Space Launches and Rockets

Dynamic imagery of various rockets and spacecraft during liftoff. Features smoke trails, evening skies, and dramatic light contrasts.

Ares I-X -- First Flight of a New Moon Rocket

Space Shuttle Atlantis surpasses the full moon for beauty as it roars into the early evening sky trailing a tail of smoke. The upper portion catches the suns rays as it climbs above the horizon and a flock of birds soars above the moon. Liftoff occurred at 6:13:02 p.m. EST. Along with a crew of five, Atlantis is carrying the U.S. Laboratory Destiny, a key module in the growth of the Space Station. Destiny will be attached to the Unity node on the Space Station using the Shuttles robotic arm. Three spacewalks are required to complete the planned construction work during the 11-day mission. This mission marks the seventh Shuttle flight to the Space Station, the 23rd flight of Atlantis and the 102nd flight overall in NASAs Space Shuttle program. The planned landing is at KSC Feb. 18 about 1:00 p.m. EST

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. - The Apollo 11 Saturn V space vehicle climbs toward orbit after liftoff from Pad 39A at 9:32 a.m. EDT. In two-and-a-half minutes of powered flight, the S-IC booster lifts the vehicle to an altitude of about 39 miles approximately 55 miles downrange. This photo was taken with a 70-mm telescopic camera mounted in an Air force EC-135N plane. Onboard are astronauts Neil A. Armstrong, Michael Collins and Edwin E. Aldrin Jr. During the planned eight-day mission, Armstrong and Aldrin will descend in a Lunar Module (LM) to the Moon's surface while Collins orbits overhead in the Command Module. The two astronauts are to spend 22 hours on the Moon, including two-and-one-half hours outside the LM. They will gather samples of lunar material and will deploy scientific experiments that will transmit data about the lunar environment. They will rejoin Collins in the Command Module for the return trip to Earth.

A Trident II D-5 intercontinental ballistic missile lifts off after being launched from the submerged nuclear-powered strategic missile submarine USS TENNESSEE (SSBN-734). This is the fourth submerged launch of the 23 launches to date in the Trident II test series. Fourth view in a series of four. Base: Cape Canaveral State: Florida (FL) Country: United States Of America (USA)

Military Aviat Kodiak Launch Facility AIT-2 atmospheric interceptor technology rocket liftoff contrail sky

STS068-S-027 (30 September 1994) --- The Space Shuttle Endeavour, with six NASA astronauts and a battery of Earth-monitoring systems aboard, heads toward Earth orbit. Launch occurred at 7:16 a.m. (EDT), September 30, 1994. The view was photographed from the Shuttle Training Aircraft (STA) by astronaut Robert D. Cabana, who was piloting the aircraft and monitoring environmental conditions for launch.

Ares I-X -- First Flight of a New Moon Rocket

A Black Brant IX suborbital sounding rocket is launched at 7:07 p.m., Wednesday October 7, 2015. (NASA Photo/A. Stancil)A Black Brant IX suborbital rocket was launched from NASA's Wallops Flight Facility. The launch occurred at 7:07 p.m. The primary purpose of the flight was to test the performance of the second-stage Black Brant motor. Preliminary indications are that the motor performed as planned. Preliminary data analysis of the technology experiments (vapor tracer deployments) on the payload is in progress.NASA image use policy.NASA Goddard Space Flight Center enables NASAs mission through four scientific endeavors: Earth Science, Heliophysics, Solar System Exploration, and Astrophysics. Goddard plays a leading role in NASAs accomplishments by contributing compelling scientific kn

STS059-S-109 (9 April 1994) --- The Space Shuttle Endeavour heads for its sixth mission in space. Liftoff occurred at 7 05 a.m. (EDT), April 9, 1994. Onboard were astronauts Sidney M. Gutierrez, Kevin P. Chilton, Linda M. Godwin, Jerome (Jay) Apt, Michael R. (Rich) Clifford and Thomas D. Jones. The photograph was taken by Karen Dillon of San Jose, California, who observed the liftoff from the NASA causeway.

