NASA Launch Vehicles and Facilities

Photographs of NASA launch vehicles and facilities at Kennedy Space Center, illustrating advancements in space exploration and transport.

STS-132 PAYLOAD CANISTER PASSES VAB-LCC ENROUTE TO PAD 39A
STS-132 PAYLOAD CANISTER PASSES VAB-LCC ENROUTE TO PAD 39A
152 assets in this story
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Boats at Port of Chong Khneas, Siem Reap River, near Tonle Sap Lake and Siem Reap, Cambodia (Large format sizes available)
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KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. - Viewed across the Turn Basin at NASA Kennedy Space Center, the barge Pegasus is towed away from the dock on the other side. It is being towed to Port Canaveral where it will join one of the Solid Rocket Booster Recovery Ships and begin its journey around the Florida peninsula to Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans. The barges cargo is External Tank 119. Delivered to KSC in June, ET-119 is the third newly redesigned tank.
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CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - A truck carries the first stage of the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket through the gate at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. The two-stage rocket will launch the company's Dragon spacecraft on the upcoming SpaceX CRS-2 mission. The flight will be the second commercial resupply mission to the International Space Station by Space Exploration Technologies, or SpaceX. NASA has contracted for a total of 12 commercial resupply flights from SpaceX and eight from the Orbital Sciences Corp.
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CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- At NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, the Pegasus barge, left, the Vehicle Assembly Building, center, and patrol boats, right, are seen from the Launch Complex 39 area.The barge carries space shuttle external fuel tanks from NASA's Michoud Assembly Facility in Louisiana to Kennedy and is towed by NASA's two solid rocket booster retrieval ships, Liberty Star and Freedom Star.
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Safari airplane flying over the flooded Okavango Delta, Botswana
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Main road through the Serengeti plains, with traffic
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CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- Crawler-transporter 1 continues its trek on the crawlerway to Launch Pad 39A at NASAs Kennedy Space Center in Florida. New jacking, equalizing and leveling, or JEL, hydraulic cylinders were installed on CT-1 and will be tested for increased load carrying capacity and reliability.The Ground Systems Development and Operations Program at Kennedy continues to upgrade the crawler-transporter as part of its general maintenance. CT-1 could be available to carry a variety of launch vehicles to the launch pad. Two crawler-transporters were used to carry the mobile launcher platform and space shuttle to Launch Complex 39 for space shuttle launches for 30 years.
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CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - The Shuttle Carrier Aircraft touches down at the Shuttle Landing Facility at NASAs Kennedy Space Center in Florida.The aircraft, known as an SCA, arrived at 5:35 p.m. EDT to prepare for shuttle Discoverys ferry flight to the Washington Dulles International Airport in Sterling, Va., on April 17. This SCA, designated NASA 905, is a modified Boeing 747 jet airliner, originally manufactured for commercial use. One of two SCAs employed over the course of the Space Shuttle Program, NASA 905 is assigned to the remaining ferry missions, delivering the shuttles to their permanent public display sites. NASA 911 was decommissioned at the NASA Dryden Flight Research Center in California in February. Discovery will be placed on permanent public display in the Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center in Chantilly, Va.
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Tram and pedestrian bridges take visitors across Highway 90 from the Mississippi Aquarium to Jones park in Gulfport, Mississippi.
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The Orbital Sciences Corporation Antares rocket, with the Cygnus spacecraft onboard, is raised at launch Pad-0A, Thursday, July 10, 2014, at NASA's Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia. The Antares will launch with the Cygnus spacecraft filled with over 3,000 pounds of supplies for the International Space Station, including science experiments, experiment hardware, spare parts, and crew provisions. The Orbital-2 mission is Orbital Sciences' second contracted cargo delivery flight to the space station for NASA.
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Aerial view of a huge parking lot with trucks in Wilmington near Chicago, Illinois, United States of America.
