Space Exploration Equipment

Inside NASA facilities, images show technicians working on space vehicles and components, highlighting advanced technology and testing.

SIX OF THE EIGHTEEN JAMES WEBB SPACE TELESCOPE MIRROR SEGMENTS ARE BEING PREPPED TO MOVE INTO THE X-RAY AND CRYOGENIC FACILITY FOR TESTING.

Man sorts clams at a processing plant, Prince Edward Island, Canada.

LVSA AFT CONE SECTION POST WELD #8 EXTERIOR VIEWS OF LVSA AFT CONE

Worker in paper mill

Commercial Crew astronauts Chris Ferguson, Nicole Mann and Eric Boe recently toured spacecraft testing facilities in El Segundo and Huntington Beach, Calif. All three astronauts will fly on Boeings CST-100 Starliner in an upcoming crew flight test to the International Space Station. Environmental qualification testing in El Segundo ensures the spacecraft can withstand the extreme environments of space. Structural testing in Huntington Beach confirms the spacecraft can withstand the pressures it will experience during flight.

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. - In Orbiter Processing Facility bay 2 at NASA's Kennedy Space Center, workers are nearby as a crane lifts the reinforced carbon-carbon nose cap to be installed onto Endeavour. The nose cap is insulated with thermal protection system blankets made of a woven ceramic fabric. The special blankets help insulate the vehicle's nose cap and protect it from the extreme temperatures it will face during a mission.

Airman 1st Class Dalton Crew, 18th Component Maintenance Squadron aerospace propulsion journeyman, conducts an exhaust inspection on an F-15C Eagle engine after a test cell run at Kadena Air Base, Japan, July 22, 2022. The exhaust inspection is done to ensure all engine parts are in place, damage free and ready to be reinstalled into the aircraft.

VANDENBERG AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. - Teamwork is required to rotate a section of the fairing for NASA's Orbiting Carbon Observatory-2 mission, or OCO-2, for attachment on a turnover fixture in the NASA Building 836 high bay at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. The fairing will protect OCO-2 during launch aboard a United Launch Alliance Delta II rocket from Space Launch Complex 2 in July. OCO-2 will collect precise global measurements of carbon dioxide in the Earth's atmosphere and provide scientists with a better idea of the chemical compound's impacts on climate change. Scientists will analyze this data to improve our understanding of the natural processes and human activities that regulate the abundance and distribution of this important atmospheric gas.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - Inside the Vehicle Assembly Building at NASAs Kennedy Space Center in Florida, technicians prepare to install a new generator in crawler-transporter 1, or CT-1. Work continues in high bay 3 to upgrade CT-1 as part of its general maintenance. CT-1 could be available to carry commercial launch vehicles to the launch pad. The crawler-transporters were used to carry the mobile launcher platform and space shuttle to Launch Complex 39 for space shuttle launches for 30 years.

STS-133 ENDEAVOUR TIRES AND BRAKES REMOVAL

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - In Orbiter Processing Facility-2 at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, United Space Alliance technicians prepare to lift the airlock from space shuttle Endeavours payload bay with a crane.The airlock was the connecting point between the shuttle and the International Space Station. Endeavour is being prepared for public display at the California Science Center in Los Angeles. Over the course of its 19-year career, Endeavour spent 299 days in space during 25 missions.

DF-ST-87-02246. Base: New York State: New York (NY) Country: United States Of America (USA)

CAPE CANAVERAL, FIa. -- In the Space Station Processing Facility at NASA's Kennedy Space Center, astronaut Michael Foreman closely inspects the flexible hose rotary coupler that will fly on the STS-126 mission Nov. 14. Although not associated with the mission, Foreman is a crew member of the EVA branch who are providing their expertise for hardware going on the International Space Station. On the STS-126 mission, space shuttle Endeavour will deliver a Multi-Purpose Logistics Module to the International Space Station.

Sweeper manufacturer FAUN Viatec GmbH

Maintenance in the Hangar to Westland SH-14D Navy Lynx helicopters (1979-) at Marineliegkamp de Kooy.

