NASA Space Mission Preparations

Images show technicians and engineers at NASA's Kennedy Space Center inspecting spacecraft components, demonstrating test equipment, and preparing for upcoming space missions.

Members of the STS-88 crew tour Kennedy Space Centers Neil Armstrong Operations & Checkout building on Dec. 10, 2018. Earlier in the day, STS-88 commander Bob Cabana, along with mission specialists Jerry Ross, Nancy Currie-Gregg and Jim Newman, held a panel discussion in recognition of the 20th anniversary of the first International Space Station assembly mission.

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. -- In the Orbiter Processing Facility, STS-123 Commander Dominic Gorie (center) and Pilot Gregory Johnson (right) inspect the thermal protection system tiles on the underside of space shuttle Endeavour. They and other crew members are at NASA's Kennedy Space Center for a crew equipment interface test, a process of familiarization with payloads, hardware and the space shuttle. The STS-123 mission is targeted for launch on space shuttle Endeavour on Feb. 14. It will be the 25th assembly flight of the station.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - Inside the Vehicle Assembly Building at NASAs Kennedy Space Center in Florida, engineers and technicians prepare the ground test article Launch Abort System, or LAS, ogive panel and an Orion crew module simulator for a GIZMO demonstration test. The GIZMO is a pneumatically-balanced manipulator that will be used for installation of the crew module and LAS flight hatches for the uncrewed Exploration Flight Test-1 and Exploration Mission-1. The Ground Systems Development and Operations Program is running the test to demonstrate that the GIZMO can meet the reach and handling requirements for the task.Orion is the exploration spacecraft designed to carry astronauts to destinations not yet explored by humans, including an asteroid and Mars. It will have emergency abort capability, sustain the crew during space travel and provide safe re-entry from deep space return velocities. The first unpiloted test flight of the Orion is scheduled to launch later this year atop a

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - Inside the Vehicle Assembly Building at NASAs Kennedy Space Center in Florida, engineers and technicians are performing a GIZMO demonstration test on the ground test article Launch Abort System, or LAS, ogive panel and an Orion crew module simulator. Technicians practice lining up the GIZMO, a pneumatically-balanced manipulator that will be used for installation of the hatches on the crew module and LAS for the uncrewed Exploration Flight Test-1 and Exploration Mission-1, on the ogive panel mockup hatch. The Ground Systems Development and Operations Program is running the test to demonstrate that the GIZMO can meet the reach and handling requirements for the task.Orion is the exploration spacecraft designed to carry astronauts to destinations not yet explored by humans, including an asteroid and Mars. It will have emergency abort capability, sustain the crew during space travel and provide safe re-entry from deep space return velocities. The first unpiloted te

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- At Space Launch Complex-41 on Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, spacecraft technicians in the Vertical Integration Facility prepare to install the multi-mission radioisotope thermoelectric generator (MMRTG) for NASA's Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) mission on the Curiosity rover. The MMRTG is enclosed in a protective mesh container, known as the "gorilla cage," which protects it during transport and allows any excess heat generated to dissipate into the air. The MMRTG will generate the power needed for the mission from the natural decay of plutonium-238, a non-weapons-grade form of the radioisotope. Heat given off by this natural decay will provide constant power through the day and night during all seasons. Curiosity, MSL's car-sized rover, has 10 science instruments designed to search for signs of life, including methane, and help determine if the gas is from a biological or geological source. Waste heat from the MMRTG will be circulated throughout the rover sy

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- At NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, workers check out the 6,000-square-foot high bay of the Launch Equipment Test Facility (LETF). The LETF recently underwent a $35 million comprehensive upgrade that lasted four years. The LETF was established in the 1970s to support the qualification of the Space Shuttle Programs umbilical and T-0 mechanisms. Throughout the years, it has supported the development of systems for shuttle and the International Space Station, Delta and Atlas rockets, and various research and development programs. The LETF has unique capabilities to evolve into a versatile test and development area that supports a wide spectrum of programs.

PHOTO DATE: 05-11-11LOCATION: Bldg 9NW, ISS MockupsSUBJECT: Expedition 29/30 Emergency Ops training in ISS mockupsWORK ORDER: 2011-1190

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- In Orbiter Processing Facility-3 at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, a technician describes the thermal protection system underneath the shuttle to STS-133 Mission Specialists Tim Kopra and Alvin Drew. The astronauts are at Kennedy for the Crew Equipment Interface Test, or CEIT, which provides the crew with hands-on training and observation of shuttle and flight hardware for their mission to the International Space Station. Launch of the STS-133 mission on space shuttle Discovery is targeted for Nov. 1 at 4 33 p.m. EDT.

Members of the STS-88 crew tour Kennedy Space Centers Neil Armstrong Operations & Checkout building on Dec. 10, 2018. Earlier in the day, STS-88 commander Bob Cabana, along with mission specialists Jerry Ross, Nancy Currie-Gregg and Jim Newman, held a panel discussion in recognition of the 20th anniversary of the first International Space Station assembly mission.

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. - Members of the Stafford-Covey Return to Flight Task Group (SCTG) look over equipment in the Orbiter Processing Facility. At left (back to camera), Fernando Santos, with NASA, and Paul Ogletree (at monitor), with United Space Alliance, describe how flash thermography is used to inspect the structure of Reinforced Carbon Carbon panels and establish a baseline on panels before flight. Chairing the task group are Richard O. Covey (far right), former Space Shuttle commander, and Thomas P. Stafford, Apollo commander. Chartered by NASA Administrator Sean OKeefe, the task group will perform an independent assessment of NASAs implementation of the final recommendations by the Columbia Accident Investigation Board.

VANDENBERG AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. - At Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, technicians install the aft skirt on the Orbital Sciences Corp. Pegasus XL rocket which will launch the Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph, or IRIS, spacecraft.Scheduled for launch from Vandenberg Air Force Base no earlier than Feb. 27, 2013, IRIS will open a new window of discovery by tracing the flow of energy and plasma through the chromospheres and transition region into the suns corona using spectrometry and imaging. IRIS fills a crucial gap in our ability to advance studies of the sun-to-Earth connection by tracing the flow of energy and plasma through the foundation of the corona and the region around the sun known as the heliosphere.

