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NASA Transport Aircraft Operations

Images showcasing various NASA aircraft and transport operations, including cargo loading and spacecraft deliveries at Kennedy Space Center.

USA, Arizona, Tucson, PIMA Air and Space Museum. Aero Spacelines 377-SG Super Guppy nose

VANDENBERG AIR FORCE BASE, Fla. -- NASAs Interstellar Boundary Explorer, or IBEX, spacecraft and mated Pegasus XL rocket are being attached to Orbital Sciences L-1011 aircraft for launch. IBEX is targeted for launch from the Kwajalein Atoll, a part of the Marshall Islands in the Pacific Ocean, on Oct. 19. IBEX will be launched aboard the Pegasus rocket dropped from under the wing of the L-1011 aircraft flying over the Pacific Ocean. The Pegasus will carry the spacecraft approximately 130 miles above Earth and place it in orbit. The IBEX satellite will make the first map of the boundary between the Solar System and interstellar space.

Shuttle Replica Preparations for Barge Departure

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - In the Vehicle Assembly Building at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, space shuttle Atlantis is rotated by the crane toward a vertical position above the transfer aisle. The shuttle will be lifted into High Bay 3 where it will be attached to its external fuel tank and solid rocket boosters on the mobile launcher platform. After additional preparations are made, the shuttle will be rolled out to Launch Pad 39A for a targeted launch on May 12 on the STS-125 Hubble servicing mission.

A barge arrives at the U.S. Army Outpost wharf at Port Canaveral in Florida on March 11, 2014, carrying two of the three United Launch Alliance Delta IV heavy boosters for NASAs upcoming Exploration Flight Test-1, or EFT-1, mission with the Orion spacecraft. The core booster and starboard booster will be offloaded and then transported to the Horizontal Integration Facility, or HIF, at Space Launch Complex 37 on Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. The port booster and the upper stage are planned to be shipped to Cape Canaveral in April. At the HIF, all three boosters will be processed and checked out before being moved to the nearby launch pad and hoisted into position. During the EFT-1 mission, Orion will travel farther into space than any human spacecraft has gone in more than 40 years. The data gathered during the flight will influence design decisions, validate existing computer models and innovative new approaches to space systems development, as well as reduce overall mission risks

Engineers unload ground support equipment for a June engineering test flight above Kauai, Hawaii. The test flight is part of NASA's LDSD project, which is investigating cutting-edge landing technologies that could fly on future Mars missions.

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. -- Workers on cranes circle the "Beluga" Super Transporter at the Shuttle Landing Facility, ready to help offload the Raffaello, the second Multi-Purpose Logistics Module (MPLM) for the International Space Station (ISS). One of Italy's major contributions to the ISS program, the MPLM is a reusable logistics carrier and the primary delivery system used to resupply and return station cargo requiring a pressurized environment. Weighing nearly 4.5 tons, the module measures 21 feet long and 15 feet in diameter. Raffaello will join Leonardo, the first Italian-built MPLM, in the Space Station Processing Facility for testing. NASA, Boeing, the Italian Space Agency and Alenia Aerospazio will provide engineering support

Stairs of the airplane parked at the Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport formerly called as Sahar International airport, Bombay Mumbai, Maharashtra, India Copyright: xManoejxPaateel/DinodiaxPhotox

An airplane being refuelled on a runway

Lockheed Martin crew members monitor vehicle clearance during a National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite offload from a U.S. Air Force C-5M Super Galaxy at NASA Kennedy Space Center on Merritt Island, Florida, Jan. 23, 2024. The 9th AS aircrew transported NOAAs newest weather satellite, GOES-U, to Kennedy Space Center from Buckley Space Force Base, Colorado, using its oversized carrying capacity as the largest mobility aircraft in the Air Forces inventory. GOES-U will be able to monitor severe weather, identify volcanic eruptions, measure land and sea surface temperatures, provide early alerts to emergency responders during wildfires and observe solar flares that could impact telecommunication on and around Earth.

The NASA 747 Shuttle Carrier Aircraft (SCA) in position beneath the Space Shuttle Endeavour OV-105 (Orbiter Vehicle-105), suspended with a massive lifting structure, at Rockwell International's Air Force Plant 42, Site 1, at Palmdale. The shuttle will be attached to the 747 SCA for transporting to the Kennedy Space Center, FLorida. Exact Date Shot Unknown. State: California (CA) Country: United States Of America (USA)

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - Cranes remove a full-size replica of a space shuttle external fuel tank from the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex as the space-themed attraction makes way for a new exhibit featuring space shuttle Atlantis, which is currently undergoing preparations to go on public display. The tank is being placed into temporary storage at NASA's Kennedy Space Center. The tank was part of a mockup of the external tank and two solid rocket boosters at the visitor complex that were used to show visitors the size of actual space shuttle components. A space shuttle rode piggyback on the tank and boosters at liftoff and during the ascent into space. The tank, which held propellants for the shuttle's three main engines, was not reused, but burned up in the atmosphere and fell into the ocean.