Aircraft structural maintenance technicians in the sheet metal flight of the22nd and 931st Maintenance Squadrons, repair the auxiliary power unit doors for a KC-46A Pegasus Nov. 3, 2022, at McConnell Air Force Base, Kansas.Damages like cracked ribs on an aircraft are caused by vibrations from flying.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - In the Space Shuttle Main Engine Processing Facility at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, a team of Pratt and Whitney Rocketdyne employees installs a high pressure oxidizer turbo pump on space shuttle main engine no. 2062. The engine, or SSME, is the last one scheduled to be built at Kennedy before the end of the Space Shuttle Program. Around the engine, from right to left, are engine technicians Ryan Mahony and Teryon Jones, engineer Jessica Tandy, engine technician Ken Burley and quality inspector Barry Martin. Three main engines are clustered at the aft end of the shuttle and have a combined thrust of more than 1.2 million pounds. Even though an SSME weighs one-seventh as much as a locomotive engine, its high-pressure fuel pump alone delivers as much horsepower as 28 locomotives. Each engine operates during the entire eight-and-a-half minute climb to orbit. Post-flight inspections and maintenance of each engine also are conducted in the SSME Processing F

Worker with safety helmet . Worker with safety helmet at industrial factory

Interior View of Orbiter Processing Facility 3

T&R/Atlantis, Window #4 installation and Inspection

An Artemis I Orion cone panel is prepared for welding at the Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans, Louisiana on Oct. 12, 2015. Part of Batch image transfer from Flickr.

. Lockheed Martin Photography By Garry Tice1011 Lockheed Way, Palmdale, Ca. 93599Event: Date: Additional Info:

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - Inside the Vehicle Assembly Building at NASAs Kennedy Space Center in Florida, technicians have removed an old roller shaft bearing from crawler-transporter 2, or CT-2. New roller shaft bearings will be installed on CT-2. Work continues in high bay 2 to upgrade CT-2. The modifications are designed to ensure CT-2s ability to transport launch vehicles currently in development, such as the agencys Space Launch System, to the launch pad. The Ground Systems Development and Operations Program office at Kennedy is overseeing the upgrades. For more than 45 years the crawler-transporters were used to transport the mobile launcher platform and the Apollo-Saturn V rockets and, later, space shuttles to Launch Pads 39A and B.

HEAT Project (High-Lift Engine Aeroacustics Technology) model assembly

In the Orbiter Processing Facility, workers prepare to install the liquid oxygen feedline for the 17-inch disconnect on orbiter Discovery. The 17-inch liquid oxygen and liquid hydrogen disconnects provide the propellant feed interface from the external tank to the orbiter main propulsion system and the three Shuttle main engines.

VANDENBERG AFB, California - Technicians and engineers place a transportation canister around NASA's SMAP spacecraft so it can be taken from the Astrotech processing facility to Space Launch Complex-2 for placement atop a Delta II rocket for launch. For more, go to www.nasa.gov/smap

. The engine that will power NASAs quiet supersonic X-59 in flight is installed, marking a major milestone in the experimental aircrafts journey toward first flight. The installation of the F414-GE-100 engine at Lockheed Martins Skunk Works facility brings the vehicle close to the completion of its assembly.

Lockheed Martin Photography By Garry Tice1011 Lockheed Way, Palmdale, Ca. 93599Event: SEG 410 Main Wing, COBRA Drillng Machine, Drilling Lower Wing SkinsDate: 1/07/20Additional Info:

Male technician fastening hook on machine at illuminated modern industry

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. - Members of the Columbia Reconstruction Project Team work with pieces of debris in the RLV Hangar. The items shipped to KSC number more than 82,000 and weigh 84,800 pounds or 38 percent of the total dry weight of Columbia. Of those items, 78,760 have been identified, with 753 placed on the left wing grid in the Hangar.

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. - Workers in the Multi-Payload Processing Facility prepare to install the port fairing on the Galaxy Evolution Explorer (GALEX). The spacecraft is already mated to the Pegasus launch vehicle. After encapsulation, the GALEX/Pegasus will be transported to Cape Canaveral Air Force Station and mated to the L-1011 about four days before launch. A new launch date has not been determined.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- Media snap photos of space shuttle Atlantis, attached to its external fuel tank and solid rocket boosters atop a mobile launcher platform, for the final time in the Vehicle Assembly Building at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The shuttle is awaiting its final journey, known as "rollout," to Launch Pad 39A. The milestone move will pave the way for the launch of the STS-135 mission to the International Space Station, targeted for July 8.STS-135 will be the 33rd flight of Atlantis, the 37th shuttle mission to the space station, and the 135th and final mission of NASA's Space Shuttle Program.

