Laboratory Research in Clean Rooms

Images depict scientists in clean room environments, engaging with high-tech equipment, such as microscopes and fluid experiment racks, showcasing a focused research atmosphere.

Scientists working in laboratory of science center

LCROSS in Ames clean room of N-240 - Calibration and camera check out with Tony Colaprete and Kim Ennico P.I.'s

ground meat machine

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. - In the Space Station Processing Facility at NASA's Kennedy Space Center, STS-115 Mission Specialists Joe Tanner, Heidemarie Stefanyshyn-Piper, Steve Maclean and Dan Burbank are fit checking sequential shunt unit, electronics control unit and multiplexer demultiplexer launch to activation multi-layer installation blankets in a large Orbital Replaceable Unit transfer bag. They and other crew members are at the center for Crew Equipment Interface Test activities. Equipment familiarization is a routine part of astronaut training and launch preparations. The mission will deliver the second port truss segment, the P3/P4 Truss, to attach to the first port truss segment, the P1 Truss, as well as deploy solar array set 2A and 4A. Launch on Space Shuttle Atlantis is scheduled for late August.

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. -- In the Space Station Processing Facility, members of the STS-92 crew get hands-on experience with some of the equipment, such as the Integrated Truss Structure Z1, to fly on their mission. STS-92 is the fifth U.S. flight in the construction of the International Space Station. 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. The crew comprises Mission Commander Brian Duffy, Pilot Pamela A. Melroy, and Mission Specialists Koichi Wakata, Leroy Chiao, Peter J.K. Wisoff, Michael E. Lopez-Alegria, and William S. McArthur Jr. Wakata is with the National Space Development Agency of Japan. Launch of STS-92 is scheduled for Sept. 21, 2000

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. -- At Astrotech, an engineer from Dutch Space makes a final check of repair made to the damage on a solar array panel on the Dawn spacecraft. The damage, incurred on June 11, was made by a technician's tool during a procedure to prepare Dawn for spin-balance testing. The size of the affected area is about 2.5 inches by 2 inches. There was no impact to the launch date of July 7. Dawn's goal is to characterize the conditions and processes of the solar system's earliest epoch 4.5 billion years ago by investigating in detail two of the largest asteroids, Ceres and Vesta. They reside between Mars and Jupiter in the asteroid belt

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - In the Space Station Processing Facility, STS-130 Pilot Terry Virts Jr. moves closer to the Cupola, part of the payload on the mission to the International Space Station, to get a better look. The seven-windowed module will be used as a control room for robotics on the station. Endeavour will also deliver the final connecting node, Node 3.

science, chemistry and people concept - close up of scientists with chemical samples in petri dish making test or research at laboratory over dna molecule structure

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. -- In the Space Station Processing Facility, STS-120 Mission Specialist Daniel Tani (gesturing) explains to Scott Parazynski (center) and astronaut Peggy Whitson what he has learned about the Node 2, another element to be added to the International Space Station. Whitson served on Expedition 5 aboard the space station. Tani and other crew members are at KSC for equipment familiarization. Tani will be joining the Expedition 15 crew on the space station as flight engineer. Node 2 will provide a passageway between three station science experiment facilities: the U.S. Destiny Laboratory, the Kibo Japanese Experiment Module, and the European Columbus Laboratory. STS-120 is targeted for launch on October 20.

Scientist proving revision in lab

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- At NASA's Kennedy Space Center, Dr. Keiji Tachikawa, president of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, or JAXA, gets a close look at an orbiter in the Orbiter Processing Facility. JAXA is one of NASA's international partners in the development and operation of the space station.

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. - Workers at Astrotech Space Operations in Titusville, Fla., prepare to remove the cover from the MESSENGER (Mercury Surface, Space Environment, Geochemistry and Ranging) spacecraft inside the nonhazardous payload processing facility. Final assembly and testing will be completed at this site. The spacecraft will return to the hazardous processing facility when ready for fueling, spin balance testing and mating to the upper stage. MESSENGER is scheduled to launch no earlier than July 30 from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. MESSENGER is a scientific investigation of the planet Mercury, the least explored terrestrial planet. Understanding Mercury and how it was formed is essential to understanding the other terrestrial planets and their evolution. The MESSENGER mission will orbit Mercury after making two flybys of the planet, using data collected during the flybys as an initial guide to perform a more focused scientific investigation of this mysterious worl

In the gantry at Space Launch Complex 3 at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, a technician prepares batteries for installation in NASA's Interior Exploration using Seismic Investigations, Geodesy and Heat Transport, or InSight, Mars lander. InSight will be the first mission to look deep beneath the Martian surface. It will study the planet's interior by measuring its heat output and listen for marsquakes. The spacecraft will use the seismic waves generated by marsquakes to develop a map of the planets deep interior. The resulting insight into Mars formation will provide a better understanding of how other rocky planets, including Earth, were created. InSight is scheduled for liftoff May 5, 2018.

