NASA Events and Ceremonies

Images showcasing NASA personnel and events, including discussions and celebrations. Professional attire and a formal atmosphere in various indoor settings.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- Apollo Program legends attend the Apollo 14 Anniversary Soirée at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex's Saturn V Center. The celebration was hosted by the Astronaut Scholarship Foundation. Apollo 14 landed on the lunar surface 40 years ago on Feb. 5, 1971.

Michael Watkins, Director of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, left, Susan Finley, who began working at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in January 1958 as a "human computer", center, and Thomas Zurbuchen, Associate Administrator for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, right, pose for a picture with a replica of the Explorer 1 satellite during an event celebrating the 60th Anniversary of the Explorer 1 mission and the discovery of Earth's radiation belts, Wednesday, Jan. 31, 2018, at the National Academy of Sciences in Washington. The first U.S. satellite, Explorer 1, was launched from Cape Canaveral on January 31, 1958. The 30-pound satellite would yield a major scientific discovery, the Van Allen radiation belts circling our planet, and begin six decades of groundbreaking space science and human exploration. (NASA/Joel Kowsky)

Artemis I - NASA Administrator Bill Nelson Meets the Red Team. NASA Administrator Bill Nelson (left) meets with members of the red crew,” Jacobs/TOSC ERC employees Billy Cairns (second from left), cryogenic engineering technician; Chad Garrett (second from right), safety engineer; and Trent Annis (right), cryogenic engineering technician, after the launch of Artemis I at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Nov. 16, 2022. The team of technicians are part of the personnel specially trained to conduct operations at the launch pad during cryogenic loading operations at the launch pad. Prior to the launch of Artemis I, the red crew entered the zero deck, or base, of the mobile launcher and tightened several bolts to troubleshoot a valve used to replenish the core stage with liquid hydrogen which showed a leak with readings above limits. NASA has historically sent teams to the pad to conduct inspections during active launch operations as needed. Artemis I launch successfully at 1:47 a

Kennedy Space Center Deputy Director Janet Petro answers questions during a Mars 2020 NASA Social at the centers News Center in Florida on July 29, 2020. At right is NASA Deputy Administrator Jim Morhard. The Mars Perseverance rover and Ingenuity helicopter are scheduled to launch July 30, on a United Launch Alliance Atlas V 541 rocket from Space Launch Complex 41 at nearby Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. The rover is part of NASAs Mars Exploration Program, a long-term effort of robotic exploration of the Red Planet. The rover will search for habitable conditions in the ancient past and signs of past microbial life on Mars. The Launch Services Program at Kennedy is responsible for launch management.

Officials from Marshall Space Flight Center discussed the state's role in leading America back to the Moon and on to Mars with elected officials, industry leaders, students and the public during the Aerospace States Associations Alabama Aerospace Week in Montgomery, Ala. NASA was honored by the Alabama legislature with a resolution and proclamation from Gov. Kay Ivey recognizing the agency's achievements. MSFC Director Todd May and Astronaut Tracy Dyson speak to the Alabama State Senate

Park ranger Rader Lane speaks on the National Park Services astronomy and dark sky programs at Grand Canyon National Park during a visit by NASAs SpaceX Crew-2 astronauts Megan McArthur and Shane Kimbrough of NASA, and Akihiko Hoshide of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), Thursday, June 9, 2022 at the U.S. Department of the Interior in Washington, DC. Kimbrough, McArthur, Hoshide, and ESA (European Space Agency) astronaut Thomas Pesquet completed the second crew rotation mission to the International Space Station as part of the agencys Commercial Crew Program and spent 198 days aboard the orbiting laboratory as part of Expeditions 65 and 66.

S94-47218 (28 Oct 1994) --- A number of Russian cosmonauts and an American astronaut listen to a briefing on launch and landing emergency situations during a training session in the Systems Integration Facility at the Johnson Space Center (JSC). Scheduled to launch aboard the Space Shuttle Atlantis with the STS-71 crew (in orange suits, left to right) are Nikolai M. Budarin, Mir 19 flight engineer; Anatoliy Y. Solovyev, Mir 19 mission commander; and Bonnie J. Dunbar, STS-71 mission specialist. The three are flanked by cosmonauts Gennadiy M. Strekalov (seated, second left) and Vladimir N. Dezhurov (seated, right foreground), flight engineer and commander, respectively, for the Mir-18 mission, who will return from a Russian Mir Space Station stay in Atlantis along with the two-way crew members of the STS-71 mission. Alexsandr F. Poleshchuk (seated, far left) is a Mir-reserve crew member.