Low Impact Docking System Test Set Up, LIDS

helicopter mechanic performing an inspection

VANDENBERG AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. -- The environmentally controlled transportation container holding NASA's National Polar-orbiting Operational Environmental Satellite System Preparatory Project (NPP) satellite is lifted from its delivery truck at the Astrotech payload processing facility on Vandenberg Air Force Base in California.NPP represents a critical first step in building the next-generation of Earth-observing satellites. NPP will carry the first of the new sensors developed for this satellite fleet, now known as the Joint Polar Satellite System (JPSS), to be launched in 2016. NPP is the bridge between NASA's Earth Observing System (EOS) satellites and the forthcoming series of JPSS satellites. The mission will test key technologies and instruments for the JPSS missions. NPP is targeted to launch Oct. 25 from Space Launch Complex-2 aboard a United Launch Alliance Delta II rocket.

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. - In the Orbiter Processing Facility, packing material is placed over the nose cap that was removed from Atlantis. The reinforced carbon-carbon (RCC) nose cap is being sent to the original manufacturing company, Vought in Ft. Worth, Texas, a subsidiary of Lockheed Martin, to undergo non-destructive testing such as CAT scan and thermography.

Coast Guard Structures - Air Stations - New Orleans - 26-HK-95-43. AIRSTA NOLA --HH-65 in hangar. Hurricane Katrina

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. -- In Orbiter Processing Facility bay 3, United Space Alliance and B.F. Goodrich technicians work on the starboard landing gear assembly of space shuttle Discovery. They will replace a leaking dynamic seal in Discovery's right main-gear strut. The struts act as shock absorbers during the shuttle's landing. Engineers determined the observed leak of hydraulic fluid in the main landing gear strut exceeded specification and could not be reduced to an acceptable rate. Removing the strut and replacing seals require disconnecting and replacing the brakes and tires, disconnecting and reconnecting instruments and other requirements to allow access to the strut. Discovery had been scheduled to roll over Sept. 19 from its processing hangar to the Vehicle Assembly Building. A new rollover date will be set after technicians determine how long replacing the seal will take.

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. - Members of the Columbia Reconstruction Project Team examine pieces of debris in the RLV Hangar. The items shipped to KSC number more than 82,000 and weigh 84,800 pounds or 38 percent of the total dry weight of Columbia. Of those items, 78,760 have been identified, with 753 placed on the left wing grid in the Hangar.

VANDENBERG AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. - In the Astrotech Payload Processing Facility at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, technicians prepare to attach a crane to the container holding NASAs National Polar-orbiting Operational Environmental Satellite System Preparatory Project (NPP). NPP represents a critical first step in building the next-generation of Earth-observing satellites. NPP will carry the first of the new sensors developed for this satellite fleet, now known as the Joint Polar Satellite System (JPSS), to be launched in 2016. NPP is the bridge between NASAs Earth Observing System (EOS) satellites and the forthcoming series of JPSS satellites. The mission will test key technologies and instruments for the JPSS missions. NPP is targeted to launch Oct. 25 from Space Launch Complex-2 aboard a United Launch Alliance Delta II rocket.

Iceland, Eskifjordur, Fishing net production, checking quality of fishing nets in factory

VANDENBERG AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. - In the Horizontal Processing Facility at Space Launch Complex 2 on Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, workers align the engine bell around the second-stage nozzle of the Delta II rocket for NASA's Orbiting Carbon Observatory-2 mission, or OCO-2. OCO-2 is scheduled to launch aboard a United Launch Alliance Delta II rocket from Space Launch Complex 2 in July. The rocket's second stage will insert OCO-2 into a polar Earth orbit. OCO-2 will collect precise global measurements of carbon dioxide in the Earth's atmosphere and provide scientists with a better idea of the chemical compound's impacts on climate change. Scientists will analyze this data to improve our understanding of the natural processes and human activities that regulate the abundance and distribution of this important atmospheric gas.

Arrival and Unloading of the Mechanical Vibration Facility Table Hardware at Space Power Facility, SPF

Secretary of Defense Robert M. Gates tours the tactical and combat vehicle production lines with Davis May, far right, Tactical Division Chief, May 2, 2008, during a visit to Red River Army Depot in Texarkana, Texas.

Elbe Aircraft Works

Randolph AFB, TX, 14 Dec 09: Joe Gonzalez and David Delgado engine maintenance specialists with the 12th Flying Training Wing Maintenance Support Unit from the 12th Flying Training Wing Maintenance Support Unit tightens a prop flange mounting bolt during T-6 Texan II, PT6A-68 engine upgrades, which increase prop shaft reliability, at Randolph Air Force Base, Texas on December 14.