NASA's Super Guppy airplane arrives in New Orleans, Louisiana on Jan. 31, 2016. The Guppy will transport Orion's Artemis I crew module pressure vessel to Kennedy Space Center for final assembly. Part of Batch image transfer from Flickr.

T&R Endeavour, LH Oms Pod Lift and Move for Installation

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- At NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, preparations are under way to offload External Tank-138 from the Pegasus barge docked in the turn basin near the Vehicle Assembly Building. The external fuel tank arrived in Florida on July 13, from NASA's Michoud Assembly Facility near New Orleans. ET-138, the last newly manufactured tank, was originally designated to fly on Endeavour's STS-134 mission to the International Space Station, but later reassigned to fly on space shuttle Atlantis' final mission, STS-135.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- At NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, Orbiter Processing Facility-1 (OPF-1) is ready to receive space shuttle Discovery, parked outside the hangar door. Until this morning, shuttle Endeavour was undergoing decommissioning activities in the bay. Endeavour temporarily is being placed in storage in the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB). Both shuttles stopped briefly outside OPF-3 for a "nose-to-nose" photo opportunity. In OPF-1, Discovery will undergo further preparations for public display at the Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center in Virginia. Endeavour will be stored in the VAB until October when it will be moved into OPF-2 for further work to get it ready for public display at the California Science Center in Los Angeles.

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. - A closeup of crawler-transporter (CT) number 2 shows the cab (left, above the tracks) that recently underwent modifications. The CT is transporting a Mobile Launch Platform (MLP) on a test run to the pad. The CT moves Space Shuttle vehicles, situated on the MLP, between the VAB and launch pad. Moving on four double-tracked crawlers, the CT uses a laser guidance system and a leveling system for the journey that keeps the top of a Space Shuttle vertical within plus- or minus-10 minutes of arc. The system enables the CT-MLP-Shuttle to negotiate the ramp leading to the launch pads and keep the load level. Unloaded, the CT weighs 6 million pounds. Seen on top of the MLP are two tail service masts that support the fluid, gas and electrical requirements of the orbiters liquid oxygen and liquid hydrogen aft umbilicals.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- On the Skid Strip at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida, workers unload the first stage of the United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket slated to launch NASA's Juno spacecraft from a Volga-Dnepr Antonov AN-124-100, a Ukranian/Russian cargo aircraft.Juno is scheduled to launch aboard an Atlas V rocket from Cape Canaveral, Fla., Aug. 5.The solar-powered spacecraft will orbit Jupiter's poles 33 times to find out more about the gas giant's origins, structure, atmosphere and magnetosphere and investigate the existence of a solid planetary core.

A right side view of a BQM-748 target drone mounted on a DC-130A Hercules aircraft during operational test and evaluation exercises conducted by the Missile Targets Division of the Naval Air Warfare Center Weapons Division. Base: Naval Air Station, Point Mugu State: California (CA) Country: United States Of America (USA)

Low angle view of a missile, Pearl Harbor, Honolulu, Oahu, Hawaii Islands, USA

041021-F-9429S-007. Subject Operation/Series: CRISIS OUTLOOK 2004 Base: Phelps-Collins Angb, Alpena State: Michigan (MI) Country: United States Of America (USA)

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - The moon is overhead at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, as the space shuttle Atlantis is transported on a 10-mile journey to the Kennedy Visitor Complex where it will be put on public display.As part of transition and retirement of the Space Shuttle Program, Atlantis is to be displayed at Kennedy's Visitor Complex beginning in the summer of 2013. Over the course of its 26-year career, Atlantis traveled 125,935,769 miles during 307 days in space over 33 missions.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - At NASAs Kennedy Space Center in Florida, a crane is used to load a space shuttle solid rocket booster and an external fuel tank on trucks for transport to separate museums.The solid rocket boosters, or SRBs, will be displayed at the California Science Center in Los Angeles. The external tank soon will be transported for display at the Wings of Dreams Aviation Museum at Keystone Heights Airport between Gainesville and Jacksonville, Fla. The 149-foot SRBs together provided six million pounds of thrust. The external fuel tank contained over 500,000 gallons of liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen propellant for the shuttle orbiters' three main engines. The work is part of Transition and Retirement of the space shuttle.

The space shuttle Discovery is suspended from a sling held by two cranes shortly after the NASA 747 Shuttle Carrier Aircraft (SCA) was pushed back from underneath at Washington Dulles International Airport, Thursday, April 19, 2012, in Sterling, VA. Discovery, the first orbiter retired from NASAs shuttle fleet, completed 39 missions, spent 365 days in space, orbited the Earth 5,830 times, and traveled 148,221,675 miles. NASA will transfer Discovery to the National Air and Space Museum to begin its new mission to commemorate past achievements in space and to educate and inspire future generations of explorers.