In the Payload Hazardous Servicing Facility, members of the STS-103 crew look at some of the equipment to be used during their mission. The seven-member crew are Commander Curtis L. Brown Jr., Pilot Scott J. Kelly, and Mission Specialists Steven L. Smith, C. Michael Foale (Ph.D.), John M. Grunsfeld (Ph.D.), Claude Nicollier of Switzerland, and Jean-François Clervoy of France. Nicollier and Clervoy are with the European Space Agency. Mission STS-103 is a "call-up" due to the need to replace portions of the pointing system, the gyros, which have begun to fail on the Hubble Space Telescope. Although Hubble is operating normally and conducting its scientific observations, only three of its six gyroscopes are working properly. The gyroscopes allow the telescope to point at stars, galaxies and planets. The STS-103 crew will not only replace gyroscopes, it will also replace a Fine Guidance Sensor and an older computer with a new enhanced model, an older data tape recorder with a solid state d

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - In the Payload Hazardous Servicing Facility at NASAs Kennedy Space Center in Florida, a technician cleans along the edge of NASA's Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) mission heat shield. MSL's components include a car-sized rover, Curiosity, which has 10 science instruments 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. Launch of MSL aboard a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket is scheduled for Nov. 25 from Space Launch Complex 41 on Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida.

Mission engineers load the final cargo into the Cygnus resupply spacecraft onboard the Northrop Grumman Antares rocket, Tuesday, April 16, 2019 at launch Pad-0A of NASA's Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia. Northrop Grummans 11th contracted cargo resupply mission with NASA to the International Space Station will deliver about 7,600 pounds of science and research, crew supplies and vehicle hardware to the orbital laboratory and its crew.

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, Fla. - Technicians in the Payload Hazardous Servicing Facility work on one of the Mars Exploration Rovers, MER-2. The two rovers, MER-1 and MER-2, their aeroshells and landers will undergo a full mission simulation before being integrated. After spin balance testing, each spacecraft will be mated to a solid propellant upper stage booster that will propel the spacecraft out of Earth orbit. Approximately 10 days before launch they will be transported to the launch pad for mating with their respective Boeing Delta II rockets. The rovers will serve as robotic geologists to seek answers about the evolution of Mars, particularly for a history of water. The rovers are identical to each other, but will land at different regions of Mars. Launch of the first rover is scheduled for May 30 from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. The second will follow June 25.

Kepler project; technicians from Ball Aerospace work on and in the test chamber assembled at Nasa Ames Research center testing components

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. - In the Space Station Processing Facility, Japanese astronaut Koichi Wakata, dressed in protective clothing, talks with workers before entering the Pressurized Module, or PM, behind him. Part of the Japanese Experiment Module (JEM), the PM provides a shirt-sleeve environment in which astronauts on the International Space Station can conduct microgravity experiments. There are a total of 23 racks, including 10 experiment racks, inside the PM providing a power supply, communications, air conditioning, hardware cooling, water control and experiment support functions.

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. - In the Space Station Processing Facility, STS-117 Mission Specialist James Reilly (left) and STS-115 Mission Specialist Joseph Tanner (right) look over components in the Japanese Experiment Module (JEM). Equipment familiarization is a routine part of astronaut training and launch preparations.

Coronavirus screening station in the street by a laboratory of medical biology of tools disinfection, Nogent sur marne.

Cryostorage of stem cells

LCROSS flight hardware in clean room at Ames N-240. EEL personnel fabricating & assembling components with Glen Sasaki of Ames, Engineering Evaluation lab

VANDENBERG AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. - In the Astrotech payload processing facility on Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, Orbital Sciences workers and technicians steady NASA's Orbiting Carbon Observatory-2, or OCO-2, as it glides across the room from its transportation trailer toward a test fixture.Testing and launch preparations now will get underway for its launch from Space Launch Complex 2 aboard a United Launch Alliance Delta II rocket, scheduled for July 1, 2014. The observatory will collect precise global measurements of carbon dioxide in the Earth's atmosphere and provide scientists with a better idea of the chemical compound's impacts on climate change. Scientists will analyze this data to improve our understanding of the natural processes and human activities that regulate the abundance and distribution of this important atmospheric gas. OCO-2 is a NASA Earth System Science Pathfinder Program mission managed by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory JPL in Pasadena, Californ

