NASA Space Facility Tours

Visitors engaging with NASA personnel in space facilities, observing spacecraft and control systems designed for space missions and technology.

JSC Director Mike Coats tours the Orion mockups in Bldg. 9 at Johnson Space Center in Houston followed by a short Q&A in front of the mockup on Sept. 26, 2011. Part of Batch image transfer from Flickr.

STS-125 astronaut John Grunsfeld stands behind a display of Hubble memorabilia during a press briefing at the new "Moving Beyond Earth," a new exhibition at the National Air and Space Museum in Washingon, Wednesday, Nov. 18, 2009. Moving Beyond Earth is an immersive exhibition that places visitors Äúin orbitÄù in the shuttle and space-station era to explore recent human spaceflight and future possibilities.

U.S. Vice President Mike Pence, 2nd from left, his wife Karen, and daughter Charlotte are given a tour of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory by JPL Director Michael Watkins, Saturday, April 28, 2018 in Pasadena, California.

NASA Space Science Advisory Committee Chairman Ed Wiler (r) visit to Ames Research Center on tour of the Arc Jet Facility with G. Scott Hubbard, Raj Venkatapathy and entourage. Wiler and Hubbard use special viewing glasses to observe a test run of Thermal Protection Materials.

MSL - Radiological Control Center Press Tour

VIPs onboard NASA's DC-8 aircraft during the AirSAR 2004 Mesoamerica campaign, L-R: Mr. John Danilovich, US Ambassador to Costa Rica; Dr. Gahssem Asrar, NASA Associate Administrator for Earth Science Enterprises; Dr. Sonia Marta Mora, President of the Costa Rican National Rectors Council; and Fernando Gutierrez, Costa Rican Minister of Science and Technology(MICIT).AirSAR 2004 Mesoamerica 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.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- NASA Administrator Charlie Bolden looked over the agency's Orion spacecraft this morning for the first time since it returned to Kennedy Space Center following the successful Orion flight test on Dec. 5. At right is Jules Schneider, Lockheed Martin manager. At left is Kennedy Space Center Associate Director Kelvin Manning. Bearing the marks of a spacecraft that has returned to Earth through a searing plunge into the atmosphere, Orion is perched on a pedestal inside the Launch Abort System Facility at Kennedy where it is going through post-mission processing. Although the spacecraft Bolden looked over did not fly with a crew aboard during the flight test, Orion is designed to carry astronauts into deep space in the future setting NASA and the nation firmly on the journey to Mars.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- At the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, Center Director Robert Cabana, left, briefs Apollo astronauts Jim Lovell, center, and Mike Collins, right, on the changes underway to Launch Pad 39B. Behind them are the 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 of the former astronauts 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.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - From left, Chirold Epp, the Autonomous Landing and Hazard Avoidance Technology, or ALHAT, project manager, and Jon Olansen, Morpheus project manager, speak to members of the media near the north end of the Shuttle Landing Facility at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Media also viewed Morpheus inside a facility near the landing facility. Project Morpheus tests NASAs ALHAT and an engine that runs on liquid oxygen and methane, which are green propellants. These new capabilities could be used in future efforts to deliver cargo to planetary surfaces.The landing facility provides the lander with the kind of field necessary for realistic testing, complete with rocks, craters and hazards to avoid. Morpheus ALHAT payload allows it to navigate to clear landing sites amidst rocks, craters and other hazards during its descent. Project Morpheus is being managed under the Advanced Exploration Systems, or AES, Division in NASAs Human Exploration and Operations Missi

Psyche Launch. NASA Headquarters Planetary Science Division director Lori Glaze and NASA Administrator Bill Nelson 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.

jsc2018e076666 (Aug. 23, 2018) --- Vice President Mike Pence and NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine visit the Sonny Carter Training Center (Neutral Buoyancy Lab) at NASAs Johnson Space Center on Aug. 23, 2018. Pence and Bridenstine spoke with astronaut Suni Williams, and astronaut candidates Jonny Kim, Woody Hoburg and Loral OHara poolside. While in the Test Control Room, they joined Flight Operations Director Brian Kelly and talked with astronauts Victor Glover and Nicole Mann as they practiced spacewalk tasks underwater.