T&R Endeavour, Alta Pod Installation/Demo, Enterprise/Smithsonian, Day 2

NORFOLK (Nov. 26, 2012) U.S. Navy Sailors assist with the onload of the X-47B Unmanned Combat Air System (UCAS) demonstrator aboard the aircraft carrier USS Harry S. Truman (CVN 75). The air vehicle arrived by barge from Naval Air Station Patuxent River, Md. Truman is the first aircraft carrier to host test operations for an unmanned aircraft. The Navy plans to conduct X-47B carrier deck handling tests aboard the ship.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - At the Shuttle Landing Facility at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, the ExPRESS Logistics Carrier 3, or ELC-3, is secured on the bed of the truck which will transport it to the Space Station Processing Facility. At left is the U.S. Air Force C-5 aircraft on which it arrived.ELC-3 and the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer are the primary payloads for space shuttle Endeavour's STS-134 mission to the International Space Station. The STS-134 crew will also deliver spare parts including two S-band communications antennas, a high pressure gas tank, additional spare parts for Dextre and micrometeoroid debris shields. Endeavour's launch is targeted for July 29, 2010.

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. -- In the transfer aisle of the Vehicle Assembly Building, space shuttle Endeavour waits for the overhead crane (upper right) to be attached. The crane will raise and then lift Endeavour into high bay 1. There, Endeavour will be attached to its external fuel tank and solid rocket boosters in preparation for its upcoming mission, STS-123, to the International Space Station targeted for March 11. The mission will deliver the first section of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency's Kibo laboratory and the Canadian Space Agency's two-armed robotic system, Dextre.

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. - The Pegasus barge is docked in the turn basin close by the Vehicle Assembly Building. The barge delivered the redesigned external fuel tank that will launch Space Shuttle Discovery on the next shuttle mission, STS-121, from the Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans to NASA's Kennedy Space Center. After off-loading, the tank will be moved into the Vehicle Assembly Building and lifted into a checkout cell for further work. The tank, designated ET-119, will fly with many major safety changes, including the removal of the protuberance air load ramps. A large piece of foam from a ramp came off during the last shuttle launch in July 2005. The ramps were removed to eliminate a potential source of damaging debris to the space shuttle. The next launch of Discovery is scheduled for May 2006.

NASA and United Space Alliance workers lower a yellow sling onto space shuttle Enterprise, which sits atop NASA's 747 Shuttle Carrier Aircraft (SCA) prior to it being demated a few hours later at John F. Kennedy (JFK) International Airport in New York, Saturday, May 12, 2012. Once the sling was firmly attached early Sunday morning, Enterprise was lifted from the SCA. The shuttle will be placed on a barge that will move by tugboat up the Hudson River to Intrepid in June. The shuttle will be lifted by crane and placed on the flight deck of the Intrepid, where it will be on exhibit to the public starting this summer in a temporary climate-controlled pavilion.

An Orbital Sciences Corporation Antares rocket is seen as it is rolled out to launch Pad-0A at NASA's Wallops Flight Facility, Sunday, January 5, 2014 in advance of a planned Wednesday, Jan. 8th, 1:32 p.m. EST launch, Wallops Island, VA. The Antares will launch a Cygnus spacecraft on a cargo resupply mission to the International Space Station. The Orbital-1 mission is Orbital Sciences' first contracted cargo delivery flight to the space station for NASA. Among the cargo aboard Cygnus set to launch to the space station are science experiments, crew provisions, spare parts and other hardware.

Supplies are off-loaded from a C-141B Starlifter aircraft. The aircraft, from Military Airlift Command, will provide logistics support for exercise Kangaroo '81. Subject Operation/Series: KANGAROO '81 Base: Raaf Amberley State: Queensland Country: Australia (AUS)

The E-4B is the national airborne operations center based at Offutt Air Force Base, Nebraska, and supports the president, secretary of defense and chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. (U.S. Air Force photo by Lance Cheung)

A Northrop Grumman Antares rocket is seen as it rolls out to Pad-0A, Monday, April 15, 2019 at NASA's Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia. Northrop Grummans 11th contracted cargo resupply mission with NASA to the International Space Station will deliver about 7,600 pounds of science and research, crew supplies and vehicle hardware to the orbital laboratory and its crew.

050125-F-8164Z-004. Base: Christchurch Country: New Zealand (NZL)

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - Space shuttle Atlantis backs out of the Vehicle Assembly Building at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida for its 10-mile trip to the Kennedy Visitor Complex where it will be put on public display.As part of transition and retirement of the Space Shuttle Program, Atlantis is to be displayed at Kennedy's Visitor Complex beginning in the summer of 2013. Over the course of its 26-year career, Atlantis traveled 125,935,769 miles during 307 days in space over 33 missions.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - The external fuel tank for space shuttle Endeavour's STS-126 mission to the International Space Station is offloaded from the Pegasus barge at the turn basin dock near the Vehicle Assembly Building at NASA's Kennedy Space Center. The tank arrived earlier after a six-day ocean voyage towed by a solid rocket booster retrieval ship from the Michoud Assembly Facility near New Orleans. The tank will be transported to the VAB transfer aisle, lifted and lowered into a checkout cell. The STS-126 mission will deliver a Multi-Purpose Logistics Module to the International Space Station. Launch is targeted for Nov. 10.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - A United Launch Alliance technicians drives the transporter that carries the Delta IV Heavy rocket to the pad at Space Launch Complex 37 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. The rocket is secured on the Elevated Platform Transporter. The Delta IV Heavy will launch Orion on Exploration Flight Test-1.During its first flight test, Orion will travel farther into space than any human spacecraft has gone in more than 40 years. The data gathered during the flight will influence design decisions, validate existing computer models and innovative new approaches to space systems development, as well as reduce overall mission risks and costs for later Orion flights. Liftoff of Orion on the first flight test is planned for December 2014.