Technicians unpack and inspect a Nitrogen/Oxygen Recharge System (NORS) tank inside the Space Station Processing Facility high bay at NASAs Kennedy Space Center in Florida on July 16, 2020. The NORS tanks and their support fixtures are designed to connect to the International Space Stations existing air supply network to refill the previous generation of tanks installed during construction of the space station. These reusable tanks measure 3 feet long and 21 inches in diameter, and weigh about 200 pounds when filled. Once onboard, the tanks will be used to fill the oxygen and nitrogen tanks that supply the needed gases to the space stations airlock for spacewalks. They could also be used to replenish the atmosphere inside the station. The NORS tanks will launch to the station later in the year on a commercial resupply mission.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - At the Astrotech payload processing facility in Titusville, Fla., technicians apply the NOAA decal to the fairing that will encapsulate the GOES-O satellite during launch. The latest Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite, GOES-O was developed by NASA for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, or NOAA. The GOES satellites continuously provide observations of 60 percent of the Earth including the continental United States, providing weather monitoring and forecast operations as well as a continuous and reliable stream of environmental information and severe weather warnings. Once in orbit, GOES-O will be designated GOES-14, and NASA will provide on-orbit checkout and then transfer operational responsibility to NOAA. The GOES-O satellite is targeted to launch April 28 onboard a United Launch Alliance Delta IV expendable launch vehicle.

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. - As part of the Crew Equipment Interface Test, STS-112 Mission Specialist David Wolf (right) checks out a part of the S1 Integrated Truss Structure, part of the payload for the mission to the International Space Station. The S1 truss is the first starboard (right-side) truss segment, whose main job is providing structural support for the orbiting research facility's radiator panels that cool the Space Station's complex power system. The S1 truss segment also will house communications systems, external experiment positions and other subsystems. The S1 truss will be attached to the S0 truss. Launch of STS-112 is scheduled for Aug. 22, 2002

LCROSS in Ames clean room of N-240 - during calibration and camera check out Kim Ennico in background

Communications Technology and Development - Communications, Navigation, and Network Reconfigurable Test-bed, CoNNeCT System-level Protoflight Vibration Test in the Structural Dynamics Laboratory, SDL

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. - Mission Specialist Piers J. Sellers, Ph.D., (kneeling, left) and Michael E. Fossum (right) look at the adjustable grapple bar on the SPACEHAB Oceaneering Enhanced Deployable box. The astronauts of the second Return to Flight mission, STS-121, were at the SPACEHAB facility in Cape Canaveral to participate in the Crew Equipment Interface Test (CEIT). This test allows the astronauts to become familiar with equipment they will be using on their upcoming mission. STS-121 is scheduled to launch in July aboard Space Shuttle Atlantis.

Two scientists working in laboratory

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- In the Astrotech payload processing facility near NASA's Kennedy Space Center, General Dynamics technicians prepare a high-gain antenna for installation on the Gamma-ray Large Area Space Telescope, or GLAST. The GLAST is a powerful space observatory that will explore the universe's ultimate frontier, where nature harnesses forces and energies far beyond anything possible on Earth; probe some of science's deepest questions, such as what our universe is made of, and search for new laws of physics; explain how black holes accelerate jets of material to nearly light speed; and help crack the mystery of stupendously powerful explosions known as gamma-ray bursts. Launch is currently planned in a window between 11:45 a.m. and 1:40 p.m. EDT May 16.

MSL Rover Arm Stowage

Astronauts Jim Reilly and Bornie Dunbar are going through the Mechanics of Granular Materials (MGM) experiment procedures as they are expected to run in flight; to gain experience with the experiment equipment and to test the clarity and language of the procedures as written.

A researcher prepares to harvest radishes grown in the Advanced Plant Habitat (APH) ground unit inside the Space Station Processing Facility at NASAs Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Dec. 14, 2020. The radishes are a ground control crop for the Plant Habitat-02 (PH-02) experiment, which also involves growing two radish crops inside the International Space Stations APH. NASA astronaut Kate Rubins harvested the first crop on Nov. 30, and the second harvest aboard the orbiting laboratory is planned for Dec. 30. Once samples return to Earth, researchers will compare those grown in space to the radishes grown here on Earth to better understand how microgravity affects plant growth.

Autopsy of a corpse of mallard duck Moselle France

An ion thruster is removed from a vacuum chamber at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California. The thruster, a spare engine from NASA's Deep Space 1 mission, with a designed life of 8,000 hours, ran for a record 30,352 hours (nearly 5 years) giving researchers the ability to observe its performance and wear at different power levels throughout the test. This information will be vital to future missions that use ion propulsion. Ion propulsion systems can be very lightweight, rurning on just a few grams of xenon gas a day. Xenon is the same gas that is found in photo flash bulbs. This fuel efficiency can lower launch vehicle costs. The successful Deep Space 1 mission featured the first use of an ion engine as the primary means of propulsion on a NASA spacecraft. NASA's next-generation ion propulsion efforts are implemented by the Marshall Space Flight Center. The program seeks to develop advanced propulsion technologies that will significantly reduce cost, mass, or travel

Technicians with Orbital ATK check assemble the micro satellites deployment module for NASAs Cyclone Global Navigation Satellite System (CYGNSS) in Building 1555 at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. CYGNSS is being prepared at Vandenberg, and then will be transported to NASAs Kennedy Space Center in Florida aboard the Orbital ATK Pegasus XL rocket which will be attached to the Orbital ATK L-1011 carrier aircraft. CYGNSS will launch on the Pegasus XL rocket from the Skid Strip at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. CYGNSS 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.