01/14/2014. Takeoff and Explosion of the Challenger Sts-51l 01/28/1986 Archdc.

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. -- Looking like a Roman candle, the exhaust from the Boeing Delta II rocket with the Mars Polar Lander aboard lights up the clouds as it hurtles skyward. The rocket was launched at 3:21:10 p.m. EST from Launch Complex 17B, Cape Canaveral Air Station. The lander is a solar-powered spacecraft designed to touch down on the Martian surface near the northern-most boundary of the south polar cap, which consists of carbon dioxide ice. The lander will study the polar water cycle, frosts, water vapor, condensates and dust in the Martian atmosphere. It is equipped with a robotic arm to dig beneath the layered terrain. In addition, Deep Space 2 microprobes, developed by NASA's New Millennium Program, are installed on the lander's cruise stage. After crashing into the planet's surface, they will conduct two days of soil and water experiments up to 1 meter (3 feet) below the Martian surface, testing new technologies for future planetary descent probes. The lander is the s

DF-ST-87-03668. Base: Cape Canaveral State: Florida (FL) Country: United States Of America (USA)

Vintage Photograph. Rocket launch illuminating the night sky at liftoff.

A night view of a Trident I missile launch. Base: Cape Canaveral Air Force Station State: Florida (FL) Country: United States Of America (USA)

Trip to Western States: White Sands Missile Range, New Mexico. View of a missile launch during demonstrations at the White Sands Missile Range in White Sands, New Mexico, attended by President John F. Kennedy. Notes: Scratches throughout image are original to the negative.

Launch of Space Shuttle Columbia

1985 - An MGM-118 Peacekeeper intercontinental ballistic missile climbs away from the test launch site during the seventh test flight of the system..

Arthur Kays' rocket Camo Hojo blasts off during a launch event sponsored by the Southern Arizona Rocketry Association (SARA).

A view of the LGM-30G Minuteman III missile being launched. Base: Vandenberg Air Force Base State: California (CA) Country: United States Of America (USA)

The Soyuz TMA-16M spacecraft is seen in this long exposure photograph as it launches to the International Space Station with Expedition 43 NASA Astronaut Scott Kelly, Russian Cosmonauts Mikhail Kornienko, and Gennady Padalka of the Russian Federal Space Agency (Roscosmos) onboard Saturday, March 28, 2015, Kazakh time (March 27 Eastern time) from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. As the one-year crew, Kelly and Kornienko will return to Earth on Soyuz TMA-18M in March 2016.

The Space Shuttle Challenger explodes 73 seconds after liftoff from the Kennedy Space Center. (Seventh view in a series of eight). Base: Cape Canaveral State: Florida (FL) Country: United States Of America (USA)

STS062-S-061 (4 March 1994) --- An aerial view of early stages of the sixteenth launch of Space Shuttle Columbia was provided by a 70mm camera aboard the Shuttle Training Aircraft (STA). Launch occurred at 8 53 a.m. (EST), March 4, 1994. Onboard were astronauts John H. Casper, Andrew M. Allen, Marsha S. Ivins, Charles D. (Sam) Gemar and Pierre J. Thuot.

1980 - A Standard-ER/SM-2 (RIM-67) surface-to-air missile is successfully launched from the vertical launching system (VLS) during testing..

STS134-S-065 (16 May 2011) --- Photographed from a shuttle training aircraft, space shuttle Endeavour and its six-member STS-134 crew head toward Earth orbit and rendezvous with the International Space Station. Liftoff was at 8:56 a.m. (EDT) on May 16, 2011, from Launch Pad 39A at NASA's Kennedy Space Center. Onboard are NASA astronauts Mark Kelly, commander; Greg H. Johnson, pilot; Michael Fincke, Andrew Feustel, Greg Chamitoff and European Space Agency astronaut Roberto Vittori, all mission specialists. STS-134 will deliver the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer-2 (AMS), Express Logistics Carrier-3, a high-pressure gas tank and additional spare parts for the Dextre robotic helper to the International Space Station. STS-134 is the final spaceflight for Endeavour.