Worker with instruments. Worker with instruments at industrial factory

Spraying work before transferring the first two General Dynamics F-16s built by Breeder in license to the Royal Netherlands Air Force.

Worker branding back of truck

Elbe Aircraft Works

Interior View of Orbiter Processing Facility 3

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. - Inside the mobile service tower on Launch Pad 17-B, Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Fla., a Boeing worker removes a protective cover before the replacement interstage adapter is lowered toward the Boeing Delta II below. The rocket is the launch vehicle for the Deep Impact spacecraft. Boeing workers will attach the adapter to the rockets center body section. Later the second stage, which was removed to allow access to the previous adapter, will be reattached. The first adapter was removed after it was found to be faulty during a review of launch vehicle hardware. Launch of Deep Impact is now scheduled no earlier than Jan. 12.

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. -- In the Space Station Processing Facility, workers prepare to process the newly arrived S5 truss segment for the International Space Station. It will be fit checked for a Photo-Voltaic Radiator Grapple Fixture and also undergo a fit check to a truss simulator to ensure that it will fit properly with the S4 and S6 truss segments. S5 is scheduled for launch in October 2003 on mission STS-118. It will be the tenth truss assembled in an 11-truss structure

Inside the Rotation, Processing and Surge Facility at NASAs Kennedy Space Center in Florida, the right-hand motor segment - one of five segments that make up one of two solid rocket boosters for the agencys Space Launch System (SLS) - is mated to the rockets right-hand aft skirt on June 24, 2020. Once the aft segments are mated to the two aft skirts, they will be moved to the Vehicle Assembly Building for stacking on the mobile launcher. Manufactured by Northrop Grumman in Utah, the twin boosters provide more than 75 percent of the total SLS thrust at launch. Under the Artemis program, NASA will land the first woman and the next man on the Moon by 2024. The first in a series of increasingly complex missions, Artemis I will test the Orion spacecraft and SLS as an integrated system ahead of crewed flights to the Moon.

Under the goals of the Vision for Space Exploration, Ares I is a chief component of the cost-effective space transportation infrastructure being developed by NASA's Constellation Program. This transportation system will safely and reliably carry human explorers back to the moon, and then onward to Mars and other destinations in the solar system. The Ares I effort includes multiple project element teams at NASA centers and contract organizations around the nation, and is managed by the Exploration Launch Projects Office at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center (MFSC). ATK Launch Systems near Brigham City, Utah, is the prime contractor for the first stage booster. ATK's subcontractor, United Space Alliance of Houston, is designing, developing and testing the parachutes at its facilities at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston hosts the Constellation Program and Orion Crew Capsule Project Office and provides test instrumentation and support personne

Worker on top of scaffolding painting boat in shipyard

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. -- Inside the White Room on Launch Pad 39B, the worker in the foreground hands off the cart to another worker in a protective suit who will move it inside Space Shuttle Discovery for storage. The cart contains the extravehicular mobility units (or spacewalk suits) to be used on mission STS-116. Launch of Discovery is scheduled for 9:35 p.m. Dec. 7. The crew will deliver the P5 integrated truss to the International Space Station and install it during one or more extravehicular activities.

Eric Nisbet works on a part for the ER-2 instrument panel.

Elbe Aircraft Works

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - At Astrotech in Titusville, Fla., the Ares I-X forward skirt, wrapped in a protective cover, is lifted by a crane for a move to a transporter. The segment will be transferred to the Assembly and Refurbishment Facility, or ARF, at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The forward skirt is the initial piece of first-stage hardware in preparation for the July 2009 test flight of the agency's next-generation spacecraft and launch vehicle system. Built entirely of armored steel, the 14,000-pound segment is seven feet tall and 12-1/4 feet wide. United Space Alliance, under a subcontract to ATK, will complete the integration and assembly of the forward skirt components in the ARF. It will then be moved to the Vehicle Assembly Building high bay 3 for stacking operations.

Interior View of Orbiter Processing Facility 3

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. - In the mobile service tower on Pad 17-B, Cape Canaveral Air Force Station , Fla., the Boeing Delta II interstage adapter is being lifted away from the center body section. The interstage adapter was found to be faulty during a review of launch vehicle hardware. It will be replaced, and the second stage previously removed will be re-installed within a few days. Launch of Deep Impact is now scheduled no earlier than Jan. 12.