At a groundbreaking ceremony at KSC, Floridas Lt. Gov. Frank Brogan expresses his support of the Centers growth and important role of technology, especially through the International Space Station. The groundbreaking is for a roadway, to be known as Space Commerce Way, that will serve the public by providing a 24-hour access route through KSC from S.R. 3 to the NASA Causeway and KSC Visitor Complex. It is the start of a construction project that includes the Space Experiment Research & Processing Laboratory (SERPL). The project is enabled by a partnership and collaboration between NASA and the State of Florida to create a vital resource for international and commercial space customers. SERPL is considered a magnet facility, and will support the development and processing of life sciences experiments destined for the International Space Station and accommodate NASA, industry and academic researchers performing associated biological research

JSC2000-E-23528 (October 2000) --- Astronaut Michael J. Bloomfield, left,discusses his launch and entry suit withUSA technician Bill Todd prior to a training session in the Johnson Space Center's Systems Integration Facility.

Visit to Glenn Research Center at Lewis Field, GRC, by Astronaut Steve Swanson

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - NASA Kennedy Space Center Director Bob Cabana talks to a crowd of spectators gathered at the Banana Creek Viewing Site near the Saturn V Center at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida to watch the launch of space shuttle Endeavour. The shuttle lifted off on its STS-134 mission to the International Space Station on time at 8:56 a.m. EDT on May 16.The shuttle and its six-member crew are embarking on a mission to deliver the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer-2 (AMS), Express Logistics Carrier-3, a high-pressure gas tank and additional spare parts for the Dextre robotic helper to the space station. Endeavour's first launch attempt on April 29 was scrubbed because of an issue associated with a faulty power distribution box called the aft load control assembly-2 (ALCA-2).

President Barack Obama delivers remarks at the National Medals of Science and National Medals of Technology and Innovation Awards Ceremony, Thursday, Nov. 20, 2014 in the East Room of the White House in Washington. MESSENGER Principal Investigator, director of Columbia University's Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, Sean Solomon, was awarded the National Medal of Science, the nation's top scientific honor, at the ceremony. MESSENGER (MErcury Surface, Space ENvironment, GEochemistry, and Ranging) is a NASA-sponsored scientific investigation of the planet Mercury and the first space mission designed to orbit the planet closest to the Sun.

Media representatives assembled for press conference, concerning an aerial survey of Mount St. Helens and the status of the rumbling volcano, at the U.S. Geological Survey's Cascades Volcano Observatory in Vancouver, Washington

Dr. John Grunsfeld, former astronaut and Deputy Director, Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI), Baltimore speaks at the presentation of the permanent exhibit of the James Webb Space Telescope at the Maryland Science Center on Wednesday, Oct. 26, 2011 in Baltimore.

NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine listens to Dr. Antti Pulkkinen of Goddard Space Flight Centers Heliophysics Science Division talk about various space agency programs designed to better understand the sun.

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. - On a tour of the KSC Beach Corrosion Test Site, Louis MacDowell (right), Testbed manager, explains to Center Director Jim Kennedy a project being undertaken for the U.S. Navy. At left are nonchrome primers for aircraft being studied. Behind Kennedy is Lead Scientist Dr. Luz Marina Calle. Behind MacDowell is Dr. Paul Hintze, who is working on a graduate project for the National Research Council. The KSC Beach Corrosion Test Site was established in the 1960s and has provided more than 30 years of historical information on the long-term performance of many materials in use at KSC and other locations around the world. Located 100 feet from the Atlantic Ocean approximately 1 mile south of the Space Shuttle launch sites, the test facility includes an atmospheric exposure site, a flowing seawater exposure site, and an on-site electrochemistry laboratory and monitoring station. The beach laboratory is used to conduct real-time corrosion experiments and provid

JWST Stamp Issuance Ceremony. From left to right, NASAs Goddard Space Flight Center Webb Deputy Observatory Project Scientist, Erin Smith, NASAs Goddard Space Flight Center Webb Optical Telescope Element Manager, Lee Feinberg, Smithsonian Institution Under Secretary for Service and Research, Ellen Stofan, NASA Associate Administrator and former astronaut Bob Cabana, United States Postal Service Vice Chairman, Board of Governors, Anton Hajjar, NASA public affairs specialist Alice Fisher, National Postal Museum Deputy Director, Toby Mensforth, and Lisa Whitehead, USPS, unveil the United States Postal Services new stamp celebrating NASAs James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) at the first-day-of-issue event on Thursday, Sept. 8, 2022, at the Smithsonians National Postal Museum in Washington. The stamp, which features an illustration of the observatory, honors Webbs mission to explore the unknown in our universe - solving mysteries in our solar system, looking beyond to distant worlds around ot

Vice President Harris and President Yoon at GSFC. Dr. Lesley Ott, research meteorologist and climate scientist at NASAs Goddard Space Flight Center briefs from left to right, President Yoon Suk Yeol of the Republic of Korea, Vice President Kamala Harris, and NASA Deputy Administrator Pam Melroy on U.S. and Korean partnerships to improve the way scientists observe air quality and the use of space in addressing the climate crisis, Tuesday, April 25, 2023, during a tour of NASAs Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md.

NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine, left, meets back stage with former NASA astronaut Buzz Aldrin, prior to giving the keynote speech at the Humans to Mars Summit (H2M), Wednesday, May 9, 2018 at George Washington University in Washington. Bridenstine joined more than 20 NASA scientists and technologists at the three-day event sponsored by Explore Mars Inc. It brought industry, government and the scientific, entertainment and academic communities together to discuss technology developments, foster partnerships, and encourage students to pursue STEAM careers.

NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine participates in a Flight Readiness Review (FRR) for the agencys SpaceX Crew-1 mission at Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Nov. 9, 2020. The FRR focuses on the preparedness of SpaceXs crew transportation system, the International Space Station, and its international partners to support the flight, and the certification of flight readiness. Crew-1 is the first regular crew mission of a U.S. commercial spacecraft with astronauts to the International Space Station as part of NASAs Commercial Crew Program. The Crew Dragon Resilience capsule will launch atop a Falcon 9 rocket from Launch Complex 39A carrying NASA astronauts Michael Hopkins, Victor Glover, Shannon Walker and Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) astronaut Soichi Noguchi to the space station for a six-month science mission.

Acting NASA Administrator Robert Lightfoot addresses a meeting of the National Space Council in the high bay of the Space Station Processing Facility at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, on Feb. 21, 2018. Chaired by Vice President Mike Pence, the council's role is to advise the president regarding national space policy and strategy, and review the nation's long-range goals for space activities.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- Apollo astronauts and their families receive a briefing in one of the remodeled firing rooms in the Launch Control Center at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The facility's firing rooms were used to conduct the Saturn V countdowns during the Apollo Program. The tour followed a ceremony renaming the refurbished Operations and Checkout Building for Apollo 11 astronaut Neil Armstrong, the first person to set foot on the moon. Second from left is Apollo 11 moonwalker Buzz Aldrin and former astronaut Jim Lovell, a member of the Apollo 8 and Apollo 13 crews, standing next to him, at center.The ceremony was part of NASA's 45th anniversary celebration of the Apollo 11 moon landing. As the world watched, Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin landed in the moon's Sea of Tranquility on July 20, 1969, aboard the lunar module Eagle. Meanwhile, crewmate Michael Collins orbited above in the command module Columbia. For more, visit http://www.nasa.gov/press/2014/july/nasa-hon

Acting director of the Exploration Integration and Science Directorate and Chief Scientist at NASA's Johnson Space Center Dr. Eileen Stansbery, right, is seen with Vice President Mike Pence and Apollo 17 astronaut and geologist Dr. Harrison Schmitt in the Astromaterials Curation Laboratory at NASA's Johnson Space Center, Thursday, Aug. 23, 2018 in Houston, Texas.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- At the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, Center Director Robert Cabana, left, briefs Apollo 11 astronaut Buzz Aldren, right, on the changes underway to Launch Pad 39B. Behind them are the visiting Apollo astronauts' families and friends.The pad is being modified to support the agency's new Orion spacecraft which will lift off atop the Space Launch System rocket. Orion is designed to take humans farther than theyve ever gone before, serving as the exploration vehicle that will carry astronauts to deep space and sustain the crew during travel to destinations such as an asteroid or Mars. The visit was part of NASA's 45th anniversary celebration of the Apollo 11 moon landing. As the world watched, the Apollo 11 astronauts landed in the moon's Sea of Tranquility aboard the lunar module Eagle on July 20, 1969. For more, visit http://www.nasa.gov/press/2014/july/nasa-honors-historic-first-moon-landing-eyes-first-mars-mission.

The winner of the high school portion of the Exploration Design Challenge is announced at the USA Science and Engineering Festival in Washington on April 25, 2014. Part of Batch image transfer from Flickr.

NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine, far left, tours a plant research laboratory inside the Space Station Processing Facility (SSPF) at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, on Aug. 7, 2018. Bridenstine selects a microgreen to sample from Matt Romeyn, project scientist. Behind Bridenstine, from left, are Bryan Onate, Advanced Plant Habitat project manager, and Kennedy Space Center Director Bob Cabana. Bridenstine received updates on research and technology accomplishments during his visit to the SSPF.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency President Keiji Tachikawa speaks to the media during a news conference in the Press Site auditorium at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida following the successful launch of space shuttle Discovery. Mike Moses, shuttle launch integration manager is seated on the right. Shuttle Discovery lifted off at 6 21 a.m. EDT on April 5, 2010. The seven-member STS-131 crew will deliver the multi-purpose logistics module Leonardo, filled with supplies, a new crew sleeping quarters and science racks that will be transferred to the International Space Station's laboratories. The crew also will switch out a gyroscope on the stations truss, install a spare ammonia storage tank and retrieve a Japanese experiment from the stations exterior. STS-131 is the 33rd shuttle mission to the station and the 131st shuttle mission overall.

Assistant Secretary of State for Arms Control, Verification and Compliance Rose Gottemoeller receives a tour at the Sandia National Laboratories in Albuquerque, New Mexico, on August 18, 2011.

NASA Launch Director Charlie Blackwell-Thompson, at left, arrives at Launch Pad 39B at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, to observe the first major tanking operation of liquid oxygen, or LO2, into the giant storage sphere at the northwest corner of the pad to prepare for the launch of the agency's Orion spacecraft atop the Space Launch System (SLS) rocket. During the operation, several Praxair trucks will slowly offload LO2 to gradually chill down the sphere from normal temperature to about negative 298 degrees Fahrenheit. The Ground Systems Development and Operations Program is overseeing upgrades and modifications to pad B to support the launch of the SLS and Orion spacecraft for Exploration Mission-1, deep space missions and NASAs journey to Mars.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - At KARS Park 1 on Merritt Island in Florida, a group of Tweetup participants watch as a United Launch Alliance Delta II Heavy rocket lifts off at 9:08 a.m. EDT Sept. 10 from Space Launch Complex 17B at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station carrying NASAs Gravity Recovery and Interior Laboratory (GRAIL) mission to the moon. The tweeters will share their experiences with followers through the social networking site Twitter. GRAIL will fly twin spacecraft in tandem around the moon to precisely measure and map variations in the moon's gravitational field. The mission will provide the most accurate global gravity field to date for any planet, including Earth. This detailed information will reveal differences in the density of the moon's crust and mantle and will help answer fundamental questions about the moon's internal structure, thermal evolution, and history of collisions with asteroids. The aim is to map the moon's gravity field so completely that future moon vehi

Douglas Loverro, NASA Associate Administrator for the Human Exploration and Operations Mission Directorate, and Marshall Center Director Jody Singer participate in a Town Hall with Marshall Space Flight Center employees

Ellen Stofan, Director of Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum, left, and NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine look at Jim Lovell's Apollo 8 flight plan with Andrew Johnston, Vice President for Astronomy and Collections at Chicago's Adler Planetarium, during the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum's Spirit of Apollo event commemorating the 50th anniversary of Apollo 8, Tuesday, Dec. 11, 2018 at the Washington National Cathedral in Washington, DC. Apollo 8 was humanity's first journey to another world, taking astronauts Frank Borman, Jim Lovell, and William Anders to the Moon and back in December of 1968.

The Orion crew module flown on NASAs Pad Abort-1 (PA-1) flight test is shown on display at an event at Kennedy Space Center in Florida on July 4, 2011 before moving into the Operations & Checkout (O&C) Building. Part of Batch image transfer from Flickr.

U.S. Vice President Mike Pence gives commands to a rover nicknamed "Scarecrow" as NASA Mars Exploration Manager Li Fuk, left, Mars Curiosity Engineering Operations Team Chief Megan Lin, JPL Director Michael Watkins, and daughter of Mike Pence, Charlotte Pence, right, look on, Saturday, April 28, 2018 in Pasadena, California. Scarecrow is used to test mobility of rovers on Mars.

Vice President of the United States Mike Pence gives remarks during an event were Neil Armstrong's Apollo 11 spacesuit was unveiled for the first time in 13 years, Tuesday, July 16, 2019 at the Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum in Washington. The unveiling of the crowd funded spacesuit conservation marks the 50th anniversary of the launch of the Apollo 11 mission.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- President and C.E.O. of The Astronauts Memorial Foundation Stephen Feldman displays a single yellow rose near the Space Mirror Memorial at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex in Florida during a Day of Remembrance ceremony to honor members of the NASA family who lost their lives while furthering the cause of exploration and discovery. The memorial honors 24 United States astronauts, including the crew members of space shuttles Columbia and Challenger, Apollo 1, and those who died in training and commercial airplane accidents. The memorial is a project of the Astronauts Memorial Foundation and was paid for by Florida residents who purchased special Challenger mission automobile license plates. 2011 marks the 25th anniversary of the loss of Challenger, which broke apart over the Atlantic Ocean 73 seconds into flight on Jan. 28, 1986.

