shuttle Landing Facility, the one-piece, upward-hinged main cargo door of the Airbus Industrie A300-600ST "Beluga" Super Transporter is open to offload its cargo, the second Multi-Purpose Logistics Module (MPLM) for the International Space Station (ISS). One of Italy's major contributions to the ISS program, the MPLM, named Raffaello, is a reusable logistics carrier and the primary delivery system used to resupply and return station cargo requiring a pressurized environment. Weighing nearly 4.5 tons, the module measures 21 feet long and 15 feet in diameter. Raffaello will join Leonardo, the first Italian-built MPLM, in the Space Station Processing Facility for testing. NASA, Boeing, the Italian Space Agency and Alenia Aerospazio will provide engineering support

DF-ST-87-02249. Base: New York State: New York (NY) Country: United States Of America (USA)

Side view of an AGM-86 air-launched cruise missile mounted on a B-52 Stratofortress aircraft wing pylon for an icing test mission. Base: Hill Air Force Base State: Utah (UT) Country: United States Of America (USA)

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. - At the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station Skid Strip, a second stage Centaur (Block I) is rolled out of a Russian Antonov AH-124-100 cargo airplane. The Centaur will be mated with the Lockheed Martin Atlas V, designated AV-007, that is the launch vehicle for the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO). The MRO is designed for a series of global mapping, regional survey and targeted observations from a near-polar, low-altitude Mars orbit. These observations will be unprecedented in terms of the spatial resolution and coverage achieved by the orbiters instruments as they observe the atmosphere and surface of Mars while probing its shallow subsurface as part of a follow the water strategy. The orbiter is undergoing environmental tests in facilities at Lockheed Martin Space Systems in Denver, Colo., and is on schedule for a launch window that begins Aug. 10. Launch will be from Launch Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida.

STS-131 DISCOVERY ROLLOVER FROM OPF-3 TO VAB

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - Under the watchful eyes of United Space Alliance technicians, the space shuttle Endeavour, mounted atop NASA's Shuttle Carrier Aircraft, or SCA, has been rolled back from the mate-demate device at the Shuttle Landing Facility at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida.The SCA, a modified 747 jetliner, will fly Endeavour to Los Angeles where it will be placed on public display at the California Science Center. This is the final ferry flight scheduled in the Space Shuttle Program era.

041117-F-9528H-006. Base: Over Texas Country: United States Of America (USA)

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - At NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, space shuttle Discovery arrives at Orbiter Processing Facility-3 following its successful landing on Runway 33 at the Shuttle Landing Facility. Discovery landed at Kennedy after 15 days in space, completing the more than 6.2-million-mile STS-131 mission on orbit 238. Main gear touchdown was at 9 08 35 a.m. EDT followed by nose gear touchdown at 9 08 47 a.m. and wheelstop at 9 09 33 a.m. Aboard were Commander Alan Poindexter; Pilot James P. Dutton Jr.; and Mission Specialists Rick Mastracchio, Clayton Anderson, Dorothy Metcalf-Lindenburger, Stephanie Wilson and Naoko Yamazaki of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency. 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. The crew also switched out a gyroscope on the stations truss, installed a spare ammo

Boeing 757 model test-341 in 12ft w.t.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- The STS-135 astronauts are preparing to depart NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida to return to NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston. Here, a Gulfstream III jet is waiting for the crew members and their families to board for the flight home.Space shuttle Atlantis and its crew touched down on Kennedy's Shuttle Landing Facility runway 5:57 a.m., July 21, 2011, bringing a close to 30 years of space shuttle missions. Securing the space shuttle fleet's place in history, Atlantis marked the 26th nighttime landing of the Space Shuttle Program and the 78th landing at Kennedy. Atlantis and its crew delivered to the International Space Station the Raffaello multi-purpose logistics module packed with more than 9,400 pounds of spare parts, equipment and supplies that will sustain station operations for the next year. STS-135 was the 33rd and final flight for Atlantis and the final mission of the Space Shuttle Program.

The United Launch Alliance (ULA) Atlas V booster for NASAs Landsat 9 mission is offloaded from the Antonov 124 cargo aircraft at Vandenberg Space Force Base in California, on June 29, 2021. The Landsat 9 mission will launch atop a ULA Atlas V rocket from Vandenberg in September 2021. The launch is being managed by NASAs Launch Services Program based at Kennedy Space Center. The Landsat 9 satellite will continue the nearly 50-year legacy of previous Landsat missions. It will monitor key natural and economic resources from orbit. Landsat 9 is managed by the agencys Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. The satellite will carry two instruments: the Operational Land Imager 2, which collects images of Earths landscapes in visible, near infrared and shortwave infrared light, and the Thermal Infrared Sensor 2, which measures the temperature of land surfaces. Like its predecessors, Landsat 9 is a joint mission between NASA and the U.S. Geological Survey.

Super Guppy arrival and (MBB) Multi-Bay Box Delivery ; Super Guppy arrival and MBB Delivery: super Guppy arrival at NASA Langley hangar, and unloading of (MBB) multi-bay box, transport of MBB to COLTS and move into building 1256.

T&R Enterprise Demated from SCA

JSC20003-E-40254 (30 May 2003) --- The access door of an Airbus Beluga heavy-lift aircraft is about to be closed with the International Space Station U.S. Node 2 inside. The aircraft departed May 30 from Turin, Italy and arrived at the Kennedy Space Center June 1 with Node 2. Under contract of the Italian Space Agency (ASI), Alenia Spazio led a consortium of European sub-contractors to build Node 2. The module was built for NASA under a barter agreement with the European Space Agency (ESA) in exchange for the launch of the European Columbus Laboratory by the space shuttle to the International Space Station. Node 2 will provide a passageway between four International Space Station science experiment modules the U.S. Destiny Laboratory, the Kibo Japanese Experiment Module, the European Columbus Laboratory and the Centrifuge Accommodation Module. The addition of Node 2 to the station will signify the U.S. Core Complete stage of assembly, at which time the station can support the addition

A mock-up of the European Space Agency's Hermes aerospacecraft is displayed on a pedestal at the 1991 Paris Air Show. Base: Paris Country: France(FRA)

DF-SC-85-12683. Base: Edwards Air Force Base State: California (CA) Country: United States Of America (USA)

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - Space shuttle Atlantis moves into the Vehicle Assembly Building from Orbiter Processing Facility-2 at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Atlantis will be moved to the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex in November where it will be placed on public display.

The infamous Lukla airport, the start of treks to Everest Base Camp.

of 3