A Navy Mark V special operations craft, a 50-ton, 82-foot-long speed boat used to insert and extract SEAL combat swimmers in and out of high-threat areas, is squeezed into a C-5 Galaxy aircraft from the 349th Air Mobility Wing, Travis Air Force Base, California, with only inches to spare. Not only do the loadmasters manage to wedge the boat aboard as well as the 18-wheel tractor trailor it sits on, but they also fit in a "deuce-and-a-half" truck (not shown), and a High-Mobility Multipurpose Wheeled Vehicle (HMMWV)and trailer (not shown). The Mark V and its trailer were constructed with the C-5 and rapid global mobility in mind. This photograph was used in the October 1999 issue of AIRMAN .... Complete Scene Caption: A Navy Mark V special operations craft, a 50-ton, 82-foot-long speed boat used to insert and extract SEAL combat swimmers in and out of high-threat areas, is squeezed into a C-5 Galaxy aircraft from the 349th Air Mobility Wing, Travis Air Force Base, California, with only

With its rotors removed a Bell UH-1N operated by Helicopters New Zealand LTD, is pushed, pulled and guided up the ramp into the cargo bay of a C-141C Starlifter. The C-141 from the 452nd Air Mobility Wing, March Air Reserve Base, California, will deliver the helicopter to McMurdo Station at Ross Island in Antarctica as part of the Operation DEEP FREEZE 2001 resupply mission. Subject Operation/Series: DEEP FREEZE 2001 Base: Christchurch State: Canterbury Country: New Zealand (NZL) Scene Major Command Shown: AMC

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - Inside the Vehicle Assembly Building at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, the driver of the crawler-transporter (upper left) slowly maneuvers the huge vehicle under the mobile launcher platform holding the 327-foot-tall Ares I-X rocket. The crawler-transporter will carry the rocket on the 4.2-mile journey to Launch Pad 39B. The transfer of the pad from the Space Shuttle Program to the Constellation Program took place May 31. Modifications made to the pad include the removal of shuttle unique subsystems, such as the orbiter access arm and a section of the gaseous oxygen vent arm, along with the installation of three 600-foot lightning towers, access platforms, environmental control systems and a vehicle stabilization system. Part of the Constellation Program, the Ares I-X is the test vehicle for the Ares I. The Ares I-X flight test is targeted for Oct. 27.

A loaded cargo sled pulls away from the ramp of a C-141C Starlifter from Christchurch, New Zealand. It is parked on the Ross Ice Shelf near McMurdo Station in Antarctica, during Operation DEEP FREEZE 2001. Subject Operation/Series: DEEP FREEZE 2001 Base: Mcmurdo Station Country: Antarctica (ATA)

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - The Radiation Belt Storm Probes, or RBSP, spacecraft are moved inside their payload fairing on the payload transporter from the Astrotech payload processing facility in Titusville, Fla. to Space Launch Complex-41 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. The fairing, which holds the twin RBSP spacecraft, will be lifted to the top of a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket for launch later in August. The two spacecraft are designed to study the Van Allen radiation belts in unprecedented detail.

A close-up of landing gear on the first C-5A Galaxy aircraft to be transferred to the 105th Military Airlift group, New York Air National Guard, at Stewart International Airport. Base: Newburgh State: New York (NY) Country: United States Of America (USA)

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - At the Shuttle Landing Facility at NASAs Kennedy Space Center in Florida, operations are under way to lift space shuttle Discovery onto the Shuttle Carrier Aircraft in the background with the aid of the mate-demate device.The device, known as the MDD, is a large gantry-like steel structure used to hoist a shuttle off the ground and position it onto the back of the aircraft, or SCA. The SCA is a Boeing 747 jet, originally manufactured for commercial use, which was modified by NASA to transport the shuttles between destinations on Earth. The SCA designated NASA 905 is assigned to the remaining ferry missions, delivering the shuttles to their permanent public display sites. NASA 905 is scheduled to ferry Discovery to the Washington Dulles International Airport in Virginia on April 17, after which the shuttle will be placed on display in the Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center.

The Soyuz rocket is rolled out by train to the launch pad, Tuesday, Oct. 9, 2018 at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. Expedition 57 crewmembers Nick Hague of NASA and Alexey Ovchinin of Roscosmos are scheduled to launch on October 11 and will spend the next six months living and working aboard the International Space Station.

The first half of the United Launch Alliance (ULA) Delta II rocket payload fairing is transported from NASA's Building 836 to ULA's Building B8337 at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. NASA's Ice, Cloud and land Elevation Satellite-2 (ICESat-2) will launch later this year on the final Delta II rocket. ICESat-2 will measure the height of a changing Earth, one laser pulse at a time, 10,000 laser pulses a second. The satellite will carry a single instrument, the Advanced Topographic Laser Altimeter System. ICESat-2 will help scientists investigate why, and how much our planet's frozen and icy areas, called the cryosphere, is changing in a warming climate.