Surrounded by technicians at the Integration Facility at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, Expedition 35/36 Flight Engineer Chris Cassidy of NASA (left), Flight Engineer Alexander Misurkin (center) and Soyuz Commander Pavel Vinogradov (right) discuss the preparation of their Soyuz TMA-08M spacecraft March 23 during a final inspection of the vehicle. The three crewmembers will launch in the Soyuz TMA-08M spacecraft to the International Space Station on March 29, Kazakh time, from the Baikonur Cosmodrome for a 5 ½ month mission on the orbital laboratory.NASA/Victor Zelentsov

NASA Administrator Charles Bolden (r) discusses the upcoming testing of Blue Origin's BE-3 engine thrust chamber assembly with Steve Knowles, Blue Origin project manager, at the E-1 Test Stand during an April 20, 2012, visit to Stennis Space Center. Blue Origin is one of NASA's partners developing innovative systems to reach low-Earth orbit.

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. -In the RTG Facility at Kennedy Space Center, Jim Wojciechowski and Dan Brunson lower a metal canister over the radioisotope thermoelectric generator (RTG). The canister will protect the RTG when it is moved. The RTG is the baseline power supply for the NASAs New Horizons spacecraft, scheduled to launch in January 2006 on a journey to Pluto and its moon, Charon. As it approaches Pluto, the spacecraft will look for ultraviolet emission from Pluto's atmosphere and make the best global maps of Pluto and Charon in green, blue, red and a special wavelength that is sensitive to methane frost on the surface. It will also take spectral maps in the near infrared, telling the science team about Pluto's and Charon's surface compositions and locations and temperatures of these materials. When the spacecraft is closest to Pluto or its moon, it will take close-up pictures in both visible and near-infrared wavelengths. It is expected to reach Pluto in July 2015.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - Floridas Lt. Gov. Jennifer Carroll asks questions of her guides during a tour of Kennedy Space Centers Orbiter Processing Facility-1 as they scrutinize the forward end of space shuttle Atlantis. United Space Alliance manager Buddy McKenzie is at left, and Kennedy Director Bob Cabana, at right. The tour coincided with Carrolls visit to Kennedy for a meeting with Cabana. Atlantis is being prepared for public display at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex in 2013. The groundbreaking for Atlantis exhibit hall took place in January Atlantis is scheduled to be moved to the visitor complex in November.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- In the high bay of the RTG storage facility (RTGF) at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, Department of Energy workers guide the mesh container enclosing the multi-mission radioisotope thermoelectric generator (MMRTG) for NASA's Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) mission as it is lifted by a crane. The container, known as the "gorilla cage," protects the MMRTG during transport and allows any excess heat generated to dissipate into the air. The cage is being removed from around the MMRTG following it return to the RTGF from a fit check on MSL's Curiosity rover in the Payload Hazardous Servicing Facility (PHSF). The workers at right are observing the operation from behind a mobile plexiglass radiation shield to minimize their radiation exposure.The MMRTG will generate the power needed for the mission from the natural decay of plutonium-238, a non-weapons-grade form of the radioisotope. Heat given off by this natural decay will provide constant power through the

VANDENBERG AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. -- At Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, Orbital Sciences Corp. technicians prepare to weigh stage 3 of the Pegasus XL rocket motor that will launch the Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array (NuSTAR) into space.After the rocket and spacecraft are processed at Vandenberg, they will be flown on the Orbital Sciences' L-1011 carrier aircraft to the Ronald Reagan Ballistic Missile Defense Test Site located at the Pacific Oceans Kwajalein Atoll for launch. The high-energy X-ray telescope will conduct a census for black holes, map radioactive material in young supernovae remnants, and study the origins of cosmic rays and the extreme physics around collapsed stars.

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. - In the Orbiter Processing Facility, United Space Alliance workers (left to right) Jim Landy, Dan Phillips, Paul Ogletree and Dan Kenna check results of flash thermography on the Reinforced Carbon Carbon panel on the table (foreground). Attached to the leading edge of the wing of the orbiters, the gray carbon composite RCC panels have sufficient strength to withstand the aerodynamic forces experienced during launch and reentry, which can reach as high as 800 pounds per square foot. The operating range of RCC is from minus 250º F to about 3,000º F, the temperature produced by friction with the atmosphere during reentry.

In Building 1555 on North Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, technicians look over the spacecraft handling fixture that will be used to lift the AIM spacecraft. AIM, which stands for Aeronomy of Ice in the Mesosphere, is being prepared for integrated testing and a flight simulation. The AIM spacecraft will fly three instruments designed to study polar mesospheric clouds located at the edge of space, 50 miles above the Earth's surface in the coldest part of the planet's atmosphere. The mission's primary goal is to explain why these clouds form and what has caused them to become brighter and more numerous and appear at lower latitudes in recent years. AIM's results will provide the basis for the study of long-term variability in the mesospheric climate and its relationship to global climate change. AIM is scheduled to be mated to its launch vehicle, Orbital Sciences' Pegasus XL, during the second week of April, after which final inspections will be conducted. Launch is scheduled fo

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. Lead test engineer for the Space Launch System core stage intertank, Matt Cash briefs NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine on testing progress of the SLS test article in the Structural Strength Lab at Marshall. The test article is structurally identical to the flight version of the intertank that will connect the core stage's two colossal fuel tanks, serve as the upper-connection point for the two solid rocket boosters and house critical avionics and electronics.

The Japanese Experiment Module or JEM (background) and other hardware undergoing processing for transport to the International Space Station are made available to photographers in the Space Station Processing Facility (SSPF). Members of the media were invited to commemorate the fifth anniversary of the launch of the first element of the International Space Station by touring the SSPF. Reporters had the opportunity to see Space Station hardware that is being processed for deployment once the Space Shuttles return to flight, as well as talk with NASA and Boeing mission managers about the various hardware elements currently being processed for flight.

Visit to the Glenn Research Center, GRC Space Power Facility, SPF by Members of the International Space University. The group is viewing the Mechanical Vibration Facility, MVF, a three-axis, 6-degree-of-freedom, servohydraulic, sinusoidal base-shake vibration system

At a media showcase in the Space Station Processing Facility, reporters and photographers get a close look at the S3/S4 integrated truss segment. The starboard 3/4 truss segment will launch aboard Space Shuttle Atlantis on mission STS-117, targeted for March 15. The element will be added to the 11-segment integrated truss structure, the station's backbone. The integrated truss structure eventually will span more than 300 feet. The S3/S4 truss has two large solar arrays and will provide one-fourth of the total power generation for the completed station.