Inspection tour of NASA installations: Houston, Texas, NASA Rich Building, departure, 11:10AM. White House Secret Service agent, Arthur L. Art Godfrey, crouches on the stairs to view a mock-up of an Apollo command module, during President John F. Kennedys visit to the Rich Building of the Manned Spacecraft Center, Houston, Texas; man standing with Mr. Godfrey is unidentified. President Kennedy visited the Center as part of a two-day inspection tour of National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) field installations.

Visit of Secretary Gale Norton, second from left, Washington Congressman Brian Baird, third left, and Oregon Congressman Greg Walden, fourth left, to the U.S. Geological Survey's Cascades Volcano Observatory in Vancouver, Washington, where they received a tour and briefing from volcanologist John Pallister, far left, on the Mount St. Helens status

Dr. Neil deGrasse Tyson visited with Goddard's Space Flight Center Director Chris Scolese and the James Webb Space Telescope team at Goddard in Greenbelt, Md. on June 3, 2014.Tyson spoke to the team and was able to see the giant vacuum test chamber that now holds the heart of the telescope, the Integrated Science Instrument Module.Learn more about JWST: http://www.jwst.nasa.gov

NASA Deputy Administrator Lori Garver and President and founder of Bigelow Aerospace Robert T. Bigelow talk while standing next to the Bigelow Expandable Activity Module (BEAM) during a media briefing where is was announced that the BEAM expandable space habitat technology will be tested on the International Space Station, Wednesday, Jan. 16, 2013 in Las Vegas. BEAM is scheduled to arrive at the space station in 2015 for a two-year technology demonstration.

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. - During a visit to KSC, former astronauts Wally Schirra (second from left) and Jim Lovell (third from left) greet Space Shuttle Test Director Steve Altemus. At far left is is Lisa Malone, acting deputy director of External Relations & Business Development at KSC, and reconstruction engineer John Cowart (second from right). Lovell and Schirra visited KSC to talk about the space program and their experiences, as well as offer encouragement to workers to help get the space program "back on its feet." They visited several sites around the Center, including the RLV Hangar where Columbia debris is being collected and examined as part of the investigation into the tragedy that claimed the orbiter and lives of seven astronauts returning from mission STS-107.

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. -- Kathryn D. Sullivan, the first American woman to walk in space, responds to a reporters question at a press conference in the Apollo/Saturn V Center following the induction ceremony of five space program heroes into the Astronaut Hall of Fame. Seated (left to right) with her are Richard O. Covey, commander of the Hubble Space Telescope repair mission; Frederick D. Gregory (second from left), the first African-American to command a space mission and the current NASA deputy administrator; Sullivan; June Scobee, representing her late husband Francis R. "Dick" Scobee, commander of the ill-fated 1986 Challenger mission; and Norman E. Thagard, the first American to occupy Russias Mir space station. The U.S. Astronaut Hall of Fame opened in 1990 to provide a place where space travelers could be remembered for their participation and accomplishments in the U.S. space program. To be eligible for induction, an individual must have been a U.S. citizen, a NASA ast

Kennedy Space Center Director Bob Cabana, at right, speaks to a member of the NASA Advisory Council at Launch Complex 39B during a tour of the multi-user spaceport on Oct. 30, 2019. In view behind them is the build-up of a new liquid hydrogen storage tank that will support Artemis launches to the Moon and on to Mars. The NASA Advisory Council provides the NASA administrator with counsel and advice on programs and issues of importance to the agency. Committee members conduct fact-finding sessions throughout the year in an effort to gain a broad understanding of current NASA issues and future mission implementation plans.

Kennedy Space Center Director Bob Cabana stops by a NASA booth in the Space Station Processing Facility conference center during the 2016 Innovation Expo. Now in its fifth year, the purpose of the Innovation Expo is to help foster innovation and creativity among Kennedy employees who are encouraged to look for ways to do their work better and to propose concepts for tackling future mission needs.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - At the Apollo/Saturn V Center at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, Apollo astronaut Buzz Aldren is introduced during NASA's 40th Anniversary of Apollo Celebration. He was joined by seven others involved in the program. Aldrin walked on the moon during the first lunar landing, Apollo 11, on July 20, 1969.