S69-40940 (August 1969) --- Landrum Young (seated), Brown and Root - Northrop, and Russell Stullken, Manned Spacecraft Center (MSC), examine mice in the Animal Laboratory which have been inoculated with lunar sample material. The sample material was collected by astronauts Neil A. Armstrong and Edwin E. Aldrin Jr. during their lunar surface extravehicular activity (EVA) on July 20, 1969.

jsc2023e054755 (2/11/2021) --- A preflight view of David Moreeuw (Inneloab) testing the Food Processor assembly. The objective of the Advanced System for Space Food (Food Processor) investigation on board the International Space Station is to test a prototype equipment demonstrator with one specific recipe that uses basic cooking functions (beating egg whites, mixing products). © CNES/DE PRADA Thierry, 2021

Stephen Hoffman, Malaria Vaccine researcher

In Building 1555 at North Vandenberg Air Force Base, workers lift the AIM spacecraft from its stand in order to move it into an area where a partial deployment of the solar arrays on the spacecraft will take place. The AIM spacecraft will fly three instruments designed to study polar mesospheric clouds located at the edge of space, 50 miles above the Earth's surface in the coldest part of the planet's atmosphere. The mission's primary goal is to explain why these clouds form and what has caused them to become brighter and more numerous and appear at lower latitudes in recent years. AIM's results will provide the basis for the study of long-term variability in the mesospheric climate and its relationship to global climate change. AIM is scheduled to be mated to the Pegasus XL during the second week of April, after which final inspections will be conducted. Launch is scheduled for April 25.

Scientists examining chemicals in microbiological safety cabinet

Flight hardware inside the tank, with and without people

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - At the Astrotech payload processing facility in Titusville, Fla., workers observe as the SV1-SV2 spacecraft is lifted for weighing. The two spacecraft are known as the Space Tracking and Surveillance System - Demonstrators, or STSS Demo, which is a space-based sensor component of a layered Ballistic Missile Defense System designed for the overall mission of detecting, tracking and discriminating ballistic missiles. STSS is capable of tracking objects after boost phase and provides trajectory information to other sensors. It will be launched by NASA for the Missile Defense Agency between 8 and 8:58 a.m. EDT Sept. 18. Approved for Public Release 09-MDA-04886 (10 SEPT 09)

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - In the Space Station Processing Facility, STS-128 crew members look over packages of equipment that will accompany the mission. From left are Pilot Kevin Ford, Commander Rick Sturckow and Mission Specialists Christer Fuglesang and John "Danny" Olivas. The STS-128 flight will carry science and storage racks to the International Space Station on space shuttle Discovery. Launch of Discovery is targeted for Aug. 6.

Saxon research and manufacturer network for radiopharmaceuticals

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. - During a Crew Equipment Interface Test (CEIT) in the Orbiter Processing Facility, STS-116 crew members get information about the external air lock they are looking at. At left is Mission Specialist Christer Fugelsang and at right is Mission Specialist Robert Curbeam. Fugelsang represents the European Space Agency. A CEIT allows astronauts to become familiar with equipment and hardware they will use on the mission. STS-116 will be mission No. 20 to the International Space Station and construction flight 12A.1. The mission payload is the SPACEHAB module, the P5 integrated truss structure and other key components. Launch is scheduled for no earlier than Dec. 7.

John "JC" Carver, a payload integration engineer with NASA Kennedy Space Center's Test and Operations Support Contract, uses a FluorPen to measure the chlorophyll fluorescence of Arabidopsis thaliana plants inside the growth chamber of the Advanced Plant Habitat (APH) Flight Unit No. 1. Half the plants were then harvested.The harvest is part of an ongoing verification test of the APH unit, which is located inside the International Space Station Environmental Simulator in Kennedy's Space Station Processing Facility. The APH undergoing testing at Kennedy is identical to one on the station and uses red, green and broad-spectrum white LED lights to grow plants in an environmentally controlled chamber. The seeds grown during the verification test will be grown on the station to help scientists understand how these plants adapt to spaceflight.

LCROSS flight hardware in clean room at Ames N-240. with P.I.'s and EEL personnel preforming various tasks with Kim Ennico (frt) and Dana Lynch (bk)

Two scientists working in laboratory

The CRISTA-SPAS payload, manifested on Space Shuttle Mission STS-85, is placed in the transport canister.