Vice President Mike Pence, center, celebrates the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 Moon landing during a visit to Kennedy Space Centers Launch Complex 39A on July 20, 2019. Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins launched from Pad 39A aboard a Saturn V rocket on July 16, 1969. Four days later, Armstrong and Aldrin landed the Apollo Lunar Module Eagle on the Moon, becoming the first two humans to walk on the lunar surface. Pence recognized the extraordinary achievements of the Apollo 11 team, while looking forward to NASAs plans to return to the Moon and on to Mars. At left is Apollo 11 Lunar Module Pilot Buzz Aldrin. At right is Rick Armstrong, Apollo 11 Commander Neil Armstrong's son.

Psyche Launch. NASA Administrator Bill Nelson is interviewed by NASA public affairs specialist Jasmine Hopkins before the launch of a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket with the Psyche spacecraft onboard, Friday, Oct. 13, 2023, at NASAs Kennedy Space Center in Florida. NASAs Psyche spacecraft will travel to a metal-rich asteroid by the same name orbiting the Sun between Mars and Jupiter to study its composition. The spacecraft also carries the agency's Deep Space Optical Communications technology demonstration, which will test laser communications beyond the Moon.

NASAs Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) command team at Johns Hopkins University, Applied Physics Laboratory monitoring the DART spacecrafts impact into the asteroid Dimorphos. The operation is the first of its kind test to redirect deadly asteroids from hitting Earth.

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. - Louis MacDowell (right), Testbed manager, explains to Center Director Jim Kennedy the use of astmospheric calibration specimens. Placed at various locations, they can rank the corrosivity of the given environment. The KSC Beach Corrosion Test Site was established in the 1960s and has provided more than 30 years of historical information on the long-term performance of many materials in use at KSC and other locations around the world. Located 100 feet from the Atlantic Ocean approximately 1 mile south of the Space Shuttle launch sites, the test facility includes an atmospheric exposure site, a flowing seawater exposure site, and an on-site electrochemistry laboratory and monitoring station. The beach laboratory is used to conduct real-time corrosion experiments and provides for the remote monitoring of surrounding weather conditions. The newly added flowing seawater immersion facility provides for the immersion testing of materials and devices under con

The primary objective of the STS-35 mission was round the clock observation of the celestial sphere in ultraviolet and X-Ray astronomy with the Astro-1 observatory which consisted of four telescopes the Hopkins Ultraviolet Telescope (HUT); the Wisconsin Ultraviolet Photo-Polarimeter Experiment (WUPPE); the Ultraviolet Imaging Telescope (UIT); and the Broad Band X-Ray Telescope (BBXRT). The Huntsville Operations Support Center (HOSC) Spacelab Payload Operations Control Center (SL POCC) at the Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC) was the air/ground communication channel used between the astronauts and ground control teams during the Spacelab missions. Teams of controllers and researchers directed on-orbit science operations, sent commands to the spacecraft, received data from experiments aboard the Space Shuttle, adjusted mission schedules to take advantage of unexpected science opportunities or unexpected results, and worked with crew members to resolve problems with their experiments. D

JWST Stamp Issuance Ceremony. NASAs Goddard Space Flight Center Webb Optical Telescope Element Manager, Lee Feinberg, autographs a piece of mail with the United States Postal Services new stamp celebrating NASAs James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) on it, at the first-day-of-issue event, Thursday, Sept. 8, 2022, at the Smithsonians National Postal Museum in Washington. The stamp, which features an illustration of the observatory, honors Webbs mission to explore the unknown in our universe - solving mysteries in our solar system, looking beyond to distant worlds around other stars, and probing the structures and origins of our universe and our place in it.

From left to right, NASA Deputy Administrator, Pam Melroy, Advisor to the Minister for Science and Technology in Argentina, Guillermo Salvatierra, NASA Administrator Bill Nelson, Minister of Science, Technology and Innovation in Argentina and Chairman of the Board of CONAE, Daniel Filmus, and Executive and Technical Director of the Comisión Nacional de Actividades Espaciales (CONAE), Raúl Kulichevsky, pose for a photo Tuesday, March 22, 2022, at NASA Headquarters in Washington DC.