S92-49715 (10 Nov 1992) --- Russian cosmonauts Sergei Krikalev (left), and Vladimir Titov (right) share a team handshake with Kenneth L. Reightler, STS-60 pilot. The cosmonauts toured the Space Shuttle mockup and integration laboratory, in which they will undergo a great deal of training in preparation for the mission. One of the two will later be named as prime payload specialist and the second will serve as his alternate. The six person crew, to be led by astronaut Charles F. Bolden, mission commander, will man the Space Shuttle Discovery for the scheduled eight-day flight.

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. - The Honorable Toni Jennings (left), lieutenant governor of the state of Florida, and Frank T. Brogan, president of Florida Atlantic University, receive a briefing on the research that will be conducted in the Space Life Sciences Lab from Dr. Robert J. Ferl (right), director of Space Agriculture Biotechnology Research and Education (SABRE), University of Florida. Jennings and Brogan are speaking at a dedication and ribbon-cutting ceremony for the lab hosted by NASA-Kennedy Space Center and the state of Florida at the new lab. Completed in August, the facility encompasses more than 100,000 square feet and was formerly known as the Space Experiment Research and Processing Laboratory or SERPL. The state, through the Florida Space Authority, built the research lab which is host to NASA, NASAs Life Sciences Services contractor Dynamac Corp., Bionetics Corp., and researchers from the University of Florida. Dynamac Corp. leases the facility. The Florida Space

On August 15, 2018 NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine visited Marshall Space Flight Center. Upon his arrival he was greeted by MSFC Acting Director Jody Singer along with the senior management team. From atop Marshalls Test Stand 4693, NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine and SLS Stages Integration Manager Tim Flores discuss the capabilities of Marshalls newest test stand. The qualification test version of the liquid hydrogen tank for the Space Launch Systems core stage will be positioned between the stands 221-foot-tall twin towers where it will be pushed, pulled and subjected to the stresses it will endure during liftoff and flight.

MSFC DIRECTOR ROBERT LIGHTFOOT SPEAKS AFTER THE DEDICATION OF THE APOLLO 16 CAPSULE ON DISPLAY AT THE U.S. SPACE AND ROCKET CENTER.

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. - Shuttle Launch Director Mike Leinbach (right) explains recovery and reconstruction efforts of Columbia to the Executive Director of NASDA Koji Yamamoto (center, foreground) and others visiting the Columbia Debris Hangar. Mr. Yamamoto is at KSC for a welcome ceremony involving the arrival of the newest Space Station module, the Japanese Experiment Module/pressurized module.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- Apollo astronauts and their families tour the astronaut crew quarters in the Operations and Checkout Building at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Here, from left, Apollo 11 astronaut Michael Collins, NASA Administrator Charles Bolden, and Apollo 8 and Apollo 13 crew member Jim Lovell share a light moment. 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. Besides housing the crew quarters, 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

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. - On a tour of the KSC Beach Corrosion Test Site, Center Director Jim Kennedy (second from right) learns from Testbed Manager Louis MacDowell (right) about a project being undertaken for the U.S. Navy. Being studied are nonchrome primers for aircraft. At left are Lead Scientist Dr. Luz Marina Calle and 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 provides for

U. S. and Japan Space Agreement Signing. NASA Administrator Bill Nelson shows Prime Minister of Japan, His Excellency Kishida Fumio, a model of the International Space Station (ISS) before U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Japans Minister for Foreign Affairs, Hayashi Yoshimasa, sign an agreement that builds on a long history of collaboration in space exploration between the U.S. and Japan, Friday, Jan. 13, 2023, at the Mary W. Jackson NASA Headquarters building in Washington. The Framework Agreement Between the Government of Japan and the Government of the United States of America for Cooperation in Space Exploration and Use of Outer Space, Including the Moon and Other Celestial Bodies, For Peaceful Purposes covers joint activities including space science, Earth science, space operations and exploration, aeronautical science and technology, space technology, space transportation, and safety and mission assurance, among others.