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

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - At NASAs Kennedy Space Center in Florida, space shuttle Atlantis has been towed to the doors of Orbiter Processing Facility-1 after being towed from the Vehicle Assembly Building. The work is part of the Space Shuttle Programs transition and retirement processing of the three space shuttles. Atlantis is being prepared for display at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex and is scheduled to rollover to the complex in November.

NEW ORLEANS -- Workers escort the Space Shuttle Program's last external fuel tank, ET-122, from NASA's Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans onto the Pegasus Barge. The tank will travel 900 miles by sea to NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida secured aboard the barge, offloaded and moved to Kennedy's Vehicle Assembly Building where it will be integrated to space shuttle Endeavour for the STS-134 mission to the International Space Station.The tank, which is the largest element of the space shuttle stack, was damaged during Hurricane Katrina in August 2005 and restored to flight configuration by Lockheed Martin Space Systems Company employees. STS-134, targeted to launch Feb. 2011, currently is scheduled to be the last mission in the Space Shuttle Program.

Fouga Magister jet trainers in use in the joint Belgian and Dutch continued flight training (VVO) at the Brustem airport (Belgium).

The Orbital Sciences Corporation Antares rocket, with the Cygnus spacecraft onboard, is rolled out of the Horizontal Integration Facility (HIF) to begin the approximately half-mile journey to launch Pad-0A, Thursday, July 10, 2014, at NASA's Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia. The Antares will launch with the Cygnus spacecraft filled with over 3,000 pounds of supplies for the International Space Station, including science experiments, experiment hardware, spare parts, and crew provisions. The Orbital-2 mission is Orbital Sciences' second contracted cargo delivery flight to the space station for NASA.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- A hangar at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida fills up with new aircraft for the company Starfighters Inc. The blue and white aircraft is part of the company's original fleet of supersonic aircraft. The gray aircraft is one of five delivered to the company recently. They will be reassembled to fly research and development and other missions. They have been used to fly research and development and other missions. Starfighters operates out of a hangar at the Shuttle Landing Facility at Kennedy under an agreement with Kennedy.

Boats on land

The Soyuz TMA-17 spacecraft is rolled out by train to the launch pad at the Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan, Friday, Dec. 18, 2009. The launch of the Soyuz spacecraft with Expedition 22 NASA Flight Engineer Timothy J. Creamer of the U.S., Soyuz Commander Oleg Kotov of Russia and Flight Engineer Soichi Noguchi of Japan, is scheduled for Monday, Dec., 21, 2009 at 3:52a.m. Kazakhstan time.

NASA N941NA is the last Super Guppy Turbine Cargo Airplane in service.

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. - At the Skid Strip on Cape Canaveral Air Force Station (CCAFS), a crane lifts the second stage Centaur onto the back of a transporter trailer. The Centaur is the upper stage of the Atlas V configuration that will launch the New Horizons spacecraft from Launch Complex 41 at CCAFS. New Horizons is designed to help us understand worlds at the edge of our solar system by making the first reconnaissance of Pluto and Charon - a 'double planet' and the last planet in our solar system to be visited by spacecraft. The mission will then visit one or more objects in the Kuiper Belt region beyond Neptune. New Horizons is scheduled to launch in January 2006, swing past Jupiter for a gravity boost and scientific studies in February or March 2007, and reach Pluto and its moon, Charon, in July 2015.

Flight Research Inc.s Bell OH-58C Kiowa helicopter departs the leeward heliport at NASAs Armstrong Flight Research Center in California in March 2021. The Advanced Air Mobility National Campaign project studied wind and structure interactions as part of a second phase of testing called build II. This helicopter was used as a surrogate urban air mobility or air taxi vehicle.

The Soyuz rocket is rolled out by train to the launch pad, Monday, March 19, 2018 at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. Expedition 55 crewmembers Ricky Arnold and Drew Feustel of NASA and Oleg Artemyev of Roscosmos are scheduled to launch at 1:44 p.m. Eastern time (11:44 p.m. Baikonur time) on March 21 and will spend the next five months living and working aboard the International Space Station.

NASA N941NA Superguppy lands at the Moffett Field.Cargo is loaded into the Super Guppy when the aircraft's "fold-away" nose rotates 110 degrees to the left, allowing unobstructed access to the 25 foot diameter fuselage.

Orion Spacecraft Arrives in Ohio Aboard the Super Guppy at Mansfield Lahm Airport

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - The external fuel tank, ET- 132, designated for use with space shuttle Discovery on the STS-128 mission is moved away from the turn basin, heading for a high bay in the Vehicle Assembly Building, at left, for checkout. On the STS-128 mission, Discovery will carry science and storage racks to the International Space Station. Launch of Discovery is targeted for Aug. 6.

The United States Air Force Air Demonstration Squadron, known as the Thunderbirds, perform for the Airshow London Skydrive in London, Ontario, Sept. 10, 2022. Airshow London was one of two performances in Canada this year for the Thunderbirds.

