NASA's Spacecraft Operations

Photographs of spacecraft undergoing processing and transportation at Kennedy Space Center, highlighting operations with a focus on aeronautics.

USA, Florida, Titusville, Kennedy Space Center, Apollo/Saturn V center, NASA, Saturn V.
USA, Florida, Titusville, Kennedy Space Center, Apollo/Saturn V center, NASA, Saturn V.
159 assets in this story
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Houston, USA, January 26, 2013: Saturn V rocket on display at Houston Space Center in Texas, USA, North America
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A KC-135 Stratotanker assigned to the 914th Air Refueling Wing at Niagara Falls Air Reserve Station, New York, sits in a hangar while undergoing engine maintenance on Oct. 18, 2022. The KC-135 struck a bird mid-flight and needed repairs before being declared safe to fly again.
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Space Shuttle In Hangar
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Trains
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KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. - The Crawler-Transporter carries Space Shuttle Discovery and the Mobile Launcher Platform to Launch Pad 39B. The crawler is operated by a United Space Alliance driver, seen in the cab above the crawler tracks. The transporter uses a laser guidance system and a leveling system for the journey that keeps the top of the Space Shuttle vertical. This is the second rollout of Discovery after being returned to the Vehicle Assembly Building for connection to an improved External Tank. Launch of Discovery on its Return to Flight mission STS-114 is targeted for a launch window extending from July 13 to July 31.
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Cars in a museum, Detroit Historical Museum, Detroit, Michigan, USA
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Southsea, Portsmouth, England, UK, Passenger hovercraft travelling over shingle beach to the terminal.
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USA, California, Los Angeles, California Science Center, Apollo 18 capsule flown as part of the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project in 1975
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Doublebubble MIT N+3 D8 1/11 Scale Model in the 14x22 Foot Subsonic Tunnel
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Car ferry, Shetland islands, Scotland. (Large format sizes available)
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Lifeboat and port side of a cruise liner docked in Cadiz Harbour, Cadiz, Spain
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USA, Washington, Seattle. North American Aviation Apollo Command Module 007A used for testing and training by NASA, The Museum of Flight. (Large format sizes available)
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Views of the Solheimasandur Beach crashed plane in Iceland
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Pendennis Shipyard, Falmouth TR11 4NR, United Kingdom. Architect: na, 2014. Overall view from under hull.
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USA, Oregon, Portland. The Spokane Portland and Seattle 700 locomotive.
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T&R Endeavour OMS Pod Mate Test for Smithsonian Operations
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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.
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The Railton Special, later rebuilt as the Railton Mobil Special, motor vehicle designed by Reid Railton and built for John Cobb's successful attempts at the land speed record in 1938. The Railton Special took the land speed record at 353.30 mph (568.58 km/h)
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CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - At the Shuttle Landing Facility at NASAs Kennedy Space Center in Florida, preparations are under way to lift space shuttle Discovery atop 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.
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Detroit, Michigan, A life boat on the Viking Octantis luxury cruise ship. The ship visited Detroit while on a cruise through the Great Lakes.
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Rack of sculls at Radley Boathouse by the Thames.
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Grumman Aerospace Corporation chief test pilot Chuck Sewell debarks an EF-111A aircraft after the first flight during the rollout ceremony at the Grumman Riverhead Plant, Grumman Aerospace Corp. Base: Long Island State: New York (NY) Country: United States Of America (USA)
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Rack of sculls at Radley Boathouse by the Thames.
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Pendennis Shipyard, Falmouth TR11 4NR, United Kingdom. Architect: na, 2014. Overall interior view.
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High angle view of an airplane in an airplane factory, Shanghai, China
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broken crashed plane over deep blue ocean
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KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. - External tank #120, still resting on its transporter, is secured inside the barge Pegasus, docked at the Turn Basin on NASAs Kennedy Space Center. The tank and barge will be towed to NASAs Michoud Assembly Facility in Louisiana for additional modifications. This tank is the first of the newly designed tanks that were delivered to Kennedy. Previously, the tank was stacked with Discovery and, more recently, Atlantis. The tank has already gone through two tanking cycles during tanking tests but was replaced with tank #121 for Discoverys return to flight mission STS-114.
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CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - The space shuttle Atlantis is viewed by guests at Space Florida's Exploration Park where it paused during its 10-mile journey to the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex. The stop will provide a viewing opportunity before completing the trip to its new home.As part of transition and retirement of the Space Shuttle Program, Atlantis is to be displayed at Kennedy's visitor complex beginning in the summer of 2013. Over the course of its 26-year career, Atlantis traveled 125,935,769 miles during 307 days in space over 33 missions.
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Prow of livestock carrier ship Montcalm, Boston , Cargo ships. Edmund L. Mitchell Collection
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The Soyuz MS-02 spacecraft is seen while being encapsulated in its fairing on Thursday, Tuesday, Oct. 11, 2016 at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. Expedition 49 flight engineer Shane Kimbrough of NASA, flight engineer Andrey Borisenko of Roscosmos, and Soyuz commander Sergey Ryzhikov of Roscosmos are scheduled to launch from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on Oct. 19.
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London, United Kingdom, May 13, 2019: HMS Belfast warship museum interior, saw action during the second world war, is now permanently moored as a museum ship on the River Thames in London, Europe
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CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - The nose landing gear of space shuttle Endeavour is lifted during operations to raise the shuttle for securing to the Shuttle Carrier Aircraft, or SCA. The shuttle is inside the Mate-Demate Device, or MDD, at the Shuttle Landing Facility at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The SCA will carry Endeavour to Los Angeles where it will be placed on public display.