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. -- From left, NASA Deputy Associate Administrator for Space Station and Shuttle Programs Michael Kostelnik and NASA Space Shuttle Program Manager William Parsons each don an Emergency Life Support Apparatus (ELSA) during training on the proper use of the escape devices. NASA and United Space Alliance (USA) Space Shuttle program management are participating in a leadership workday. The day is intended to provide management with an in-depth, hands-on look at Shuttle processing activities at KSC.

Psyche Launch. NASA Headquarters Planetary Science Division director Lori Glaze, left, hugs Jet Propulsion Laboratory director Laurie Leshin as NASA Administrator Bill Nelson, right, and Associate Administrator, NASAs Science Mission Directorate, Nicola Fox watch for the return of the boosters after the launch of a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket with the Psyche spacecraft onboard from Launch Complex 39A, Friday, Oct. 13, 2023, at NASAs Kennedy Space Center in Florida. NASAs Psyche spacecraft will travel to a metal-rich asteroid by the same name orbiting the Sun between Mars and Jupiter to study its composition. The spacecraft also carries the agency's Deep Space Optical Communications technology demonstration, which will test laser communications beyond the Moon.

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. -- STS-116 Mission Specialist Joan Higginbotham (right) is greeted by Shuttle Launch Director Mike Leinbach (left) and Kennedy Space Center Director Jim Kennedy at the Shuttle Landing Facility. The STS-116 crew has returned to KSC for the terminal countdown demonstration test, which are pre-launch preparations that include a simulated launch countdown. The crew also includes Commander Mark Polansky, Pilot William Oefelein, Mission Specialists Nicholas Patrick, Robert Curbeam, Christer Fuglesang and Flight Engineer Sunita Williams, joining Expedition 14 in progress. The mission is 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.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- Invited guests and media representatives attend a celebration at Complex 5/6 on Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida.The celebration was held at the launch site of the first U.S. manned spaceflight May 5, 1961, to mark the 50th anniversary of the flight. Fifty years ago, astronaut Alan Shepard lifted off inside the Mercury capsule, "Freedom 7," atop an 82-foot-tall Mercury-Redstone rocket at 9:34 a.m. EST, sending him on a remarkably successful, 15-minute suborbital flight. The event was attended by more than 200 workers from the original Mercury program and included a re-creation of Shepard's flight and recovery, as well as a tribute to his contributions as a moonwalker on the Apollo 14 lunar mission.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - International Space Station Ground Processing and Research Project Office Director Josie Burnett, third from left, and Associate Director for Engineering and Technical Operations Russell Romanella, right, are presented plaques and CDs of the song ISS Alive,” written and recorded by the Panama Band, during the "ISS Is Alive" employee recognition barbecue celebration at Kars Park II at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. From left are also band members Lew Ingelido, who composed the song, Tom Hadoulias and Norm Tokarz. NASA and The Boeing Co. hosted the celebration to thank the employees based at the Kennedy Space Center who were involved in building the largest, most complex international scientific project in history and the largest venture in space to date.The station has hosted human life, work and research in space for more than 10 years. Boeing is the prime contractor to NASA for the space station. In addition to designing and building all the major U.

Artemis Human Landing System Announcement. Blue Origin Human Landing System Program Manager, John Couluris, is seen on the monitor answering a question during an event announcing Blue Origin as the company selected to develop a sustainable human landing system for the Artemis V Moon mission, Friday, May 19, 2023 at the Mary W. Jackson NASA Headquarters building in Washington. The human landing system will take astronauts to and from Gateway in lunar orbit to the surface and back to the lunar space station as part of NASAs return to the Moon for science, exploration, and inspiration.

Former space shuttle launch director Mike Leinbach, left, talks with attendees of Columbia: The Mission Continues,” in Kennedy Space Center’s Training Auditorium on April 12, 2019. Organized by the Apollo Challenger Columbia Lessons Learned Program (ACCLLP), the event is part of the Space Shuttle Columbia national tour and took place on the 38th anniversary of STS-1, the first orbital spaceflight of NASA’s Space Shuttle Program. The tour launched at Kennedy and will make its way to each of the 10 NASA centers.