The Mars Climate Orbiter spacecraft is moved onto a flatbed for transport to the Spacecraft Assembly and Encapsulation Facility-2 (SAEF-2). It arrived at KSC's Shuttle Landing Facility aboard an Air Force C-17 cargo plane early this morning following its flight from the Lockheed Martin Astronautics plant in Denver, Colo. When it arrives at the red planet, the Mars Climate Orbiter will primarily support its companion Mars Polar Lander spacecraft, planned for launch on Jan. 3, 1999. After that, the Mars Climate Orbiter's instruments will monitor the Martian atmosphere and image the planet's surface on a daily basis for one Martian year (1.8 Earth years). It will observe the appearance and movement of atmospheric dust and water vapor, as well as characterize seasonal changes on the surface. The detailed images of the surface features will provide important clues to the planet's early climate history and give scientists more information about possible liquid water reserves beneath the surf

STS-131 ET-135 Offload from Barge & Xfer to VAB

The international airport. Nuuk the capital of Greenland, Denmark (Editorial Use Only)

VANDENBERG AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. - The transporter rolls away from Orbital Sciences L-1011 carrier aircraft at the “hot pad,” located on the ramp adjacent to the runway on Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. Operations to attach NASAs Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array, or NuSTAR, mated to Orbital Sciences Pegasus XL rocket, beneath the L-1011 aircraft are complete.The duo will be flown from Vandenberg to the U.S. Army's Ronald Reagan Ballistic Missile Defense Test Site on Kwajalein Atoll, part of the Marshall Islands in the Pacific Ocean. The Pegasus and its NuSTAR payload will be launched June 13 from the carrier aircraft 117 nautical miles south of Kwajalein at latitude 6.75 degrees north of the equator. The high-energy X-ray telescope will conduct a census of black holes, map radioactive material in young supernovae remnants, and study the origins of cosmic rays and the extreme physics around collapsed stars.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - At NASAs Kennedy Space Center in Florida, a twin set of space shuttle solid rocket boosters are being transported by truck to California.The solid rocket boosters, or SRBs, will be displayed at the California Science Center in Los Angeles. The 149-foot SRBs together provided six million pounds of thrust. The work is part of Transition and Retirement of the space shuttle.

Two jet bridges on the runway, seen from an airport concourse.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- A unique glimpse of operations at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida shows space shuttle Discovery, at right, approaching shuttle Endeavour outside Orbiter Processing Facility-3 (OPF-3). Discovery, which temporarily was being stored in the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB), is switching places with Endeavour, which has been undergoing decommissioning in OPF-1. Both shuttles will stop briefly outside OPF-3 for a "nose-to-nose" photo opportunity. Discovery then will be rolled into OPF-1 and Endeavour into the VAB.The image was taken from the top of the VAB. In OPF-1, Discovery will undergo further preparations for public display at the Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center in Virginia. Endeavour will be stored in the VAB until October when it will be moved into OPF-2 for further work to get it ready for public display at the California Science Center in Los Angeles.

(TRACT) Transport Rotorcraft Aircraft Testbed: Helicopter airframe drop test at NASA Langley's Landing and Impact Research Facility (LandIR)

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- The Space Shuttle Program's last external fuel tank, ET-122, moves into the Vehicle Assembly Building at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The tank traveled 900 miles by sea from NASA's Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans to Kennedy's Turn Basin aboard the Pegasus Barge. The tank eventually will be attached to space shuttle Endeavour for the STS-134 mission to the International Space Station. STS-134, targeted to launch in Feb. 2011, currently is scheduled to be the last mission in the shuttle program. The tank, which is the largest element of the space shuttle stack, was damaged during Hurricane Katrina in August 2005 and restored to flight configuration by Lockheed Martin Space Systems Company employees.

VANDENBERG AFB, Calif. - A truck moves the first stage booster of a United Launch Alliance Atlas V to Space Launch Complex-3E at Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif. in preparation for the launch of the Landsat Data Continuity Mission. The Landsat Data Continuity Mission, or 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. Launch is planned for Feb. 2013.

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. -- The STS-38 flight crew disembark from the orbiter Atlantis after a successful landing at KSC's Shuttle Landing Facility. From bottom up are Commander Richard Covey, Pilot Frank Culbertson and Mission Specialists Robert Springer, Charles Gemar and Carl Meade.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- Aboard its transporter, space shuttle Discovery rolls into the transfer aisle of the Vehicle Assembly Building at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Discovery left Orbiter Processing Facility 3 at 2:30 p.m. EST. In the VAB, Discovery will be attached to its external fuel tank and twin solid rocket boosters. After additional preparations are made, the shuttle will be rolled out to Launch Pad 39A for a targeted launch to the International Space Station on Feb. 12.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - At NASA Kennedy Space Centers Shuttle Landing Facility in Florida, space shuttle Discovery is shown attached atop the Shuttle Carrier Aircraft, or SCA, as it backs away from the mate/demate device. Known as the MDD, the devise is a large gantry-like steel structure used to hoist a shuttle off the ground and position it onto the back of the SCA.The SCA is a Boeing 747 jet that was originally manufactured for commercial use and modified by NASA to transport the shuttles between destinations on Earth. This SCA, designated NASA 905, is assigned to the remaining ferry missions, delivering the shuttles to their permanent public display sites. NASA 905 is scheduled to ferry Discovery to the Washington Dulles International Airport in Virginia on April 17, after which the shuttle will be placed on display in the Smithsonians National Air and Space Museum, Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center in Chantilly, Va.