DATE: 5-14-13LOCATION: Bldg. 9NE - POGOSUBJECT: Soyuz 39 (Expedition 40/41) crew members Reid Wiseman and Alexander Gerst during ISS EVA PGT/POGO (EVA ARGOS) training.

JSC2006-E-44663 (16 Oct. 2006) --- Astronauts John D. (Danny) Olivas and James F. Reilly II, both STS-117 mission specialists, are about to be submerged in the waters of the Neutral Buoyancy Laboratory (NBL) near Johnson Space Center. Olivas and Reilly are attired in training versions of the Extravehicular Mobility Unit (EMU) spacesuit.

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. - In the Orbiter Processing Facility, Scott Thurston (right), Crew Exploration Vehicle manager in the Shuttle Processing Directorate, gives a personal tour to U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney (far left) and his family. They are standing underneath the orbiter Atlantis. Thurston previously was the NASA flow director for Atlantis. Cheney flew in to view the launch of Space Shuttle Discovery on mission STS-121.

PHOTO DATE: 07/19/10LOCATION:B9 ISS MOCK-UPSSUBJECT: Expedition 26 and 27 crew members training in the ISS mockups

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- In Orbiter Processing Facility-3 at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, the STS-133 crew members inspect thermal protection system underneath the shuttle. The astronauts are at Kennedy for the Crew Equipment Interface Test, or CEIT, which provides the crew with hands-on training and observation of shuttle and flight hardware for their mission to the International Space Station. Launch of the STS-133 mission on space shuttle Discovery is targeted for Nov. 1 at 4 33 p.m. EDT.

PHOTO DATE: 02-01-11LOCATION: Bldg 9NW, FFTSUBJECT: STS-133 crew during their photo/TV training with instructor Gary Kilgo.

Attired in a training version of the Extravehicular Mobility Unit (EMU), Astronaut Mary Ellen Weber participates in a training session at JSC's Weightless Environment Training Facility (WETF). Training as a mission specialist for the STS-70 mission, Weber was about to rehearse a contingency space walk. One of several SCUBA-equipped divers waits to assist in the rehearsal in the water.

Expedition 43 NASA Astronaut Scott Kelly climbs the stairs to enter the Soyuz TMA-16M spacecraft during the final check of the spacecraft with Russian Cosmonauts Mikhail Kornienko, and Gennady Padalka of the Russian Federal Space Agency (Roscosmos), Monday, March 23, 2015 at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. Kelly, Kornienko, and Padalka are scheduled to launch to the International Space Station in the Soyuz TMA-16M spacecraft from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan March 28, Kazakh time (March 27 Eastern time.) As the one-year crew, Kelly and Kornienko will return to Earth on Soyuz TMA-18M in March 2016.

President Barack Obama, First Lady Michelle Obama, daughters Malia, left, Sasha, Marian Robinson, Astronaut Janet Kavandi and United Space Alliance project lead for thermal protection systems Terry White, walk under the landing gear of the space shuttle Atlantis as they visit Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Fla., Friday, April 29, 2011.

STS98-E-5130 (11 February 2001) --- The crews of Atlantis and the International Space Station open the Destiny laboratory on February 11 in this digital still camera view. From the left are astronauts Kenneth D. Cockrell, STS-98 commander; William M. (Bill) Shepherd, Expedition One commander; andMark L. Polansky, STS-98 pilot. Later, the astronauts and cosmonauts spent the first full day of what are planned to be years of work ahead inside the orbiting science and command center. After Shepherd opened the Destiny hatch, he and Cockrell ventured inside at 8:38 a.m. (CST). As depicted in subsequent digital images in this series, members of both crews went to work quickly inside the new module, activating air systems, fire extinguishers, alarm systems, computers and internal communications. The crew also continued equipment transfers from the shuttle to the station.

Workers prepare to encapsulate the Soyuz TMA-16M spacecraft in its fairing, Friday, March 20, 2015 at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. Expedition 43 NASA Astronaut Scott Kelly, and Russian Cosmonauts Gennady Padalka, and Mikhail Kornienko of the Russian Federal Space Agency (Roscosmos) are scheduled to launch to the International Space Station in the Soyuz TMA-16M spacecraft from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan March 28, Kazakh time. As the one-year crew, Kelly and Kornienko will return to Earth on Soyuz TMA-18M in March 2016.

CHRISTOPHER CRUMBLY, MANAGER OF THE SPACECRAFT PAYLOAD INTEGRATION AND EVOLUTION OFFICE, GAVE VISITORS AN INSIDER'S PERSPECTIVE ON THE CORE STAGE SIMULATOR AT MARSHALL AND ITS IMPORTANCE TO DEVELOPMENT OF THE SPACE LAUNCH SYSTEM. CHRISTOPHER CRUMBLY, MANAGER OF THE SPACECRAFT PAYLOAD INTEGRATION AND EVOLUTION OFFICE, GAVE VISITORS AN INSIDER'S PERSPECTIVE ON THE CORE STAGE SIMULATOR AT MARSHALL AND ITS IMPORTANCE TO DEVELOPMENT OF THE SPACE LAUNCH SYSTEM.

The inaugural Glenn Symposium focused on advancements in aerospace technology including power and propulsion, autonomy and communications, low boom supersonics, hypersonics, and more. Discussion also encompassed humans returning to the moon, including challenges associated with the 2024 mission.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- At the Shuttle Landing Facility at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, STS-134 Commander Mark Kelly, European Space Agency astronaut Roberto Vittori (left) and Mission Specialist Andrew Feustel get a close look at the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer, or AMS, inside the C-5M aircraft.AMS, a state-of-the-art particle physics detector, is designed to operate as an external module on the International Space Station. It will use the unique environment of space to study the universe and its origin by searching for dark matter. AMS will fly to the International Space Station aboard space shuttle Endeavour's STS-134 mission targeted to launch Feb. 26, 2011.