Artemis II Crew Canadian Embassy Reception. NASA Administrator Bill Nelson delivers introductory remarks during a reception with NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Hammock Koch, and CSA (Canadian Space Agency) astronaut Jeremy Hansen, Wednesday, May 17, 2023, at the Canadian Embassy in Washington. Wiseman, Glover, Koch, and Hansen, who will fly around the Moon on NASAs Artemis II flight test, visited Washington to discuss their upcoming mission with members of Congress and others.

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. -- Following the launching ceremony at the KSC Visitor Complex for the new Florida quarter issued by the U.S. Mint, NASA Administrator Sean OKeefe (far left), Gov. Jeb Bush (center), U.S. Mint Director Henrietta Holsman Fore (center right) and Center Director Jim Kennedy (in front of Neil Yorio, a Dynamac scientist, at right) tour the KSC Space Life Sciences (SLS) Lab. The new lab is a state-of-the-art facility built for ISS biotechnology research. It was developed as a partnership between NASA-KSC and the State of Florida. Next to OKeefe is Bernadette Kennedy, wife of the Center Director. The launching ceremony was emceed by Kennedy and included remarks by OKeefe, Bush, Fore and Deputy Secretary of the Treasury Samuel W. Bodman.

Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution Senior Scientist Ray Schmitt, left, and NASA Physical Oceanography Program Scientist Eric Lindstrom pose for a photograph in front of the Institution's research vessel Knorr on Tuesday, Sept. 4, 2012, in Woods Hole, Mass. Knorr is scheduled to depart on Sept. 6 to take part in the Salinity Processes in the Upper Ocean Regional Study (SPURS). The NASA-sponsored expedition will sail to the North Atlantic's saltiest spot to get a detailed, 3-D picture of how salt content fluctuates in the ocean's upper layers and how these variations are related to shifts in rainfall patterns around the planet.

Office of the Administrator (Stephen L. Johnson) - Intel Science Talent Search , Environmental Protection Agency

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - At NASAs Kennedy Space Center in Florida, workers learn about new innovations at the Ground Systems Development and Operations program exhibit in the Headquarters lobby during the centers 2012 Innovation Expo.The center-wide event gave researchers a chance to show some of their work to others at the center and gave employees the opportunity to see facilities they hadnt seen before.

Guest view works of art by NASA Apollo 12 Astronaut and Artist Alan Bean during the opening of the show "Alan Bean: Painting Apollo, First Artist on Another World" at the National Air and Space Museum, Monday, July 20, 2009 in Washington. The show opening coincided with the 40th anniversary celebration of Apollo.

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.

Ohio Senator John Glenn enjoys a tour of the Engineering Development Laboratory at Kennedy Space Center. Senator Glenn arrived at KSC on Jan. 20 to tour KSC operational areas and to view the launch of STS-89. Glenn, who made history in 1962 as the first American to orbit the Earth, completing three orbits in a five-hour flight aboard Friendship 7, will fly his second space mission aboard Space Shuttle Discovery this October. Glenn is retiring from the Senate at the end of this year and will be a payload specialist aboard STS-95

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

jsc2019e040195 (July 18, 2019) --- Apollo alumni and NASA employees came together on July 18th at Johnson Space Center's Gilruth Center in Houston for an evening of meeting, mingling, and memorabilia celebrating the 50th anniversary of Apollo 11 and the entire Apollo program.