Orion's European Service Module is loaded on the Antonov airplane in Bremen, Germany on Nov. 5, 2018 for transport to Kennedy Space Center...For the first time, NASA will use a European-built system as a critical element to power an American spacecraft, extending the international cooperation of the International Space Station into deep space. The European Service Module is a unique collaboration across space agencies and industry including ESAs prime contractor, Airbus, and 10 European countries. The completion of service module work in Europe and shipment to Kennedy signifies a major milestone toward NASAs human deep space exploration missions to the Moon and beyond.

An Orbital ATK rocket is seen as it is rolled out to launch Pad-0A at Wallops Flight Facility Thursday, May 17, 2018 at Wallops Island, VA. The Antares will launch a Cygnus spacecraft on a cargo resupply mission to the International Space Station. The mission is Orbital ATKs ninth contracted cargo delivery flight to the space station for NASA. Included in the 7,400 pounds of cargo onboard Cygnus, are science experiments, crew supplies, and vehicle hardware.

Super Guppy arrival and (MBB) Multi-Bay Box Delivery ; Super Guppy arrival and MBB Delivery: super Guppy arrival at NASA Langley hangar, and unloading of (MBB) multi-bay box, transport of MBB to COLTS and move into building 1256.

The test version of the Orion crew module is transported to the USS San Diego at Naval Base San Diego in California. NASA, Orion manufacturer Lockheed Martin and the U.S. Navy will head out to sea with the Orion test spacecraft aboard for Underway Recovery Test 5 (URT-5) in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of California. During URT-5, the team will demonstrate and evaluate the recovery processes, procedures, hardware and personnel necessary for recovery of Orion on its return from a deep space mission. Orion is the exploration spacecraft designed to carry astronauts to destinations not yet explored by humans, including an asteroid and NASA Journey to Mars. It will have emergency abort capability, sustain the crew during space travel and provide safe re-entry from deep space return velocities. Orion is scheduled to launch atop NASAs Space Launch System rocket in 2018.

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. - External Tank 118 (ET-118) moves from the Vehicle Assembly Building, in the background, toward the barge in the Turn Basin at Launch Complex 39. The tank will be transported to NASAs Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans. The tank is being installed with an improved bipod fitting, which connects the external fuel tank to the Shuttle during launch. The new design, a significant milestone in the effort to return the Shuttle to safe flight, replaces the foam that was used to prevent ice buildup on the tanks bipod fittings with four rod-shaped heaters. The heaters are being retrofitted on the 11 existing tanks and incorporated into the manufacture of all new tanks.

FERNANDINA BEACH, Fla. (March 26, 2013) MZ-3A, the U.S. Navy's only airship currently in operation, moored at Fernandina Beach Municipal Airport. The airship is visiting U.S. 4th Fleet for a capabilities demonstration as a potential search and detect platform for Counter Transnational Organized Crimes operations in South and Central America and the Caribbean Sea.

An Airbus Beluga” air cargo plane, The Super Transporter, taxis onto the parking apron at KSC’s Shuttle Landing Facility. Its cargo, from the factory of Alenia Aerospazio in Turin, Italy, is the Italian Space Agency’s Multi-Purpose Logistics Module Donatello, the third of three for the International Space Station. The module will be transported to the Space Station Processing Facility for processing. Among the activities for the payload test team are integrated electrical tests with other Station elements in the SSPF, leak tests, electrical and software compatibility tests with the Space Shuttle (using the Cargo Integrated Test equipment) and an Interface Verification Test once the module is installed in the Space Shuttle’s payload bay at the launch pad. The most significant mechanical task to be performed on Donatello in the SSPF is the installation and outfitting of the racks for carrying the various experiments and cargo

A Cochran elevator loader is used to load a truck through the side rear door of a 747 cargo aircraft during Operation Ocean Venture '82. Subject Operation/Series: OCEAN VENTURE '82 Base: Fort Campbell State: Kentucky (KY) Country: United States Of America (USA)

The United Launch Alliance (ULA) Atlas V payload fairing transits from Building 7525 to the Astrotech Processing Facility at Vandenberg Space Force Base (VSFB) in California on Aug. 10, 2022, for NASA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administrations (NOAA) Joint Polar Satellite System-2 (JPSS-2) satellite mission. JPSS-2 is the third satellite in the Joint Polar Satellite System series. It is scheduled to lift off from VSFB on Nov. 1 from Space Launch Complex-3. JPSS-2, which will be renamed NOAA-21 after reaching orbit, will join a constellation of JPSS satellites that orbit from the North to the South pole, circling Earth 14 times a day and providing a full view of the entire globe twice daily. The NOAA/NASA Suomi National Polar-orbiting Partnership (Suomi NPP) satellite, and NOAA-20, previously known as JPSS-1, are both already in orbit. Each satellite carries at least four advanced instruments to measure weather and climate conditions on Earth. Launching as a secondary pay