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration - Polar Max Conference

Secretary Gale Norton attending Department of Interior headquarters, Washington, D.C. ceremony marking the naming of Columbia Point, a 13,980-feet peak in Colorado's Sangre de Cristo Mountains, in honor of the Space Shuttle Columbia's last voyage

Caroline Kennedy, U.S. Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to Japan, right, is welcomed by Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), President, Naoki Okumura, at the Tanegashima Space Center Visitors Center on Thursday, Feb. 27, 2014, Tanegashima, Japan. The Ambassador is visiting the space center and hopes to witness the planned launch of a Japanese H-IIA rocket carrying the NASA-JAXA, Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) Core Observatory. Once launched, the GPM spacecraft will collect information that unifies data from an international network of existing and future satellites to map global rainfall and snowfall every three hours.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- Mercury astronauts Scott Carpenter, left, and John Glenn sit in front of a capsule from the Mercury program on display at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex in Florida. The two astronauts, part of the original class of seven astronauts chosen by NASA, were taking part in events celebrating 50 years of Americans in orbit, an era which began with Glenn's Mercury mission MA-6, on Feb. 20, 1962.Glenn's launch aboard an Atlas rocket took with it the hopes of an entire nation and ushered in a new era of space travel that eventually led to Americans walking on the moon by the end of the 1960s. Glenn soon was followed into orbit by Carpenter, Walter Schirra and Gordon Cooper. Their fellow Mercury astronauts Alan Shepard and Virgil "Gus" Grissom flew earlier suborbital flights. Deke Slayton was grounded by a medical condition until the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project in 1975.

Stage setting for ceremonies at Department of Interior headquarters, Washington, D.C., marking the naming of Columbia Point, a 13,980-feet peak in Colorado's Sangre de Cristo Mountains, in honor of the Space Shuttle Columbia's last voyage

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- At the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, Apollo 11 astronaut Michael Collins participates in a ceremony renaming the refurbished Operations and Checkout Building for Apollo 11 astronaut Neil Armstrong, the first person to set foot on the moon. The building's high bay is being used to support the agency's new Orion spacecraft and is the same spaceport facility where the Apollo 11 command/service module and lunar module were prepped for the first lunar landing mission in 1969. Orion is designed to take humans farther than theyve ever gone before, serving as the exploration vehicle that will carry astronauts to deep space and sustain the crew during travel to destinations such as an asteroid or Mars.The ceremony was part of NASA's 45th anniversary celebration of the Apollo 11 moon landing. As the world watched, Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin landed in the moon's Sea of Tranquility on July 20, 1969, aboard the lunar module Eagle. Meanwhile, crewmate Michael Collin

Technology Administration - NATIONAL MEDAL OF SCIENCE

L-R; Jorge Andres Diaz, Director of the Costa Rican National Hangar for Airborne Research division of the National Center for High Technology(CENAT); NASA Administrator Sean O'Keefe; and Fernando Gutierrez, Costa Rican Minister of Science and Technology(MICIT), viewing posters showing how NASA activities have made an impact on Costa Rican people. Mr. O'Keefe was in Costa Rica to participate in the AirSAR 2004 Mesoamerica campaign, which used NASA DFRC's DC-8 airborne laboratory aircraft.AirSAR 2004 is a three-week expedition by an international team of scientists that will use an all-weather imaging tool, called the Airborne Synthetic Aperture Radar (AirSAR), in a mission ranging from the tropical rain forests of Central America to frigid Antarctica.

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. - In the Space Station Processing Facility, Center Director Roy Bridges (left), Program Manager of the International Space Station (ISS) Randy Brinkley (second from left) and STS-98 Commander Ken Cockrell (right) applaud the unveiling of the name "Destiny" for the U.S. Laboratory module. The lab, which is behnd them on a workstand, is scheduled to be launched on STS-98 on Space Shuttle Endeavour in early 2000. It will become the centerpiece of scientific research on the ISS. The Shuttle will spend six days docked to the Station while the laboratory is attached and three spacewalks are conducted to compete its assembly. The laboratory will be launched with five equipment racks aboard, which will provide essential functions for Station systems, including high data-rate communications, and maintain the Station's orientation using control gyroscopes launched earlier. Additional equipment and research racks will be installed in the laboratory on subsequent S

NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine welcomes President Donald Trump after he arrived at NASAs Kennedy Space Center Launch and Landing Facility on Air Force One ahead of SpaceXs Demo-2 mission, Saturday, May 30, 2020, in Florida. NASAs SpaceX Demo-2 mission is the first launch with astronauts of the SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft and Falcon 9 rocket to the International Space Station as part of the agencys Commercial Crew Program. The test flight serves as an end-to-end demonstration of SpaceXs crew transportation system. Behnken and Hurley are scheduled to launch at 3:22 p.m. EDT on Saturday, May 30, from Launch Complex 39A at the Kennedy Space Center. A new era of human spaceflight is set to begin as American astronauts once again launch on an American rocket from American soil to low-Earth orbit for the first time since the conclusion of the Space Shuttle Program in 2011.