Date: 09-05-13Location: Bldg 9NW, ISS MockupsSubject: Soyuz 40 (Expedition 41/42) Russian cosmonaut Yelena Serova during Routine Ops FS training in ISS mockups

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. -- Members of the Columbia Accident Investigation Board look at one of the solid rocket boosters on Space Shuttle Atlantis in the Vehicle Assembly Building. The board is visiting sites at KSC to become familiar with the Shuttle launch process and elements. The independent board is charged with determining what caused the destruction of the Space Shuttle Columbia and the loss of its seven-member crew on Feb. 1 during reentry.

In the Integration Facility at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, Expedition 37/38 Flight Engineer Michael Hopkins of NASA flashes a smile as he boards the Soyuz TMA-10M spacecraft Sept. 20. Hopkins and his crewmates, Soyuz Commander Oleg Kotov and Flight Engineer Sergey Ryazanskiy completed a final fit check” dress rehearsal of procedures leading to their launch Sept. 26, Kazakh time, from Baikonur to begin a five and a half month mission on the International Space Station.NASA/Victor Zelentsov

CENTER DIRECTOR ROBERT LIGHTFOOT AND MATERIALS ENGINEER LARRY PELHAM, EXAMINE COMPOSITE CREW MODULE AT THE ENVIRONMENTAL TEST FACILITY IN BLDG. 4619 AS MODULE IS BEING PREPARED FOR SPACE ENVIRONMENTAL TESTING.

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. -- In Hangar A&O at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, United Launch Alliance workers prepare the Delta II second stage for the Phoenix spacecraft. Phoenix will land in icy soils near the north polar permanent ice cap of Mars and explore the history of the water in these soils and any associated rocks, while monitoring polar climate. Landing is planned in May 2008 on arctic ground where a mission currently in orbit, Mars Odyssey, has detected high concentrations of ice just beneath the top layer of soil. Launch of Phoenix aboard a Delta II rocket is targeted for Aug. 3 from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida.

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. - Inside the RTG facility at Kennedy Space Center, Amy Powell, Ennis Shelton and Ed Provost check the radioisotope thermoelectric generator (RTG) after removal of the outside container. The RTG is the baseline power supply for the NASAs New Horizons spacecraft, scheduled to launch in January 2006 on a journey to Pluto and its moon, Charon. As it approaches Pluto, the spacecraft will look for ultraviolet emission from Pluto's atmosphere and make the best global maps of Pluto and Charon in green, blue, red and a special wavelength that is sensitive to methane frost on the surface. It will also take spectral maps in the near infrared, telling the science team about Pluto's and Charon's surface compositions and locations and temperatures of these materials. When the spacecraft is closest to Pluto or its moon, it will take close-up pictures in both visible and near-infrared wavelengths. It is expected to reach Pluto in July 2015.

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. - As the Stafford-Covey Return to Flight Task Group (SCTG) tours the Orbiter Processing Facility, Richard O. Covey (second from left), former Space Shuttle commander, points to equipment. Covey is co-chair of the SCTG along with Thomas P. Stafford, Apollo commander. Others in the photo are William Wegner, James Adamson and Joe Engle. Chartered by NASA Administrator Sean OKeefe, the task group will perform an independent assessment of NASAs implementation of the final recommendations by the Columbia Accident Investigation Board.

Hurricane Katrina, Mobile, Ala., May 3, 2006 - Chuck Rasco, NOAA Electronics Technician displays weather measurement devices to FEMA Deputy Federal Coordinating Officer (DFCO), Jesse Munoz, FEMA Public Information Officer (PIO) Leonard DeCarlo(left), and FEMA PIO Ted Stuckey. This hurricane hunter aircraft, its crew, and National Weather Service staff are here as part of a 5 day tour promoting hurricane awareness and preparedness. George Armstrong/FEMA

The 2017 class of astronaut candidates are inside the Space Station Processing Facility high bay during a familiarization tour of facilities at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The candidates toured center facilities, including the Neil Armstrong Operations and Checkout Building high bay; the Launch Control Center, Launch Pad 39B, and the Vehicle Assembly Building. They also toured Boeing's Commercial Crew and Cargo Facility, United Launch Alliance's Space Launch Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, and SpaceX's Launch Pad 39A at Kennedy. The candidates will spend about two years getting to know the space station systems and learning how to spacewalk, speak Russian, control the International Space Station's robotic arm and fly T-38s, before they're eligible to be assigned to a mission.

U.S. SENATOR BILL NELSON OF FLORIDA, RIGHT, LISTENS AS ANDY SCHORR, ASSISTANT MANAGER FOR SPACECRAFT/PAYLOAD INTEGRATION AND EVOLUTION, EXPLAINS THE PROGRESS OF NASA'S SPACE LAUNCH SYSTEM DURING A VISIT TO NASA'S MARSHALL SPACE FLIGHT CENTER ON FEB. 12, 2016

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- At NASA Kennedy Space Center's Launch Pad 39A, technicians work to remove the Load Control Assembly-2 (LCA-2) from inside space shuttle Endeavour's aft section. Located in the orbiter's aft avionics bay 5, the LCA-2 assembly, which feeds power to the fuel line heaters, is believed to have caused the heaters for Endeavour's auxiliary power unit-1 (APU-1) to fail April 29 during the first launch attempt for the STS-134 mission. The assembly will be replaced and systems will be retested before the launch is rescheduled.STS-134 will deliver the Express Logistics Carrier-3, Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer-2 (AMS), a high-pressure gas tank and additional spare parts for the Dextre robotic helper to the International Space Station. The mission also will be the final spaceflight for Endeavour.