The Boeing CST-100 Starliner spacecraft arrives at the Vertical Integration Facility at Space Launch Complex 41 at Floridas Cape Canaveral Air Force Station on Nov. 21, 2019. Starliner will be secured atop a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket for Boeings Orbital Flight Test to the International Space Station for NASAs Commercial Crew Program. The spacecraft rolled out from Boeings Commercial Crew and Cargo Processing Facility at NASAs Kennedy Space Center earlier in the day.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - The space shuttle crew transport vehicle is loaded onto a barge for the first leg of its journey from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida to the Wings of Dreams Aviation Museum located at Keystone Heights Airport in North Central Florida. Also joining the vehicle at Wings of Dreams is an orange flight test article external fuel tank, or ET, an ET transporter, crew hatch access vehicle, solid rocket booster, or SRB, aft skirt and SRB frustum. Thousands of unique space shuttle era artifacts are being allocated to facilities across the country for their new missions to educate and inspire America's next generation of explorers.

Australia, South Australia, Woomera. Woomera Rocket Launch Base. (Editorial Usage Only)

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - A large truck hauls a full-size, 149-foot-long, space shuttle solid rocket booster, or SRB, replica from the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex as the space-themed attraction makes way for a new exhibit featuring space shuttle Atlantis, which is currently undergoing preparations to go on public display. The SRB is being placed into temporary storage at NASA's Kennedy Space Center. The SRB was part of a mockup of the external tank and two SRBs at the visitor complex that were used to show visitors the size of actual space shuttle components. A space shuttle rode piggyback on the tank and boosters at liftoff and during the ascent into space. The SRBs burned out after about two-and-a-half minutes of flight. After recovery from the ocean, the boosters could be used repeatedly.

Rockets at the International Space Hall of Fame, Alamogordo, New Mexico, Usa

SAN DIEGO, Calif. - Workers prepare the base of the crew module transportation fixture for the Orion boilerplate test vehicle at the Mole Pier at Naval Base San Diego in California. The test vehicle will be moved from the pier to a warehouse hangar at the naval base. The Ground Systems Development and Operations Program, Lockheed Martin and the U.S. Navy are evaluating the hardware and processes for preparing the Orion crew module for Exploration Flight Test-1, or EFT-1, for overland transport from the naval base to NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida.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 Delta IV rocket from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida t

Sportscars competing in the illegal car-race "Gumball 3000" are loaded into two Antonov cargo-aircrafts. Frankfurt/Hahn, Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany, Europe

A flatbed truck carrying the United Launch Alliance booster for NASAs Mars Perseverance rover departs the Skid Strip at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station (CCAFS) in Florida on May 19, 2020. The booster arrived aboard the Antonov 124 cargo aircraft at the Skid Strip on May 18, 2020. The Mars Perseverance rover is scheduled to launch in mid-July atop a United Launch Alliance Atlas V 541 rocket from Pad 41 at CCAFS. The rover is part of NASAs Mars Exploration Program, a long-term effort of robotic exploration of the Red Planet. The rover will search for habitable conditions in the ancient past and signs of past microbial life on Mars. The Launch Services Program at Kennedy is responsible for launch management.

NASA's Orion spacecraft is offloaded from the U.S. Navy's USS Anchorage on Dec. 8, 2014. The Anchoraged retried Orion from the Pacific Ocean after it splashed down on Dec. 5 following its first flight test. Having traveled 60,000 miles in space and 600 at sea, Orion will now be prepared for a 2,500 mile roadtrip back to NASA's Kennedy Space Center.. Part of Batch image transfer from Flickr.

crashed car

At Buckley Air Force Base in Aurora, Colorado, the front of a U.S. Air Force C-5M super Galaxy cargo aircraft has been raised to allow NOAA's Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite-S (GOES-S) to be loaded into the cargo hold. GOES-S will be flown to NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. After it arrives at Kennedy's Shuttle Landing Facility, it will be offloaded and transported to the Astrotech Space Operations facility in Titusville, Florida, to prepare it for launch. GOES-S is the second in a series of four advanced geostationary weather satellites. The GOES-R series - consisting of the GOES-R, GOES-S, GOES-T and GOES-U spacecraft - will significantly improve the detection and observation of environmental phenomena that directly affect public safety, protection of property and the nation's economic health and prosperity. GOES-S is slated to launch March 1, 2018 aboard a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida.

sheaf square cutting edge sculpture by brett payne, chris knight and keith tyssen in stainless steel

USA, Florida, Miami-area, Kendall, Wings Over Miami Air Museum at Tamiami Executive Airport, US-made A-26 bomber in anti-Castro Cuban markings as used during the Bay of Pigs Invasion in 1961.

Hurricane Katrina, New Orleans, La., September 1, 2005 -- Evacuees and patients leave on a C-140 Med-Vac from New Orleans airport where FEMA's D-MATs have set up operations.

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