NASA Administrator Bill Nelson and President of the Centre National dEtudes Spatiales (CNES) Dr. Philippe Baptiste sign the Artemis Accords and a Joint Statement Tuesday, June 7, 2022, prior to the CNES 60th Anniversary event at the French Ambassadors Residence in Washington. France is the twentieth country to sign the Artemis Accords, which establish a practical set of principles to guide space exploration cooperation among nations participating in NASAs Artemis program.

STS-132 Crew visit to the Blossom Music Center

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - At NASAs Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex in Florida, Kennedy Center Director Bob Cabana welcomes college students to NASAs Fourth Annual Robotic Mining Competition during the opening ceremony. The competition will take place through May 24. The mining competition is coordinated by Kennedy Space Centers Education Office for the agencys Exploration Systems Mission Directorate. Undergraduate and graduate students from 50 universities and colleges in the U.S. and eight countries around the world will use their remote-controlled robots to maneuver and dig in a supersized sandbox filled with a crushed material called regolith that has characteristics similar to asteroids, moons of Mars and Mars itself.

ASTRONAUT MEMORIAL - DAY OF REMEMBRANCE

jsc2017e136050 - At the Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center in Star City, Russia, Expedition 54-55 backup crewmember Sergey Prokopyev of the Russian Federal Space Agency (Roscosmos) signs a ceremonial book Nov. 30 as part of traditional pre-launch ceremonies. In the front row from left to right are the backup crewmembers, NASAs Jeanette Epps, Prokopyev and Alexander Gerst of the European Space Agency. In the back row are the prime crewmembers, Norishige Kanai of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), Anton Shkaplerov of Roscosmos and Scott Tingle of NASA. Shkaplerov, Tingle and Kanai will launch Dec. 17 on the Soyuz MS-07 spacecraft from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan for a five-month mission on the International Space Station...Andrey Shelepin/Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center.

JWST Full-Scale Model on Display.A full-scale model of the James Webb Space Telescope was built by the prime contractor, Northrop Grumman, to provide a better understanding of the size, scale and complexity of this satellite. The model is constructed mainly of aluminum and steel, weighs 12,000 lb., and is approximately 80 feet long, 40 feet wide and 40 feet tall. The model requires 2 trucks to ship it and assembly takes a crew of 12 approximately four days. This model has travelled to a few sites since 2005. The photographs below were taken at some of its destinations. The model is pictured here in Greenbelt, MD at the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center.

U.S. Geological Survey volcanologist Dan Miller speaking during press conference, concerning an aerial survey of Mount St. Helens and the status of the rumbling volcano that is the subject of an official volcano advisory, at the U.S. Geological Survey's Cascades Volcano Observatory in Vancouver, Washington

At the Kremlin Wall at Red Square in Moscow where Russian space icons are interred, Expedition 32/33 Flight Engineer Aki Hoshide of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency laid flowers June 22, 2012 as part of the traditional ceremonies prior to launch July 15 to the International Space Station. Hoshide, along with NASA Flight Engineer Sunita Williams and Soyuz Commander Yuri Malenchenko will fly to the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan July 2 for final preparations for their launch in the Soyuz TMA-05M spacecraft.

Academy Award®- winning actor and environmental activist Leonardo DiCaprio visited NASAs Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland on Saturday, April 23, 2016. During his visit, Mr. DiCaprio interviewed Dr. Piers Sellers, an Earth scientist, former astronaut and current deputy director of Goddards Sciences and Exploration Directorate. The two discussed the different missions NASA has underway to study changes in the Earths atmosphere, water and land masses for a climate change documentary that Mr. DiCaprio has in production. Using a wall-size, high-definition display system that shows visual representations based on actual science data, Mr. DiCaprio and Dr. Sellers discussed data results from NASAs fleet of satellites in Earths orbit. During his visit, Mr. DiCaprio also visited the facility holding NASAs James Webb Space Telescope that is being developed as a large infrared telescope with a 6.5-meter primary mirror. The telescope will be launched on an Ariane 5 rocket fr

Indian Space Research Organization ISRO visited Goddard March 13, 2019 pictured here with Mark Clampin and Center Director Chris Scolese

NASA Administrator Charles Bolden looks at the Space Shuttle Endeavour (STS-134) from the air traffic control tower at the Shuttle Landing Facility (SLF) shortly after Endeavour made its final landing at the Kennedy Space Center, Wednesday, June 1, 2011, in Cape Canaveral, Fla. Endeavour, after completing a 16-day mission to outfit the International Space Station, spent 299 days in space and traveled more than 122.8 million miles during its 25 flights. It launched on its first mission on May 7, 1992.

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