Dr. Neil deGrasse Tyson visited with Goddard's Space Flight Center Director Chris Scolese and the James Webb Space Telescope team at Goddard in Greenbelt, Md. on June 3, 2014.Tyson spoke to the team and was able to see the giant vacuum test chamber that now holds the heart of the telescope, the Integrated Science Instrument Module.Learn more about JWST: http://www.jwst.nasa.gov

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. -- At the Apollo/Saturn V Center, NASA Administrator Daniel Goldin (right) chats with First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton and others while waiting for the launch of STS-93. Much attention has been generated over STS-93 due to Commander Eileen M. Collins, the first woman to serve as commander of a Shuttle mission. The primary payload of the five-day mission is the Chandra X-ray Observatory, which will allow scientists from around the world to study some of the most distant, powerful and dynamic objects in the universe. The new telescope is 20 to 50 times more sensitive than any previous X-ray telescope and is expected to unlock the secrets of supernovae, quasars and black holes. Liftoff of Space Shuttle Columbia is scheduled for 12:36 a.m. EDT July 20

NASA ASTRONAUT CHRIS CASSIDY, ,SIGNS A PLAQUE TO BE MOUNTED IN THE PAYLOAD OPERATIONS INTEGRATION CENTER AT THE MARSHALL SPACE FLIGHT CENTER.

ARLINGTON, Va. (Sep. 20, 2016) Cmdr. Kyle Dedrick, center, Office of Naval Research Reserve Component (ONR-RC), and Dan Eleuterio, left, ONR program officer, talk about ocean observations systems at an ONR exhibit during the Defense Science Board 60th anniversary event. The Defense Science Board serves as the Federal Advisory Committee chartered to provide Department of Defense leadership with independent advice and recommendations on science, technology, manufacturing, acquisition, processes, and other matters of special interest to the DoD.

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, reenact the famous picture of Dr. William H. Pickering, Dr. James A. van Allen, and Dr. Wernher von Braun, hoisting a model of Explorer 1 above their heads at a press conference announcing the satellite's success 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 hum

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. -- Cutting a red ribbon for the unveiling of a newly renovated altitude chamber are (left to right) Tommy Mack, project manager, NASA; Steve Francois, director, Space Station and Shuttle Payloads; Sterling Walker, director, Engineering Development; Roy Bridges, director, Kennedy Space Center; Jay Greene, International Space Station manager for Technical; Michael Terry, project manager, Boeing; and Terry Smith, director of Engineering, Boeing Space Coast Operations. The chamber was reactivated, after a 24-year hiatus, to perform leak tests on International Space Station pressurized modules at the launch site. Originally, two chambers were built to test the Apollo command and lunar service modules. They were last used in 1975 during the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project. After installation of new vacuum pumping equipment and controls, a new control room, and a new rotation handling fixture, the chamber again became operational in February 1999. The chamber, which is 33

On July 16, 2019, the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 launch, Apollo-era launch team members mingle in Launch Control Center Firing Room 1 at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

Inspection tour of NASA installations: Houston, Texas, NASA Rich Building, departure, 11:10AM. President John F. Kennedy (back to camera) tours spacecraft displays inside a hangar at the Rich Building of the Manned Spacecraft Center, Houston, Texas; astronaut Commander Alan B. Shepard, Jr. (left, holding microphone), briefs President Kennedy on a mock-up of the lunar lander, also known as the Bug (partially visible in background). Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson and Director of the Manned Spacecraft Center, Dr. Robert Gilruth (partially hidden), stand at right. The President visited the Center as part of a two-day inspection tour of National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) field installations.

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration - NOAA STAKE HOLDER FORUM

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- John Glenn and NASA Kennedy Space Center Director Bob Cabana sit in the flight deck of space shuttle Discovery in Orbiter Processing Facility-1 OPF-1. Glenn is at the space center to mark the 50th anniversary of being the first American astronaut to orbit the Earth inside the NASA Mercury Project's Friendship 7 capsule on Feb. 20, 1962. Glenn later returned to space in October 1998 as a payload specialist aboard Discovery's STS-95 mission. 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 Scott Carpenter, Walter Schirra and Gordon Cooper. Their fellow Mercury astronauts Alan Shepard and Virgil "Gus" Grissom flew earlier suborbital flights. Deke Slayton, a member of NASA's original Mercury 7 astronauts, was grounded by a medical condition until the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project i

Secretary Gale Norton, far left, touring the Mount Graham International Observatory, near Safford, Arizona. During the visit, Secretary Norton discussed forest management issues relevant to the area, affected by the summer's massive Nuttall and Gibson forest fires

Secretary Dirk Kempthorne leading press conference, at Main Interior, on release of U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) assessment estimating the existence of 85.4 trilion cubic feet of undiscovered, technically recoverable gas from natural gas hydrates on the Alaska North Slope. Secretary Kempthorne, joined by USGS Director Mark Myers, indicated that the USGS assessment was the first-ever resource estimate of technically recoverable natural gas hydrates, which are naturally occurring, ice-like solids in which water molecules trap natural gas molecules in a cage-like structure known as a clathrate.