Orion Recovery Operations. NASA Artemis Launch Director Charlie Blackwell-Thompson, at right, and Melissa Jones, NASAs Artemis I Recovery director, both with the Exploration Ground Systems program, look at the Artemis I Orion spacecraft inside the well deck of the USS Portland at U.S. Naval Base San Diego on Dec. 13, 2022. The Orion spacecraft is secured inside the well deck after splashing down at 12:40 p.m. EST on Dec. 11, 2022. U.S. Navy divers helped recover the Orion spacecraft. NASA, the Navy and other Department of Defense partners worked together to secure the spacecraft inside the ships well deck approximately five hours after Orion splashed down in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of Baja, California.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. --- At NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, members of the Class of 2009 Astronaut Candidates, also called ASCANs, take a picture in a high bay of the Vehicle Assembly Building. From left, are JAXA's Kimiya Yui, NASA's Navy Cmdr. Scott D. Tingle, JAXA's Takuya Onishi, NASA's Serena M. Aunon, NASA Test Director Michael Ciannilli, NASA's Air Force Lt. Col. Michael S. Hopkins, CSA's Jeremy Hansen, NASA's Air Force Maj. Jack D. Fischer, and Chief of the Astronaut Candidate Program Duane Ross.

Inside a clean room at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, a worker adjusts the attach points of an overhead crane on NASA's Aeronomy of Ice in the Mesosphere, or AIM, spacecraft. AIM is the seventh Small Explorers mission under NASA's Explorer Program. The program provides frequent flight opportunities for world-class scientific investigations from space within heliophysics and astrophysics. The AIM spacecraft will fly three instruments designed to study polar mesospheric clouds located at the edge of space, 50 miles above the Earth's surface in the coldest part of the planet's atmosphere. The mission's primary goal is to explain why these clouds form and what has caused them to become brighter and more numerous and appear at lower latitudes in recent years. AIM's results will provide the basis for the study of long-term variability in the mesospheric climate and its relationship to global climate change. AIM is scheduled to be mated to the Pegasus XL during the second week of Ap

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- In the RTG storage facility at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, the shipping cask enclosing the multi-mission radioisotope thermoelectric generator (MMRTG) for NASA's Mars Science Laboratory mission is lowered to the floor of the high bay in preparation for lifting the cask from around the MMRTG.The MMRTG will generate the power needed for the mission from the natural decay of plutonium-238, a non-weapons-grade form of the radioisotope. Heat given off by this natural decay will provide constant power through the day and night during all seasons. Waste heat from the MMRTG will be circulated throughout the rover system to keep instruments, computers, mechanical devices and communications systems within their operating temperature ranges. MSL's components include a compact car-sized rover, Curiosity, which has 10 science instruments designed to search for evidence on whether Mars has had environments favorable to microbial life, including chemical ingr

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - Members of the news media view the Project Morpheus prototype lander inside a hangar near the Shuttle Landing Facility at NASAs Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Speaking to the media is Greg Gaddis, the Kennedy Morpheus and ALHAT site manager. Morpheus successfully completed its third free flight test Jan. 16. The 57-second test began at 1:15 p.m. EST with the Morpheus lander launching from the ground over a flame trench and ascending about 187 feet, nearly doubling the target ascent velocity from the last test in December 2013. The lander flew forward, covering about 154 feet in 20 seconds before descending and landing within 11 inches of its target on a dedicated pad inside the autonomous landing and hazard avoidance technology, or ALHAT, hazard field. Project Morpheus tests NASAs ALHAT and an engine that runs on liquid oxygen and methane, or green propellants, into a fully-operational lander that could deliver cargo to other planetary surfaces. The landing f

NASA astronaut Randy Bresnik, center, and astronaut candidate Kayla Barron tour the Operations and Checkout Building high bay at the agencys Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Feb. 12, 2019. They viewed the European Service Module for Orions Exploration Mission-1, and the pressure vessel for Exploration Mission-2. Accompanying them, from left, are Glenn Chin, deputy manager, NASA Orion Production Operations; Nathan Varn, senior manager, Assembly, Test and Launch Operations with Lockheed Martin; and Carlos Garcia, NASA Orion Production Operations Launch Abort System lead. At far right is Keith Manning, representing the Flight Test Integration Team from Johnson Space Center in Houston.

Visit to Glenn Research Center by STS-123 Crew Member

VANDENBERG AFB, Calif. -- At Space Launch Complex 3E at Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif., NASA Administrator Charles Bolden, left, discusses Landsat Data Continuity Mission, or LDCM, satellite preparations with Kennedy Space Center Director Bob Cabana.The Landsat Data Continuity Mission LDCM is the future of Landsat satellites. It will continue to obtain valuable data and imagery to be used in agriculture, education, business, science, and government. The Landsat Program provides repetitive acquisition of high resolution multispectral data of the Earth's surface on a global basis. The data from the Landsat spacecraft constitute the longest record of the Earth's continental surfaces as seen from space. It is a record unmatched in quality, detail, coverage, and value. Liftoff is planned for Feb. 11, 2013 aboard a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket.

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. - In the Space Station Processing Facility, Executive Director of NASDA Koji Yamamoto points to other Space Station elements. Behind him is the Japanese Experiment Module (JEM)/pressurized module. Mr. Yamamoto is at KSC for a welcome ceremony involving the arrival of JEM.

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, Fla. -- STS-91 flight crew members receive instruction on slidewire basket operations during emergency egress training on the 195-foot level of Launch Complex 39A. From left to right, they are Mission Specialists Wendy B. Lawrence and Janet Kavandi, Ph.D.; Pilot Dominic Gorie; and Mission Specialists Franklin Chang-Diaz, Ph.D., and Valery Ryumin, with the Russian Space Agency. The STS-91 flight crew also includes Mission Commander Charles Precourt (not shown). The training is part of Terminal Countdown Demonstration Test (TCDT) activities held at KSC prior to each Space Shuttle flight to provide crews with an opportunity to participate in simulated countdown scenarios. STS-91 is scheduled to be launched on June 2 with a launch window opening around 6:10 p.m. EDT. The mission will feature the ninth Shuttle docking with the Russian Space Station Mir, the first Mir docking for Discovery, the conclusion of Phase I of the joint U.S.-Russian International Space Station

VANDENBERG AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. - At Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, technicians install the wing on the Orbital Sciences Corp. Pegasus XL rocket which will launch the Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph, or IRIS, spacecraft.Scheduled for launch from Vandenberg Air Force Base no earlier than Feb. 27, 2013, IRIS will open a new window of discovery by tracing the flow of energy and plasma through the chromospheres and transition region into the suns corona using spectrometry and imaging. IRIS fills a crucial gap in our ability to advance studies of the sun-to-Earth connection by tracing the flow of energy and plasma through the foundation of the corona and the region around the sun known as the heliosphere.