LCROSS flight hardware in clean room at Ames N-240. with P.I.'s and EEL personnel preforming various tasks during assembly Gene Sasaki (frt) and Jerry Wang (bk)

Portrait of confident scientists in laboratory

LCROSS in Ames clean room N-240- securing special made crate for transfer to Northrup Grumman Redondo Beach, CA where more calibration will be done before finally being sent for mating with the LRO spacecraft (with Tony Colaprete (l) LCROSS P.I. Steve Ord, Project Management Division (c) ) and Unknown)

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, Fla. -- STS-118 crew members confer with a technician about the payloads installed in Space Shuttle Endeavour. Seen here are Mission Specialists Dave Williams (center), who represents the Canadian Space Agency, and Rick Mastracchio (right). The STS-118 crew has been at Kennedy for terminal countdown demonstration test activities that also include M-113 training, emergency egress training at the pad and a simulated launch countdown. The mission is the 22nd flight to the International Space Station and Space Shuttle Endeavour will carry a payload including the S5 truss, a SPACEHAB module and external stowage platform 3. STS-118 is targeted for launch on Aug. 7.

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. -- In the Operations and Checkout Building, STS-110 Mission Specialist Lee Morin looks over equipment that will be on the mission. Other crew members (not shown) are Commander Michael J. Bloomfield, Pilot Stephen N. Frick, and Mission Specialists Steven L. Smith, Ellen Ochoa and Rex J. Walheim. Part of the payload on the mission is the Integrated Truss Structure S0. It is the center segment that they will be installing on the International Space Station, part of the 300-foot (91-meter) truss attached to the U.S. Lab. By assembly completion, four more truss segments will attach to either side of the S0 truss. STS-110 is currently scheduled to launch in April 2002

In the Space Station Processing Facility at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, thousands of pounds of supplies, equipment and scientific research materials are prepared for loading 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 Station.

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, Fla. - On Launch Pad 39A, members of the STS-109 crew pause during their final inspection of the Hubble payload they will deploy on orbit during five spacewalks. Seen here (left to right) are Mission Specialists Michael Massimino, Nancy Currie and James Newman. The crew also comprises Commander Scott Altman, Pilot Duane Carey, Payload Commander John Grunsfeld, and Mission Specialist Richard Linnehan. The goal of the mission is to replace Solar Array 2 with Solar Array 3, replace the Power Control Unit, remove the Faint Object Camera and install the Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS), install the Near Infrared Camera and Multi-Object Spectrometer (NICMOS) Cooling System, and install New Outer Blanket Layer insulation. Launch of Shuttle Columbia on mission STS-109 is scheduled for Feb. 28 at 6:48 a.m. EST

NASA astronaut Nicole Mann, left, is one of three astronauts who will fly on Boeings CST-100 Starliner in an upcoming Crew Flight Test to the International Space Station. Mann, along with fellow commercial crew astronauts Eric Boe and Chris Ferguson, recently toured Boeings spacecraft testing facilities in Huntington Beach and El Segundo, Calif. Structural testing in Huntington Beach confirms the spacecraft can withstand the pressures it will experience during flight. Environmental qualification testing in El Segundo ensures the spacecraft can withstand the extreme environments of space.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - In the Space Station Processing Facility at NASA's Kennedy Space Center, astronaut Charles Hobaugh, right, conducts a fit check of the robotic workstation, or RWS, in the International Space Station's Cupola module. He is assisted by vehicle integration test engineer Louise Kleba of Flight Crew Operations, kneeling, Boeing technician Terry Camarata, standing at left, and engineer David Jackson, from Johnson Space Center. The RWS is provided by the Canadian Space Agency. The module was delivered by the European Space Agency in 2004 to Kennedy from Alenia Spazio in Turin, Italy. Cupola will provide unprecedented views of activities outside the station and spectacular views of the Earth. Crew members working inside the module will have a 360-degree panoramic view. Cupola has the capability for command and control workstations to be installed to assist in space station remote manipulator system and extra vehicular activities. Cupola is the final element of the

VANDENBERG AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. - At Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, technicians prepare NASA's Interstellar Boundary Explorer, or IBEX, mission spacecraft to be lifted from the shipping platform and moved to a mobile stand in the background. The IBEX satellite will make the first map of the boundary between the Solar System and interstellar space. IBEX is the first mission designed to detect the edge of the Solar System. As the solar wind from the sun flows out beyond Pluto, it collides with the material between the stars, forming a shock front. IBEX contains two neutral atom imagers designed to detect particles from the termination shock at the boundary between the Solar System and interstellar space. IBEX also will study galactic cosmic rays, energetic particles from beyond the Solar System that pose a health and safety hazard for humans exploring beyond Earth orbit. IBEX will make these observations from a highly elliptical orbit that takes it beyond the interference

LCROSS flight hardware in clean room at Ames N-240. with P.I.'s and EEL personnel preforming various tests (Jerry Wang (R, seated) and Glen Sasaki (L, standing)