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The Orion Test Capsule was loaded on a Navy INLS "Improved Navy Lighterage System" at Fort Eustis Tuesday from where it will be transported to Little Creek Amphibious Base in Norfolk.
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F-16 Alert Jet in Hangar, Loaded with Live Weapons, Rear View, High Dynamic Range, or HDR Image
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England, Shropshire, Royal Airforce Cosford Museum, Display of Historical Aircraft
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KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, Fla. -- The Space Shuttle Atlantis sits majestically atop its Mobile Launcher Platform and a Crawler-Transporter which straddle the Launch Pad 39A flame trench. This view shows only a portion of the flame trench, which is about 450 feet long, 58 feet wide and 42 feet deep. The Shuttle has just arrived at the launch pad after the journey from the Vehicle Assembly Building. Atlantis and its crew of seven are targeted for a May 15 launch. STS-84 will be the sixth Shuttle docking with the Russian Space Station Mir as part of Phase 1 of the International Space Station program
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NASA Administrator Charles Bolden, left, is seen with Doug King, president and CEO of the Museum of Flight in Seattle, Washington on Tuesday, Jan. 15, 2013. Bolden toured the Space Shuttle Trainer Crew Compartment in the Charles Simonyi Space Gallery at the museum.
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Aircraft engine fan
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Seattle. Curtiss P-40N Warhawk nose-art and air intake. The Curtiss P-40 Warhawk was an American single-seat, all-metal fighter and ground attack aircraft that first flew in 1938. The Museum of Flight. (Large format sizes available)
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Damage caused by marten at a modern car
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England, County Durham, Shildon, Locomotion National Railway Museum, Display of Historical Train Engines
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N-257 MVSRF, Boeing 747 simulator; 747-400 cab exterior.
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Low angle view of a model airplane in a museum, Minie Mae Plane, Oklahoma History Center, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, USA
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CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- Space shuttle Endeavour navigates the crawlerway's five percent grade to the hardstand at the top of Launch Pad 39A at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida.Riding atop a crawler-transporter attached to its external fuel tank and solid rocket boosters, Endeavour's 3.4-mile trek, known as "rollout," began at the Vehicle Assembly Building at 7:56 p.m. EST March 10 and ended at 3:49 a.m. EST, nearly eight hours later. This is Endeavour's final scheduled rollout. Endeavour and its six-member crew will deliver the Express Logistics Carrier-3, Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer-2 (AMS), a high-pressure gas tank, additional spare parts for the Dextre robotic helper and micrometeoroid debris shields to the International Space Station on the shuttle's final spaceflight, STS-134. Launch is targeted for 7:48 p.m. EDT April 19.
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A KC-46A from the 157th Air Refueling Wing, New Hampshire sits in front of the new $31 million hangar at McGhee Tyson ANG Base, Tennessee. The KC-46A is the next-generation refueling aircraft that the 134th Air Refueling Wing hopes to gain for future missions, to replace the aging KC-135R Stratotanker.
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Traction unit of the private rail operator Go-Ahead, regional train service, Stuttgart Baden-Wuerttemberg, Germany, Europe
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Hr.ms. Noord-Brabant (1955-1974) in the dock at the NV Royal Society De Schelde (KMS). The damage to Hr.Ms. North Brabant. On January 9, 1974 on the Westerschelde Hr.Ms. Noord-Brabant attracted by the British bulk carrier Tacoma City. At the collision, Corporal Machinist G.G. van de Erf and Machinist of the 1st class P. Diederich died. Hr.ms. Noord-Brabant was emerged early and no longer came to the speed.
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PUERTO-TRANSBORDADOR EN EL MUELLE (PROA LEVANTADA) - FOTO AÑOS 80. Location: CRISTIANOS, LOS. Arona. TENERIFFA. SPAIN.
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Canada, Quebec province, Bas St Laurent region, Pointe au Pere, Onondaga submarine is now a museum and a hotel
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Avro Arrow jet fighter, 2/3 sized replica being built at the Avro Museum in Springbank near Calgary Alberta.
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KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. - A replica of a Space Shuttle orbiter is on exhibit outside the Astronaut Hall of Fame, which features the worlds largest collection of personal astronaut mementos plus historic spacecrafts and training simulators. The Hall of Fame is part of the KSC Visitor Complex.
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Launch of Shuttle Atlantis
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Turbine jet engine on an airliner view from the front
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A picture of the blue T-Centralen subway station
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London, United Kingdom, May 13, 2019: HMS Belfast warship museum interior, saw action during the second world war, is now permanently moored as a museum ship on the River Thames in London, Europe
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Germany, Bavaria, Munich, BMW Museum, Display of Historic Aeroplane Engines
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Graffiti on an abandoned tank car in the Train Graveyard of Uyuni; Uyuni, Potosi Department, Bolivia
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CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - Space shuttle Endeavour is hoisted above the ground by the mate-demate device at the Shuttle Landing Facility at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The shuttle will be positioned and connected atop NASA's Shuttle Carrier Aircraft, or SCA, with the aid of the device. The SCA, a modified 747 jetliner, will fly Endeavour to Los Angeles where it will be placed on public display at the California Science Center. This is the final ferry flight scheduled in the Space Shuttle Program era.