Senior Airman Anthony Tavares cleans the front axle housing of a flightline snow broom Jan. 8, 2014, at Eielson Air Force Base, Alaska. Winter months can cover the base with snow and ice, requiring snow removal operations throughout the week. Airmen with the 354th Logistics Readiness Squadron perform maintenance on vehicles to ensure the 354th Fighter Wing mission is unhindered. Tavares is a 354th LRS vehicle maintenance journeyman.

Jet engine mechanics from the Air National Guard 180th Fighter Wing install the 13th stage blades on an F-16 Fighting Falcon engine Feb. 12, 2012, in Toledo, Ohio.

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. - Workers in the Orbiter Processing Facility prepare to stow the landing gear on the orbiter Atlantis in preparation for the expected impact of Hurricane Frances on Saturday. Other preparations at KSC include powering down the Space Shuttle orbiters, and closing their payload bay doors. Workers are also taking precautions against flooding by moving spacecraft hardware off the ground and sandbagging facilities. The Orbiter Processing Facility is constructed of concrete and steel and was designed to withstand winds of 105 mph. The Vehicle Assembly Building is constructed of concrete and steel and was designed to withstand winds of 125 mph. Other payload and flight hardware support facilities can endure winds of 110 mph. Launch pads and the Payload Hazardous Servicing Facility can withstand 125-mph winds.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- Workers inside the high bay of the Space Station Processing Facility at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida position the orbital replacement unit for the space station's utility transfer assembly on the bottom portion of a shipping container.The assembly, which was processed at Kennedy, will be shipped to Japan at the beginning of the year for the HTV-4 launch, which is currently scheduled for 2013.

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. - Viewed from inside the aft section of the orbiter Discovery, a worker installs the liquid oxygen feedline for the 17-inch disconnect, coming up from below. The 17-inch liquid oxygen and liquid hydrogen disconnects provide the propellant feed interface from the external tank to the orbiter main propulsion system and the three Shuttle main engines.

Visit of Secretary Gale Norton to Oregon, part of the 2004 Take Pride in America Western Tour highlighting volunteer efforts on public lands, including a stop at the Monaco Coach Corporation recreational vehicle plant in Coburg

Man aircraft were on display or performing at here at the Smoky Mountain Air Show Sept. 10-11, 2022. Some were assigned to overnight in the newest hangar at the 134th Air Refueling Wing.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - In the Vehicle Assembly Building at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, this platform is lowered onto the floor. The platform was removed from high bay 3 as part of the refurbishment of the facility for the Constellation Program's Ares 1-X vehicle. The Ares I and Ares V rockets will be more than 325 feet tall, considerably taller than the space shuttle atop its mobile launcher platform.

Visit of Secretary Dirk Kempthorne to the Arizona-California border area, where he toured the Bureau of Reclamation's Yuma, Arizona Area Office-Yuma Desalting Plant with Bureau Commissioner Robert Johnson, and joined Johnson and officials from the Southern Nevada Water Authority, Central Arizona Project, and Metropolitan Water District of Southern California at groundbreaking ceremonies for the Drop 2 Reservoir Project--part of the Lower Colorado River Water Storage Program--in Imperial County, California

Inside the Booster Fabrication Facility at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, the left hand aft skirt for the agency's Space Launch System (SLS) rocket is ready for the assembly process. From left, are Chad Goetz, quality technician with Orbital ATK, and Robbie Blaue, quality assurance specialist with the Defense Contract Management Agency. The aft skirt was refurbished and painted in support facilities at the Hangar AF facility at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. The space shuttle-era aft skirt will be used on the left hand booster of the SLS for Exploration Mission 1 (EM-1). NASA is preparing for EM-1, deep space missions, and the Journey to Mars.

Visit of Secretary Dirk Kempthorne to the Arizona-California border area, where he toured the Bureau of Reclamation's Yuma, Arizona Area Office-Yuma Desalting Plant with Bureau Commissioner Robert Johnson, and joined Johnson and officials from the Southern Nevada Water Authority, Central Arizona Project, and Metropolitan Water District of Southern California at groundbreaking ceremonies for the Drop 2 Reservoir Project--part of the Lower Colorado River Water Storage Program--in Imperial County, California

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - One of the Ares I-X roll control system modules is moved into place on the upper stage simulator for a fit check. The hardware is in high bay 4 of the Vehicle Assembly Building at NASA's Kennedy Space Center. The system is designed to perform a 90-degree roll after the rocket clears the launch tower, preventing a roll during flight and maintaining the orientation of the rocket until separation of the upper and first stages. The system module will return to earth and splash down; it will not be recovered. Ares I-X is the test vehicle for the Ares I, which is part of the Constellation Program to return men to the moon and beyond. Ares I-X is targeted for launch in summer of 2009.