STS-132 CREW CEIT - ATLANTIS

In the Space Station Processing Facility, members of the STS-92 crew fill scaffolding to look over the Pressurized Mating Adapter-3, part of the payload for their mission to the International Space Station (ISS). STS-92 is targeted for launch in December 1999. From lower left are Mission Specialists Leroy Chiao, Michael Lopez-Alegria (center), Bill McArthur and Jeff Wisoff (top). Other crew members visiting KSC are Commander Brian Duffy and Mission Specialist Koichi Wakata. STS-92 is the fourth U.S. flight for construction of the International Space Station. The payload also includes an integrated truss structure

JSC2010-E-054445 (2 July 2009) --- Members of the Orbital Debris Program Office and the Hypervelocity Impact Technology Facility at JSC record images of impact craters and other surface data on the returned Wide Field and Planetary Camera (WFPC-2) of the Hubble Space Telescope. Inspection took place at the Goddard Space Flight Center during the summer of 2009.

. Astromaterials processor Mari Montoya and OSIRIS-REx curation team members set the TAGSAM (Touch and Go Sample Acquisition Mechanism) down in the canister glovebox after removing it from the canister base and flipping it over. Credit: NASA

SOFIA (Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy) primary mirror being coated in the Ames N-211 Vacuum Chamber.

Portrait of a female scientist in a laboratory, Tochigi prefecture, Honshu, Japan

Looking over equipment inside the U.S. Lab Destiny as part of a Multi-Equipment Interface Test are STS-98 Pilot Mark Polansky (left) and Commander Kenneth D. Cockrell (center). They are joined by astronaut James Voss (right), who will be among the first crew to inhabit the International Space Station on a flight in late 2000. During the STS-98 mission, the crew will install the Lab on the station during a series of three space walks. The mission will provide the station with science research facilities and expand its power, life support and control capabilities. The U.S. Laboratory Module continues a long tradition of microgravity materials research, first conducted by Skylab and later Shuttle and Spacelab missions. Destiny is expected to be a major feature in future research, providing facilities for biotechnology, fluid physics, combustion, and life sciences research. Others in the five-member crew on STS-98 are Mission Specialists Robert L. Curbeam Jr., Thomas D. Jones (Ph.D.) and M

X-59 Low Boom Flight Demonstrator, LBFD Probe Calibration Test

LCROSS in Clean Room at Ames Research Centeer - flight hardware cable check and verification

NASAs SpaceX Crew-1 astronauts participate in crew equipment interface testing at SpaceX headquarters in Hawthorne, California, on Sept. 24, 2020. From left are mission specialist Soichi Noguchi, Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) astronaut, and pilot Victor Glover, NASA astronaut. The other crew members training, but not pictured, are mission specialist Shannon Walker, and Crew Dragon commander Michael Hopkins, both NASA astronauts. NASAs SpaceX Crew-1 mission is the first crew rotational flight of a U.S. commercial spacecraft with astronauts to the International Space Station. The Crew-1 mission will launch from Launch Complex 39A at Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Crew-1 is part of NASA's Commercial Crew Program, which has returned human spaceflight capabilities to the U.S.

Scientist writing on clipboard

After a four-year development effort, the Goddard Space Flight Center delivered NASA's Aquarius radiometer to the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., for integration with the Aquarius instrument.

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. -- At SPACEHAB, members of the STS-102 crew get acquainted with tools and equipment they will be using on their mission. Mission Specialist Andrew S.W. Thomas (center) practices using one of the tools while Mission Specialist Paul W. Richards (right) and Expedition Twos Susan Helms look on. They and other crew members are at SPACEHAB to get acquainted with tools and equipment they will be using on their mission. STS-102 is the 8th construction flight to the International Space Station and will carry the Multi-Purpose Logistics Module Leonardo. On that flight, Leonardo will be filled with equipment and supplies to outfit the U.S. laboratory module Destiny. The mission will also be carrying the Expedition Two crew to the Space Station, replacing the Expedition One crew who will return on Shuttle Discovery. STS-102 is scheduled for launch March 8, 2001

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. - Sen. Bill Nelson (right), D-Fla., explains the layout of the glass cockpit to Sen. John F. Kerry, D-Mass., on the flight deck of orbiter Discovery during a tour of the Orbiter Processing Facility (OPF). The bunny suits” they are wearing are clean room attire required for anyone coming in close proximity to Discovery, currently being prepared for flight on the next Space Shuttle mission. The tour of the OPF follows a public meeting Kerry held at the Dr. Kurt H. Debus Conference Facility at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex. He said he chose to speak at KSC because it symbolizes America’s commitment to science, innovation and technology. He and Sen. John Edwards, D-N.C., are on a speaking tour prior to their appearance at the Democratic National Convention in Boston.

model released woman man bioengineers Genetech

ELaNa 19 / Venture Class CubeSats (ALBus) inside Rocket Lab facility, located at Huntington Beach California.