Expedition 44/45 crew members Oleg Kononenko, Kimiya Yui and Kjell Lindgren during emergency scenarios training in the ISS mockups. Photo Date: March 11, 2015. Location: Building 9NW - ISS Mockups.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - In Orbiter Processing Facility 3 at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, STS-128 crew members listen to a tile expert while checking out space shuttle Discovery. The astronauts are, from left, Commander Rick Sturckow, Mission Specialist Patrick Forrester, Pilot Kevin Ford, and Mission Specialists Christer Fuglesang, John "Danny" Olivas and Nicole Stott. The crew is at Kennedy for a crew equipment interface test, or CEIT, which provides hands-on training and observation of shuttle and flight hardware. The STS-128 flight will carry science and storage racks to the International Space Station on Discovery. Launch is targeted for Aug. 7.

NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine, second from right in the blue shirt, tours the Blue Origin facilities near the agencys Kennedy Space Center in Florida on May 23, 2019. He viewed the New Shepard booster and crew capsule that flew to space and back five times.

JSC2010-E-195512 (3 Dec. 2010) --- Crew instructors Patrick Jones (left), Robert (Rob) Tomaro and Bob Behrendsen brief STS-135 crew members during an emergency egress training session in the Space Vehicle Mock-up Facility at NASA's Johnson Space Center. Seated are NASA astronauts Chris Ferguson (right), commander; Doug Hurley (left), pilot; Sandy Magnus and Rex Walheim, both mission specialists. STS-135 is planned to be the final mission of the space shuttle program.

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. - In the Space Station Processing Facility, Executive Director of NASDA Koji Yamamoto (left) looks at the newly arrived Japanese Experiment Module (JEM)/pressurized module. Mr. Yamamoto is at KSC for a welcome ceremony involving the arrival of JEM.

STS-132 LAUNCH L-0 RUSSIAN DELEGATION TOUR

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - Inside the Neil Armstrong Operations and Checkout Building high bay at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, members of the Brevard Police and Fire Pipes and Drums lead NASA and Lockheed Martin workers toward the Orion crew module, stacked atop its service module. A ceremony will begin to officially turn over the Orion spacecraft for Exploration Flight Test-1 to Lockheed Martin Ground Operations from Orion Assembly, Integration and Production.Orion is the exploration spacecraft designed to carry astronauts to destinations not yet explored by humans, including an asteroid and Mars. It will have emergency abort capability, sustain the crew during space travel and provide safe re-entry from deep space return velocities. The first unpiloted test flight of the Orion is scheduled to launch atop a United Launch Alliance Delta IV Heavy rocket from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida in December to an altitude of 3,600 miles above the Earth's surface. The two-

Virtual Intelligent Planetary Exploration Rover, VIPER Mobility Platform Testing

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - During a visit to NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, NASA Associate Administrator Robert Lightfoot tours the Operations and Checkout Building high bay where the first Orion capsule, NASA's multi-purpose crew vehicle, is being prepared for flight on Exploration Flight Test 1, or EFT-1, in 2014. From left are Lightfoot, Kennedy's manager of Orion Production Operations Scott Wilson, and Kennedy Director Bob Cabana. Orion is NASA's next-generation transport for astronauts to destinations beyond Earth orbit. NASA's FY2014 budget proposal includes a plan to robotically capture a small near-Earth asteroid and redirect it safely to a stable orbit in the Earth-moon system where astronauts can visit and explore it. Performing these elements for the proposed asteroid initiative integrates the best of NASA's science, technology and human exploration capabilities and draws on the innovation of America's brightest scientists and engineers. It uses current and developing c

Media and NASA Social participants view Orion recovery operations and tour the USS Arlington at the Norfolk Naval base in Virginia on Aug. 15, 2013. Part of Batch image transfer from Flickr.

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. - In the Orbiter Processing Facility, several workers check out the first Reinforced Carbon-Carbon panel to be installed on the left wing leading edge on Discovery. Second from right is Danny Wyatt, NASA Quality Assurance specialist; on the left is Dave Fuller, technician; behind Wyatt is John Legere, NASA Quality Assurance specialist. The RCC panels are mechanically attached to the wing with spars, a series of floating joints to reduce loading on the panels caused by wing deflections. The T-seals between each wing leading edge panel allow for lateral motion and thermal expansion differences between the RCC and the orbiter wing. Discovery has been named as the orbiter to fly on the first Return to Flight mission, STS-114.

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. - On Launch Pad 17-B, Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Fla., workers connect a crane to the first of a second set of three Solid Rocket Boosters (SRBs) that will be hoisted up the mobile service tower. The SRBs will join three others already mated to the Boeing Delta II rocket that will launch the Deep Impact spacecraft. A NASA Discovery mission, Deep Impact will probe beneath the surface of Comet Tempel 1 on July 4, 2005, when the comet is 83 million miles from Earth, and reveal the secrets of its interior. After releasing an impactor on a course to hit the comets sunlit side, Deep Impacts flyby spacecraft will collect pictures and data of how the crater forms, measure the craters depth and diameter, as well as the composition of the interior of the crater and any material thrown out, and determine the changes in natural outgassing produced by the impact. It will send the data back to Earth through the antennas of the Deep Space Network.

Cathy Bahm, Orion Abort Flight Test integration deputy project manager, briefs news media on the progress of testing in NASA Dryden's Flight Loads Laboratory.