Ohio Senator John Glenn, second from left, enjoys a tour of the SPACEHAB Payload Processing Facility in Cape Canaveral. Joining Senator Glenn are, left to right, Dale Steffey, SPACEHAB vice president, operations; Dr. Shelley Harrison, SPACEHAB chairman and chief executive officer; and Dr. Bernard Harris, SPACEHAB vice president, microgravity and life sciences. Senator Glenn arrived at KSC on Jan. 20 to tour KSC operational areas and to view the launch of STS-89 later this week. Glenn, who made history in 1962 as the first American to orbit the Earth, completing three orbits in a five-hour flight aboard Friendship 7, will fly his second space mission aboard Space Shuttle Discovery this October. Glenn is retiring from the Senate at the end of this year and will be a payload specialist aboard STS-95

NASA Administrator Charles Bolden, left, congratulates SpaceX CEO and Chief Designer Elon Musk in front of the historic Dragon capsule that returned to Earth on May 31 following the first successful mission by a private company to carry supplies to the International Space Station on Wednesday, June 13, 2012 at the SpaceX facility in McGregor, Texas. Bolden and Musk also thanked the more than 150 SpaceX employees working at the McGregor facility for their role in the historic mission.

A display dedicated to former Kennedy Space Center launch director Rocco Petrone is viewed at Kennedy Space Center on Feb. 22, 2022. During a ceremony held at the Florida spaceport, Kennedys launch control center was officially renamed to the Rocco A. Petrone Launch Control Center. Petrone was instrumental in Americas first voyages to the Moon and headed the Apollo program. He died in 2006 at the age of 80.

Expedition 42 Flight Engineer Samantha Cristoforetti of the European Space Agency (ESA), performs the traditional door signing at the Cosmonaut Hotel prior to departing the hotel for launch in a Soyuz rocket with fellow crewmates, Soyuz Commander Anton Shkaplerov of the Russian Federal Space Agency (Roscosmos) and Flight Engineer Terry Virts of NASA, Sunday, Nov. 23, 2014 in Baikonur, Kazakhstan. Launch of the Soyuz rocket is scheduled for the early hours of Nov. 24 Kazakhstan time and will carry Cristoforetti, Virts, and Shkaplerov into orbit to begin their five and a half month mission on the International Space Station.

Jean-Yves Le Gall, president of the French space agency, National Centre for Space Studies (CNES), tests a robotic arm at the NASA exhibit, while Philippe Étienne, French Ambassador to the U.S., center, watches, during the 70th International Astronautical Congress, Wednesday, Oct. 23, 2019, at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center in Washington.

NASA Deputy Administrator Pam Melroy meets with colleagues at the NASA Exhibit area during the 37th Space Symposium, Wednesday, April 6, 2022, in Colorado Springs, Colorado.

Majadahonda (Madrid), 01/28/2020. The Minister of Health, Salvador Illa, and the Minister of Science and Innovation, Pedro Duque, visit the National Center for Microbiology, accompanied by the director of the Carlos III Health Institute (ISCIII), Raquel Yotti and the director of the National Center for Microbiology , Jesús Oteo. In these laboratories, samples of possible coronavirus infections are analyzed. Photo: Ángel de Antonio. ARCHDC.