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. - The STS-118 crew look over parts of the mission payload in the Space Station Processing Facility. The crew comprises Commander Scott Kelly, Pilot Charles Hobaugh, and Mission Specialists Scott Parazynski, Dafydd Williams, Barbara Morgan and Lisa Nowak. Williams is with the Canadian Space Agency. Morgan was selected by NASA in January 1998 as the first Educator Astronaut. The mission will be delivering the third starboard truss segment, the ITS S5, to the International Space Station, and a SPACEHAB Single Cargo Module with supplies and equipment. Launch aboard Space Shuttle Columbia is scheduled for Nov. 13, 2003.

iss050e057655 (3/15/2020) --- Photographic documentation during Auxin Transport sample transfer to Minus Eighty-Degree Laboratory Freezer for ISS (MELFI) insertion. Studies on Gravity-Controlled Growth and Development in Plants Using True Microgravity Conditions (Auxin Transport) clarifies the role of auxins in pea and maize (corn) seedlings grown in microgravity, leading to new insight into how gravity, or the lack of gravity, affects plant development.

STS-95 Mission Commander Curtis L. Brown Jr. (left) and Pilot Steven Lindsey (right) are in Discovery's midbody checking electrical connections during a Crew Equipment Interface Test (CEIT) for their mission. The CEIT gives astronauts an opportunity for a hands-on look at the payloads on which they will be working on orbit. The launch of the STS-95 mission, aboard Space Shuttle Discovery, is scheduled for Oct. 29, 1998. The mission includes research payloads such as the Spartan solar-observing deployable spacecraft, the Hubble Space Telescope Orbital Systems Test Platform, the International Extreme Ultraviolet Hitchhiker, as well as the SPACEHAB single module with experiments on space flight and the aging process

PhD student during his research work adjusting his experimental setup, laser laboratory of Prof. Georg Pretzler's group for laser and plasma physics at Heinrich-Heine-University, Duesseldorf, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, Europe

In preparation for the Artemis I flight test, teams at NASAs Kennedy Space Center in Florida prepare two manikins, called phantoms, as part of the Matroshka AstroRad Radiation Experiment (MARE) investigation on Aug. 4, 2022. The two female phantoms - Helga and Zohar - will fly aboard the Orion crew module during Artemis I. Each will be equipped with radiation detectors, with Zohar also wearing a radiation protection vest, to determine the radiation risk on its way to the Moon. The MARE experiment is part of an agreement between NASA, the Israel Space Agency, and the German Aerospace Center. Artemis I will provide a foundation for human deep space exploration and demonstrate NASAs capability to extend human presence to the Moon and beyond. The primary goal of Artemis I is to thoroughly test the Space Launch System rocket and Orion spacecrafts integrated systems before crewed missions. Under Artemis, NASA aims to land the first woman and first person of color on the Moon and establish

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As the size of a satellite is scaled down to the form factor of a CubeSat, the hardware must scale down as well. Unfortunately, the software inside does not follow the same trend. Simulation-to-Flight 1 (STF-1) aims to solve this problem by providing a simulation of the CubeSat that can be used for developing and testing the software on any laptop or desktop computer. Additionally, STF-1 hosts payloads that aim to increase the accuracy of navigation for CubeSats, monitor Space Weather over the North and South Poles, and test the durability of new materials used for Light Emitting Diodes (LEDs). The first spacecraft built in the state of West Virginia, STF-1, is a collaborative effort between the NASA Independent Verification and Validation Program, West Virginia University, and West Virginia small businesses.

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. - STS-82 Mission Specialist Steven A Hawley stands beside part of Discovery's Remote Manipulator System (RMS) arm, at right, which he will operate for the capture, berthing and redeployment of the Hubble Space Telescope (HST). The robotic arm also will be used as work platform for the four spacewalkers. Hawley is the prime RMS operator on the flight, which will be the second HST servicing mission. He and the other six members of the crew are making a final inspection of the payload at Launch Pad 39A before launch. STS-82 is scheduled for liftoff on Feb. 11 during a 65-minute launch window that opens at 3:56 a.m. EST.

Biologists examine and feed frogs at a captive breeding facility; Quito, Ecuador

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. - Computers in the Multi-Purpose Processing Facility are set up to conduct a solar array test on the SORCE satellite, beyond the screening. SORCE is equipped with four instruments that will measure variations in solar radiation much more accurately than anything now in use and observe some of the spectral properties of solar radiation for the first time. With data from NASAs SORCE mission, researchers should be able to follow how the Sun affects our climate now and in the future. The SORCE project is managed by NASAs Goddard Space Flight Center. The instruments on the SORCE spacecraft are built by the Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics (LASP). Launch of SORCE aboard a Pegasus XL rocket is scheduled for mid-December 2002. Launch site is Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Fla.