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Los Angeles International Airport, LAX, runway, Los Angeles, Los Angeles County, California, USA, North America
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CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - SCAPE vehicles are in position at the Shuttle Landing Facility at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida in the event of a return-to-landing-site is needed after launch of space shuttle Endeavour on the STS-127 mission. This is the fourth launch attempt for the STS-127 mission. The first two launch attempts on June 13 and June 17 were scrubbed when a hydrogen gas leak occurred during tanking due to a misaligned Ground Umbilical Carrier Plate. Mission managers also decided to delay tanking on July 11 for a launch attempt later in the day to allow engineers and safety personnel time to analyze data captured during lightning strikes near the pad on July 10. Endeavour will deliver the Japanese Experiment Module's Exposed Facility, or JEM-EF, and the Experiment Logistics Module-Exposed Section, or ELM-ES, in the final of three flights dedicated to the assembly of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency's Kibo laboratory complex on the International Space Station. STS-
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Storm clouds roll in over the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) at NASAs Kennedy Space Center in Florida on July 28, 2020. Standing at 525 feet tall, this iconic landmark at Kennedy is capable of hosting multiple varieties of rockets and spacecraft at the same time. Currently, the VAB is being utilized to process and assemble the agencys Space Launch System (SLS) rocket for Artemis missions to the Moon and beyond to Mars. Artemis I - the first launch under the agencys Artemis Program - will test SLS and Orion as an integrated system prior to crewed flights to the Moon.
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Dillingham Air Field on the northwest corner of the island. This former Air Force base is now used by the Air Force parachute team and flying club as a training site. The 9,000 runway is also available to all the services as an emergency subsidiary landing site. Base: North Shore, Oahu State: Hawaii (HI) Country: United States Of America (USA)
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road blocked by metal fence and red white block
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CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - Media snap photos as space shuttle Discovery, mounted to a Shuttle Carrier Aircraft, slowly rolls along the runway of the Shuttle Landing Facility at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
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Famous airport with extreme airstrips in the Himalayas, Lukla, Nepal
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Transport of an 80m long rotor blade for a wind turbine in Saxony through Voigtsdorf
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High angle view of Interstate 5 and Bellingham International Airport
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CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- At NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, invited guests, managers and employees gather near the Air Traffic Control Tower at the Shuttle Landing Facility (SLF) to watch shuttle Discovery return from space for the last time. Discovery touched down on Runway 15 at 11:57 a.m. EST, completing the 13-day STS-133 mission to the International Space Station.Discovery and its six-member crew delivered the Permanent Multipurpose Module, packed with supplies and critical spare parts, as well as Robonaut 2, the dexterous humanoid astronaut helper, to the orbiting outpost. STS-133 was Discovery's 39th and final mission. This was the 133rd Space Shuttle Program mission and the 35th shuttle voyage to the space station.
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Mobile, AL USA 10 July 2022 aerial view of an A12 recon aircraft at the USS Alabama battleship park . The A12 Recon Aircraft in Mobile
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Aftermath - Flooding - Miscellaneous - 26-HK-36-49. aerial shot of flooded highway and trucking hub. Hurricane Katrina
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NASA Administrator Bill Nelson delivers remarks as the agencys Space Launch System (SLS) rocket with the Orion spacecraft aboard rolls out of High Bay 3 of the Vehicle Assembly Building for the first time, Thursday, March 17, 2022, at NASAs Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Ahead of NASAs Artemis I flight test, the fully stacked and integrated SLS rocket and Orion spacecraft will undergo a wet dress rehearsal at Launch Complex 39B to verify systems and practice countdown procedures for the first launch.
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CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- Media representatives participate in a Now and Future Tour at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Here, they make a stop at the Shuttle Landing Facility's midfield to learn about the potential for private companies and government agencies to use the runway for a diversity of launch systems, including orbital and suborbital flights. Other stops along the tour included Launch Pad 39B and Orbiter Processing Facility-2 (OPF-2). Pad B is being restructured for future use. Its new design will feature a "clean pad" for rockets to come with their own launcher, making it more versatile for a number of vehicles. OPF-2 is where shuttle Discovery is being prepared for future public display at the Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center in Chantilly, Va.