Secretary Gale Norton, far left, touring the Mount Graham International Observatory, near Safford, Arizona. During the visit, Secretary Norton discussed forest management issues relevant to the area, affected by the summer's massive Nuttall and Gibson forest fires

NASA Administrator Bill Nelson and President of the Centre National dEtudes Spatiales (CNES) Dr. Philippe Baptiste shake hands following the signing the Artemis Accords 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.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - At NASA Kennedy Space Center in Florida, Will.i.am (left), entertainer and member of The Black Eyed Peas, receives a briefing from Larry Price, Lockheed Martin deputy program manager, on the Orion Multi Purpose Crew Vehicle and the Space Launch System heavy-lift rocket during a tour of the Operations and Checkout Building (O&C). The visit to the O&C followed Will.i.am's participation in a NASA Tweetup. The Tweetup is part of prelaunch activities for the agencys Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) launch and provides the opportunity for tweeters will share their experiences with followers through the social networking site Twitter. The MSL mission will pioneer precision landing technology and a sky-crane touchdown to place a car-sized rover, Curiosity, near the foot of a mountain inside Gale Crater on Aug. 6, 2012. During a nearly two-year prime mission after landing, the rover will investigate whether the region has ever offered conditions favorable for microbial l

G. Wayne Clough, Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, in the Air and Space Museum at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, DC on September 8, 2008.

With her prime crewmates and backup crewmembers looking on, Expedition 32/33 Flight Engineer Sunita Williams of NASA (first row, center) signed a visitors book at the Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center museum in Star City, Russia June 22, 2012 as part of traditional activities leading to her launch July 15 to the International Space Station from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on the Soyuz TMA-05M spacecraft. Williams will launch along with Aki Hoshide of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (first row, left) and Soyuz Commander Yuri Malenchenko (first row, right). Also participating in the activities were the backup crew on the top row, Flight Engineer Tom Marshburn of NASA (top row, left), Flight Engineer Chris Hadfield of the Canadian Space Agency (top row, center) and Roman Romanenko (top row, right).

U.S. Senator Barbara Mikulski (D-Md.), third from right, cuts the yellow ribbon presenting the James Webb Space Telescope permanent exhibit at the Maryland Science Center on Wednesday, Oct. 26, 2011 in Baltimore. Mikulski is joined by NASA Deputy Administrator Lori Garver, far left; Adam Reiss, recipient of the 2011 Nobel Prize in Physics and professor of astronomy and physics at Johns Hopkins University; Jeffrey Grant, VP and General Manager of the Space Systems Division, Northrop Grumman; Van Reiner, President and CEO of the Maryland Science Center, Baltimore and Dr. John Grunsfeld, former astronaut and Deputy Director, Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI), Baltimore. The Webb telescope will provide images of the first galaxies ever formed and explore planets around distant stars.

Jim Green, director of NASAs Planetary Science Division, poses for a photo with the Mars rover concept, developed by vehicle designers, the Parker Brothers, with advice from NASA, during the Smithsonian Institutions National Air and Space Museums Mars Day, Friday, July 21, 2017 in Washington. The Mars rover concept is currently on an East Coast tour from its home base at the Kennedy Space Center Visitors Center in Florida, and is designed to engage and educate the public by demonstrating the types of features and equipment a future human exploration vehicle may need.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- At the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, Apollo astronauts tour the refurbished Operations and Checkout Building, newly named for Apollo 11 astronaut Neil Armstrong, the first person to set foot on the moon. Viewing the Orion crew module stacked on top of the service module from left, are Apollo 11 astronaut Michael Collins, Apollo astronaut Jim Lovell, and Apollo 11 astronaut Buzz Aldrin. The building's high bay is being used to support the agency's new Orion spacecraft, which will lift off atop the Space Launch System. Orion is designed to take humans farther than they've 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 of the former astronauts was part of NASA's 45th anniversary celebration of the moon landing. As the world watched, Neil Armstrong and Aldrin landed in the moon's Sea of Tranquility aboard the lunar module Eagle

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- A banner displaying the new name of the Operations and Checkout Building at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida is signed by Apollo astronauts and their families. The banner signing followed a ceremony renaming the refurbished 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. The Orion spacecraft 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. Orion's first flight will be Exploration Fight Test-1, planned for December 2014.The ceremony was part of NASA's 45th anniversary celebration of the Apollo 11 moon landing. A

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