Commercial crew astronauts Eric Boe, Chris Ferguson and Nicole Mann recently toured Boeings spacecraft testing facilities in Huntington Beach and El Segundo, Calif. All three astronauts will fly on Boeings CST-100 Starliner in an upcoming Crew Flight Test to the International Space Station. Structural testing in Huntington Beach confirms the spacecraft can withstand the pressures it will experience during flight. Environmental qualification testing in El Segundo ensures the spacecraft can withstand the extreme environments of space.

Workers (center) in the Space Station Processing Facility, explain use of video cameras to members of the STS-100 crew (far left and far right) during Crew Equipment Interface Test activities. The cameras will be mounted on the booms and end effectors of the Space Station Remote Manipulator System (SSRMS), also known as the Canadian arm, and will give astronauts maximum visibility for operations and maintenance tasks on the International Space Station. Part of the payload on mission STS-100, the SSRMS is the primary means of transferring payloads between the orbiter payload bay and the International Space Station for assembly. The 56-foot-long robotic arm includes two 12-foot booms joined by a hinge. Seven joints on the arm allow highly flexible and precise movement. Mission STS-100 is scheduled to launch April 19, 2001

Two scientists working in laboratory

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. -- In the Payload Hazardous Servicing Facility at Kennedy Space Center, media dressed in clean-room garb document the arrival of the Phoenix spacecraft. The spacecraft arrived May 7 via a U.S. Air Force C-17 Globemaster III at the Shuttle Landing Facility. The Phoenix mission is the first project in NASA's first openly competed program of Mars Scout missions. Phoenix will land in icy soils near the north polar permanent ice cap of Mars and explore the history of the water in these soils and any associated rocks, while monitoring polar climate. Landing is planned in May 2008 on arctic ground where a mission currently in orbit, Mars Odyssey, has detected high concentrations of ice just beneath the top layer of soil. It will serve as NASA's first exploration of a potential modern habitat on Mars and open the door to a renewed search for carbon-bearing compounds, last attempted with NASAs Viking missions in the 1970s. A stereo color camera and a weather station

OCI Quality Engineer in the Electro Magnetic Interference Chamber. Quality engineer, John Tota, poses with a magnifying glass and stands close to the textured wall in the Electro Magnetic Interference (EMI) chamber. Mr. Tota works to ensure the overall quality of the flight hardware builds on the Ocean Color Instrument (OCI). OCI is a highly advanced optical spectrometer that will be used to measure properties of light over portions of the electromagnetic spectrum. It will enable continuous measurement of light at finer wavelength resolution than previous NASA satellite sensors, extending key system ocean color data records for climate studies. OCI is PACE's (Plankton, Aerosol, Cloud, ocean Ecosystem) primary sensor built at Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, MD.

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Two scientists experimenting with a water sample

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - Jim Smodell, a technician with SGT, removes an outredgeous red lettuce leaf from a plant pillow inside the Payload Development Laboratory at the Space Station Processing Facility, or SSPF, at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. In the background is George Guerra, a quality control engineer with QinetiQ North America. The plant pillows were removed from the Veggie plant growth system inside a control chamber at the SSPF. The growth chamber was used as a control unit for Veggie and procedures were followed identical to those being performed on Veggie and the Veg-01 experiment on the International Space Station.The chamber mimicked the temperature, relative humidity and carbon dioxide concentration of those in the Veggie unit on the space station. Veggie and Veg-01 were delivered to the space station aboard the SpaceX-3 mission. Veggie is the first fresh food production system delivered to the station. Six plant pillows, each containing outredgeous red romaine

Commercial Crew astronauts Chris Ferguson, Nicole Mann and Eric Boe recently toured spacecraft testing facilities in El Segundo and Huntington Beach, Calif. All three astronauts will fly on Boeings CST-100 Starliner in an upcoming crew flight test to the International Space Station. Environmental qualification testing in El Segundo ensures the spacecraft can withstand the extreme environments of space. Structural testing in Huntington Beach confirms the spacecraft can withstand the pressures it will experience during flight.

In the Spacecraft Assembly and Encapsulation Facility 2, workers test the Thermal Emission Imaging System (THEMIS) before attaching to the 2001 Mars Odyssey Orbiter. THEMIS will map the mineralogy and morphology of the Martian surface using a high-resolution camera and a thermal infrared imaging spectrometer. The orbiter will carry three science instruments: THEMIS, the Gamma Ray Spectrometer (GRS), and the Mars Radiation Environment Experiment (MARIE). The GRS will achieve global mapping of the elemental composition of the surface and determine the abundance of hydrogen in the shallow subsurface. The MARIE will characterize aspects of the near-space radiation environment with regards to the radiation-related risk to human explorers. The Mars Odyssey Orbiter is scheduled for launch on April 7, 2001, aboard a Delta 7925 rocket from Launch Pad 17-A, Cape Canaveral Air Force Station

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