The third stage of the Orbital ATK Pegasus XL rocket is offloaded from a transport vehicle at Building 1555 at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. The rocket is being prepared for NASA's Ionospheric Connection Explorer, or ICON, mission. ICON will launch from the Kwajalein Atoll aboard the Pegasus XL on Dec. 8, 2017. ICON will study the frontier of space - the dynamic zone high in Earth's atmosphere where terrestrial weather from below meets space weather above. The explorer will help determine the physics of Earth's space environment and pave the way for mitigating its effects on our technology, communications systems and society.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - Inside the Neil Armstrong Operations and Checkout Building high bay at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, Jules Schneider, at right, Lockheed Martin Orion Production Operations manager, speaks to NASA and Lockheed Martin workers during a ceremony to turn over the Orion spacecraft for Exploration Flight Test-1 to Ground Operations. At left is Blake Hale, Lockheed Martin Ground Operations manager. Orion is the exploration spacecraft designed to carry astronauts to destinations not yet explored by humans, including an asteroid and Mars. It will have emergency abort capability, sustain the crew during space travel and provide safe re-entry from deep space return velocities. The first unpiloted test flight of the Orion is scheduled to launch atop a United Launch Alliance Delta IV Heavy rocket from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida in December to an altitude of 3,600 miles above the Earth's surface. The two-orbit, four-hour flight test will help engine

JSC2001-E-06397 (27 February 2001) --- Astronauts Steven W. Lindsey (center foreground), mission commander, and Michael L. Gernhardt (right), mission specialist, assisted by crew trainer Ken Trujillo, rehearse emergency egress procedures in the Systems Integration Facility at the Johnson Space Center (JSC). The crew will use the pictured training version of the launch escape pole which is now carried onboard for all shuttle flights. The STS-104 mission to the International Space Station (ISS) represents the Space Shuttle Atlantis' first flight using a new engine and is targeted for a liftoff no earlier than June 14, 2001.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - NASA Associate Administrator Robert Lightfoot tours the Environmental Control System Room under the surface of Launch Pad 39B during a visit to NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. From left are Lightfoot, Alan Littlefield, Vehicle Integration and Launch chief engineer, Kennedy Director Bob Cabana, and Jose Perez Morales, launch pad project manager. The pad is being modified to support NASA's new Orion spacecraft and Space Launch System heavy-lift rocket, the SLS. NASA's FY2014 budget proposal includes a plan to robotically capture a small near-Earth asteroid and redirect it safely to a stable orbit in the Earth-moon system where astronauts can visit and explore it. Performing these elements for the proposed asteroid initiative integrates the best of NASA's science, technology and human exploration capabilities and draws on the innovation of America's brightest scientists and engineers. It uses current and developing capabilities to find both large asteroids t

Engineers from NASA's Ames Research Center at Moffett Field, California, and Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, remove samples on May 4, 2015, from Orion's heat shield which flew on Exploration Flight Test-1 (EFT-1) in 2014. The heat shield protected the spacecraft from temperatures reaching 4000 degrees F. Part of Batch image transfer from Flickr.

VANDENBERG AFB - Engineers move the payload fairing into place for NASA's IRIS spacecraft. The fairing connects to the nose of the Orbital Sciences Pegasus XL rocket that will lift the solar observatory into orbit in June. The work is taking place in a hangar at Vandenberg Air Force Base where IRIS, short for Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph, is being prepared for launch on a Pegasus XL rocket. Scheduled for launch from Vandenberg June 26, IRIS will open a new window of discovery by tracing the flow of energy and plasma through the chromospheres and transition region into the suns corona using spectrometry and imaging. IRIS fills a crucial gap in our ability to advance studies of the sun-to-Earth connection by tracing the flow of energy and plasma through the foundation of the corona and the region around the sun known as the heliosphere.

MOJAVE DESERT, Calif. - In the Mojave Desert in California, students and engineers checkout the Garvey Spacecraft Corporation's Prospector P-18D rocket. The rocket is scheduled for launch June 15 with the RUBICS-1 payload on a high-altitude, suborbital flight. The rocket will carry four satellites made from four-inch cube sections.Collectively known as CubeSats, the satellites will record shock, vibrations and heat inside the rocket. They will not be released during the test flight, but the results will be used to prove or strengthen their designs before they are carried into orbit in 2014 on a much larger rocket. A new, lightweight carrier is also being tested for use on future missions to deploy the small spacecraft. The flight also is being watched closely as a model for trying out new or off-the-shelf technologies quickly before putting them in the pipeline for use on NASA's largest launchers. Built by several different organizations, including a university, a NASA field center

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. - In the Space Station Processing Facility, Executive Director of NASDA Koji Yamamoto (center) gets information about the facility while on a tour of KSC. Behind the group is the Japanese Experiment Module (JEM)/pressurized module. Mr. Yamamoto is at KSC for a welcome ceremony involving the arrival of JEM.

PHOTO DATE: 02-02-10LOCATION: BLDG 9NWSUBJECT: STS-133 full crew during ISS Emergency OverviewWORK ORDER: 0360-STS133ISS-02-02-10

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. -- From left, NASA Deputy Associate Administrator for Space Station and Shuttle Programs Michael Kostelnik, United Space Alliance (USA) Director of Orbiter Operations Patty Stratton, and NASA Space Shuttle Program Manager William Parsons view the underside of Shuttle Discovery in Orbiter Processing Facility Bay 3. NASA and 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.

Members of the NASA Advisory Council toured the Space Station Processing Facility high bay at Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Oct. 29, 2019. 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.

STS-131 MPLM LEONARDO MEDIA EVENT

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. -- One of several crates containing the components of the THEMIS spacecraft is offloaded from a truck at Astrotech Space Operations in Titusville, Fla. THEMIS, which stands for Time History of Events and Macroscale Interactions during Substorms, comprises five identical probes that will study the dynamic and colorful eruptions of auroras. THEMIS is scheduled to launch Feb. 15 from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station.

Artemis I Launch Director Charlie Blackwell Thompson, at right, views the Artemis I Space Launch System and Orion stack with Anthony Aquila, chief executive officer of Canoo Technologies Inc., inside High Bay 3 of the Vehicle Assembly Building at NASAs Kennedy Space Center in Florida on May 11, 2022. Canoo Technologies, was awarded a contract to design and provide the next generation of CTVs for the Artemis crewed missions. Representatives with Canoo were at the spaceport demonstrating the environmentally friendly fleet of vehicles. Artemis II will be the first Artemis mission flying crew aboard Orion. In later missions, NASA will land the first woman and the first person of color on the surface of the Moon, paving the way for a long-term lunar presence and serving as a steppingstone on the way to Mars.