Truck Mounted Turbofan Engine in Aero Acoustic Propulsion Laboratory, AAPL, Facility

VANDENBERG AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. - In the Horizontal Processing Facility at Space Launch Complex 2 on Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, workers prepare to install the engine bell around the second-stage nozzle of the Delta II rocket for NASA's Orbiting Carbon Observatory-2 mission, or OCO-2. OCO-2 is scheduled to launch aboard a United Launch Alliance Delta II rocket from Space Launch Complex 2 in July. The rocket's second stage will insert OCO-2 into a polar Earth orbit. OCO-2 will collect precise global measurements of carbon dioxide in the Earth's atmosphere and provide scientists with a better idea of the chemical compound's impacts on climate change. Scientists will analyze this data to improve our understanding of the natural processes and human activities that regulate the abundance and distribution of this important atmospheric gas.

Capt. Cory Schemm, commanding officer NAVSUP FLC San Diego, speaks with Modula employee about the Modula Vertical Lift Modules at the 5G smart warehouse located on Naval Air Station North Island Oct. 28.

U.S. Air Force Airman 1st Class Haley Shutter, an in-flight controls avionics specialist with the 461st Aircraft Maintenance Squadron, 461st Air Control Wing, prepares to perform maintenance on an E-8C Joint STARS engine cowling at Robins Air Force Base, Georgia, Sept. 22, 2022. Shutter and fellow Airmen performed the maintenance during a jet calibration test on the aircraft engines.

At Hangar J, Cape Canaveral Air Force Station (CCAFS), work is begun on the Centaur upper stage that will be used with an Atlas IIA rocket to launch the latest Tracking and Data Relay Satellite (TDRS) June 29 from CCAFS. The Atlas/Centaur launch vehicle is manufactured and operated by Lockheed Martin. Atlas IIA is capable of lifting payload systems to geosynchronous transfer orbit

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. - In the RLV hangar at KSC, United Space Alliance workers set up shelves for equipment removed from the hurricane-ravaged Thermal Protection System Facility (TPSF) and now being stored in the hangar. The facility, which creates the TPS tiles, blankets and all the internal thermal control systems for the Space Shuttles, is almost totally unserviceable at this time after losing approximately 35 percent of its roof due to Hurricane Frances, which blew across Central Florida Sept. 4-5. The maximum wind at the surface from Hurricane Frances was 94 mph from the northeast at 6:40 a.m. on Sunday, September 5. It was recorded at a weather tower located on the east shore of the Mosquito Lagoon near the Cape Canaveral National Seashore. The highest sustained wind at KSC was 68 mph.

Aerospace Propulsion specialists assigned to the 148th Fighter Wing, Minnesota Air National Guard, Duluth, Minn., conduct intermediate maintenance on General Electric F110-129 jet engines on October 9, 2022. Responsible for ensuring our F-16 Fighting Falcons are in first-rate operational condition, Aerospace Propulsion specialists, also known as jet engine mechanics, test, maintain and repair all parts of the engine. These specialists are a critical to keeping our jets in the air.

License construction of the General Dynamics F-16 at the Breeder Factories Schiphol.

GRAIL Solar Array Test

N-231 High Reynolds Number Channel Facility (An example of a Versatile Wind Tunnel) Tunnel 1 I is a blowdown Facility that utilizes interchangeable test sections and nozzles. The facility provides experimental support for the fluid mechanics research, including experimental verification of aerodynamic computer codes and boundary-layer and airfoil studies that require high Reynolds number simulation. (Tunnel 1)

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - Inside Orbiter Processing Facility-1 at NASAs Kennedy Space Center in Florida, technicians prepare to remove space shuttle Discoverys main propulsion system protective covers.The work is part of the Space Shuttle Programs transition and retirement processing of shuttle Discovery, which is being prepared for display at Smithsonians National Air and Space Museum, Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center in Chantilly, Va. Discovery is scheduled to be transported atop a NASA Shuttle Carrier Aircraft modified 747 jet to Dulles International Airport in Virginia on April 17 and then moved to the Smithsonian for permanent public display on April 19.

Richard Risley, with United Space Alliance, places a box of Columbia debris in its final resting place in the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB). All of the pieces received and collected in the Columbia Reconstruction Hangar have been catalogued and moved to a permanent site in the VAB.

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