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Overflight - Chief Cox - 26-HK-207-27. Hurricane Katrina
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CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- Taken from the Vehicle Assembly Building roof at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, this image shows the Turn Basin with a myriad of vehicles belonging to invited guests for the launch of space shuttle Atlantis. Atlantis began its final flight, the STS-135 mission to the International Space Station, at 11:29 a.m. EDT on July 8. STS-135 will deliver the Raffaello multi-purpose logistics module packed with supplies and spare parts for the International Space Station. Atlantis also will fly the Robotic Refueling Mission experiment that will investigate the potential for robotically refueling existing satellites in orbit. In addition, Atlantis will return with a failed ammonia pump module to help NASA better understand the failure mechanism and improve pump designs for future systems. STS-135 will be the 33rd flight of Atlantis, the 37th shuttle mission to the space station, and the 135th and final mission of NASA's Space Shuttle Program.
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Video frame grab of Baledogle Airfield. Aerial view, flying parallel to and overhead of the runway. The end of the runway is seen in the center of the frame. The airfield was used in support of Operation Restore Hope. Subject Operation/Series: RESTORE HOPE Base: Bale Dogle Country: Somalia (SOM)
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KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. - A Universal Coolant Transporter (UCT), manufactured in Sharpes, Fla., makes its way to Kennedy Space Center. Replacing the existing ground cooling unit, the UCT is designed to service payloads for the Space Shuttle and International Space Station, and may be capable of servicing space exploration vehicles of the future. It will provide ground cooling to the orbiter and returning payloads, such as science experiments requiring cold or freezing temperatures, during post-landing activities at the Shuttle Landing Facility and during transport of the payloads to other facilities.
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Paraglider nutzen die Aufwinde am Hang der Wasserkuppe, 950 m ü. NN, höchster Berg in Hessen und in der Rhön, der Gipfel ist in der Gemeinde Gersfeld, die Wasserkuppe gilt als Ursprung der Segelfliegerei, am Hang ist die Quelle der Fulda, weitere 30 Bäche entspringen ebenfalls an dem Berg, im Foto ist die Radarkuppel Random zu sehen, von hier aus wurde während des Kalten Krieges von US-Soldaten und der Bundeswehr der Luftverkehr über der benachbarten, ehemaligen DDR überwacht, Hessen, Rhön, Fulda, Gersfeld
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CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - Tugboats maneuver NASA's Pegasus barge toward the Turn Basin dock at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The barge contains the external fuel tank, designated ET-133, that will be used for space shuttle Atlantis' STS-129 mission. After Pegasus is docked, the tank will be offloaded and moved into a high bay in the Vehicle Assembly Building, at left, for checkout. The tank was shipped aboard the Pegasus from NASA's Michould Assembly Facility near New Orleans. Pegasus was towed to Port Canaveral by the Freedom Star Retrieval Ship.
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KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. - The Freedom Star is berthed at the Turn Basin near the Vehicle Assembly Building and NASA-KSC News Center. The flag is near the News Center. The ship has recently returned to KSC after refurbishment at Fort George Island, Fla., including new paint. Freedom Star is one of the solid rocket booster (SRB) retrieval ships built to recover the SRB casings released over the Atlantic Ocean after launch of a Space Shuttle. In addition to the SRBs, the ship recovers the drogue and main parachutes that slow the boosters speed before splashdown. The ships also tow the external tanks built at the Michoud Space Systems Assembly Facility near New Orleans to Port Canaveral, Fla. Freedom Star was brought to KSC today for a visit by NATO Parliamentarians.