At Launch Pad 39-B, a Safety Egress trainer explains the use of the slidewire basket system for emergency egress before launch to STS-95 crew members (left to right) Mission Specialist Stephen K. Robinson, , Mission Commander Curtis L. Brown (behind Robinson), Pilot Steven W. Lindsey, Payload Specialists John H. Glenn Jr., senator from Ohio, Chiaki Mukai (in front of Glenn), representing the National Space Development Agency of Japan (NASDA), Mission Specialist Pedro Duque of Spain, representing the European Space Agency, and Mission Specialist Scott E. Parazynski . The STS-95 crew are at KSC to participate in a Terminal Countdown Demonstration Test (TCDT) which includes mission familiarization activities, emergency egress training, and a simulated main engine cut-off exercise. The STS-95 mission, targeted for liftoff on Oct. 29, includes research payloads such as the Spartan solar-observing deployable spacecraft, the Hubble Space Telescope Orbital Systems Test Platform, the Internatio

Jim Green, director of NASAs Planetary Science Division, discusses NASAs Mars missions with visitors during the Smithsonian Institutions National Air and Space Museum Mars Day, celebrating the Red Planet with exhibits, speakers, and educational activities, Friday, July 21, 2017 in Washington.

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, Fla. - Standing beneath Space Shuttle Columbia's main engines, on Launch Pad 39A, the new NASA Administrator Sean O'Keefe (left) gets a close look. Columbia is scheduled to launch Feb. 28 on mission STS-109. The administrator was at KSC on an agencywide familiarization tour of NASA field centers. He was nominated for the position as administrator in November 2001 by President George W. Bush. He was sworn in Dec. 21 as the agency's 10th chief

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. - In the Orbiter Processing Facility, workers check the fit of the nose cap (right) after installation on the orbiter Atlantis. The nose cap was removed from the vehicle in May and sent back to the vendor for thorough Non-Destructive Engineering evaluation and recoating. Thermography was also performed to check for internal flaws. This procedure uses high intensity light to heat areas that are immediately scanned with an infrared camera. White Thermal Protection System blankets were reinstalled on the nose cap before installation. Processing continues on Atlantis for its future mission to the International Space Station.

Expandable Lunar Habitat (X-Hab).ILC Dover, under contract by NASA Langley Research Center, and in cooperation withNASA Johnson Space Center has designed and manufactured an expandable lunar habitat.This cylindrical habitat, or Expandable Lunar Habitat (X-Hab) is a hybrid system with twohard end caps and a deployable softgoods section in the center.

NASA Administrator Charles Bolden got a firsthand look at work being done on the four Magnetospheric Multiscale (MMS) spacecraft during his visit to the agency's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, on May 12. Standing 20 feet high inside a Goddard clean room, the spacecraft were in their "four-stack" formation, similar to how they will be arranged inside their launch vehicle. The MMS spacecraft recently completed vibration testing. With MMS as a backdrop, Bolden and Goddard Center Director Chris Scolese discussed the mission, ground testing and preparations for launch with project personnel. Read more a href= http //go.nasa.gov/1jSza7E rel= nofollow go.nasa.gov/1jSza7E /a

Altitude Combustion Stand Team Personnel

Testing of the Orion Service Module Umbilical (OSMU) was completed at the Launch Equipment Test Facility at NASAs Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The OSMU was attached to Vehicle Motion Simulator 1 for a series of simulated launch tests to validate it for installation on the mobile launcher. The test team gathered for an event to mark the end of testing. The mobile launcher tower will be equipped with a number of lines, called umbilicals that will connect to the Space Launch System rocket and Orion spacecraft for Exploration Mission-1 (EM-1). The OSMU will be located high on the mobile launcher tower and, prior to launch, will transfer liquid coolant for the electronics and air for the Environmental Control System to the Orion service module that houses these critical systems to support the spacecraft. Kennedy's Engineering Directorate is providing support to the Ground Systems Development and Operations Program for testing of the OSMU. EM-1 is scheduled to launch in 2018.

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. - On a tour of the Orbiter Processing Facility, Center Director Jim Kennedy (center) and Deputy Director Woodrow Whitlow Jr. (far left) look at the external tank door corrosion work being done on Endeavour. Next to Whitlow is Bruce Buckingham, assistant to the deputy director. Providing information, at right, are Orbiter Airframe Engineering ground area manager, and Tom Roberts, Airframe Engineering System specialist, both with United Space Alliance; and Joy Huff, with KSC Space Shuttle Processing. Endeavour is in its Orbiter Major Modification period, which began in December 2003.

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. - On a tour of the Orbiter Processing Facility, Center Director Jim Kennedy and Deputy Director Woodrow Whitlow Jr. (center, left and right) talk with Kathy Laufenberg, Orbiter Airframe Engineering ground rea manager, and Tom Roberts, Airframe Engineering System specialist, both with United Space Alliance. At far right is Bruce Buckingham, assistant to Dr. Whitlow. They are standing in front of the aft base heatshield of Endeavour, which is in its Orbiter Major Modification period that began in December 2003.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - NASA astronaut candidates Anne McClain, from left, Christina Hammock, Tyler "Nick" Hague and Jessica Meir walk through the transfer aisle of the Vehicle Assembly Building at NASA's Kennedy Space Center during a daylong set of briefings and tours of different facilities at NASA's primary launch center. The astronaut class of 2013 was selected by NASA after an extensive year-and-a-half search. The new group will help the agency push the boundaries of exploration and travel to new destinations in the solar system.

ED13-0079-09 (26 March 2013) ---- SpaceX Dragon's second operational mission ended on March 26 after three weeks attached to the International Space Station. The unmanned spacecraft splashed down in the Pacific Ocean about 214 miles off the coast of Baja California to successfully return about 2,670 pounds of science materials from the orbital outpost.

MIRANDA HOLTON GIVES OVERVIEW OF THRUST VECTOR CONTROL LAB

After arriving from New Orleans by Super Guppy, Artemis I Orion is moved to the work stand at the Operations and Checkout Building at NASA's Kennedy Space Center on Feb. 2, 2016. Part of Batch image transfer from Flickr.

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 (right) STS-98 Commander Ken Cockrell applaud the unveiling of the name Destiny given the U.S. Lab module. The lab, which is behind them on a workstand, is scheduled to be launched on Space Shuttle Endeavour in early 2000. It will become the centerpiece of scientific research on the ISS. Cockrell is part of the five-member crew expected to be aboard. The Shuttle will spend six days docked to the station while the laboratory is attached and three space walks are conducted to complete 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 b

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