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USA, Tennessee. Benton. tow plane at glider port with Blue Ridge mountains behind, hangar with sign foreground
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CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- The STS-135 crew members speak to media after their arrival at NASA Kennedy Space Center's Shuttle Landing Facility in Florida. From left are Commander Chris Ferguson, Pilot Doug Hurley and Mission Specialists Sandy Magnus and Rex Walheim.The STS-135 astronauts arrived at Kennedy about 2:30 p.m. EDT on July 4 for final preparations for space shuttle Atlantis' STS-135 mission to the International Space Station. Atlantis is scheduled to lift off on July 8 to deliver the Raffaello multi-purpose logistics module packed with supplies and spare parts to the station. The STS-135 mission also will fly a system to investigate the potential for robotically refueling existing satellites and return a failed ammonia pump module to help NASA better understand the failure mechanism and improve pump designs for future systems. STS-135 will be the 33rd flight of Atlantis, the 37th shuttle mission to the space station, and the 135th and final mission of NASA's Space Shuttle Pr
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Thunderbirds pilots perform for thousands of air show spectators Oct. 26, 2014, during the Alliance Air show at Forth Worth, Texas. The Thunderbirds are the Air Forces precision flying demonstration team.
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Coast Guard on Scene Damages - 26-HK-82-12. CG On Scene Damages--aerial view of CG trailers and personnel on waterfront, dated 9 3 2005. Hurricane Katrina
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Aerial view of rows of retired aircraft glinting under the sun in the desert landscape, Tucson, Arizona, United States.
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Paraglider in the grounds of the former Tempelhof Airport building, Berlin, Germany, Europe
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Golf cart in a golf course
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Coast Guard Structures - Air Stations - New Orleans - 26-HK-95-400. AIRSTA NOLA--wide shot of building and trailers, including PortaKleen trailers. Hurricane Katrina
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CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - Led by the Titusville High School band, the space shuttle Atlantis is transported along NASA Causeway at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida on its 10-mile journey to the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex where it will be put on public display.As part of transition and retirement of the Space Shuttle Program, Atlantis is to be displayed at Kennedy's Visitor Complex beginning in the summer of 2013. Over the course of its 26-year career, Atlantis traveled 125,935,769 miles during 307 days in space over 33 missions.
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CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - Daybreak at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex in Florida finds preparations under way to move the high-fidelity space shuttle model to NASA Kennedy Space Center's Launch Complex 39 turn basin.The shuttle was part of a display at the visitor complex that also included an external tank and two solid rocket boosters that were used to show visitors the size of actual space shuttle components. The full-scale shuttle model is being transferred from Kennedy to Space Center Houston, NASA Johnson Space Center's visitor center. The model will stay at the turn basin for a few months until it is ready to be transported to Texas via barge. The move also helps clear the way for the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex to begin construction of a new facility next year to display space shuttle Atlantis in 2013.
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Visit of Secretary Gale Norton to Kill Devil Hills and Outer Banks environs in North Carolina for tours, events marking the centennial of the first powered flight, Wright Brothers National Memorial
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Aerial view of landing airstrip on coast of Maui, Hawaii.
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CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- After 30 years and 135 missions, residents and visitors to Florida's Space Coast flock to the Astronaut Hall of Fame in Titusville to see the rocket's red glare of NASA's Space Shuttle Program soar for the last time. Space shuttle Atlantis is scheduled to liftoff at 11:26 a.m. EDT from Launch Pad 39A at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. On board will be four experienced astronauts -- STS-135 Commander Chris Ferguson, Pilot Doug Hurley, and Mission Specialists Sandy Magnus and Rex Walheim.STS-135 will deliver the Raffaello multi-purpose logistics module packed with supplies and spare parts for the International Space Station. Atlantis also will fly the Robotic Refueling Mission experiment that will investigate the potential for robotically refueling existing satellites in orbit. In addition, Atlantis will return with a failed ammonia pump module to help NASA better understand the failure mechanism and improve pump designs for future systems. STS-135 will be