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket soars upward after lifting off from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida, carrying NASA's Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS). Liftoff was at 6:51 p.m. EDT. TESS will search for planets outside of our solar system. The mission will find exoplanets that periodically block part of the light from their host stars, events called transits. The satellite will survey the nearest and brightest stars for two years to search for transiting exoplanets.

The Soyuz TMA-07M rocket launches from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on Wednesday, Dec. 19, 2012 carrying Expedition 34 NASA Flight Engineers Tom Marshburn, Soyuz Commander Roman Romanenko and Flight Engineer Chris Hadfield of the Canadian Space Agency (CSA) to the International Space Station. Their Soyuz TMA-07M rocket launched at 6:12 p.m. local time.

Space Shuttle Columbia on a pillar of exhaust as it begins its ten-day mission on Oct.22, 1992.

NASAs Lunar Prospector spacecraft launched successfully on its way to the moon from Launch Complex 46 (LC46) at Cape Canaveral Air Station on Jan. 6 at 9:28 p.m. EST. It was the inaugural launch of Lockheed Martin's Athena II launch vehicle and the first launch from LC46, operated by Spaceport Florida Authority. Lunar Prospector, built for the NASA Ames Research Center by Lockheed Martin, is a spin-stabilized spacecraft designed to provide NASA with the first global maps of the moons surface and its gravitational magnetic fields, as well as look for the possible presence of ice near the lunar poles. It will orbit the Moon at an altitude of approximately 63 miles during a one-year mission

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. - The American flag heralds the flight of Apollo 11, man's first lunar landing mission. The Apollo 11 Saturn V space vehicle lifted off with astronauts Neil A. Armstrong, Michael Collins and Edwin E. Aldrin Jr. at 9:32 a.m. EDT from KSC's Launch Complex 39A. During the planned eight-day mission, Armstrong and Aldrin will descend in a Lunar Module (LM) to the Moon's surface while Collins orbits overhead in the Command Module. The two astronauts are to spend 22 hours on the Moon, including two-and-one-half hours outside the LM. They will gather samples of lunar material and will deploy scientific experiments that will transmit data about the lunar environment. They will rejoin Collins in the Command Module for the return trip to Earth.

View of the launch of the shuttle Discovery and the 41-D mission. The orbiter and its plume of smoke are photographed from across the river in the early stages of liftoff (3085,3087); The orbiter can be seen just clearing the pad, with a cloud of smoke billowing to the left of the frame. The orbiters two orbital maneuvering system (OMS) pods and external tank are visible along with the orbiter (3086).

An airplane shaped wind vane is seen in silhouette as the Soyuz MS-12 spacecraft is launched with Expedition 59 crewmembers Nick Hague and Christina Koch of NASA, along with Alexey Ovchinin of Roscosmos, Friday March 15, 2019, Kazakh time (March 14 Eastern time) at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. Hague, Koch, and Ovchinin will spend six-and-a-half months living and working aboard the International Space Station.

Launch of Space Shuttle Discovery

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - Winds aloft affect the contrail of the United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket carrying NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory to orbit. Liftoff from Launch Complex 41 on Cape Canaveral Air Force Station was at 10 23 a.m. EST Feb. 11. This is the 100th launch of a commercial Atlas_Centaur rocket. The observatory, known as SDO, is the first mission in NASA's Living With a Star Program and is designed to study the causes of solar variability and its impacts on Earth. The spacecraft's long-term measurements will give solar scientists in-depth information to help characterize the interior of the Sun, the Sun's magnetic field, the hot plasma of the solar corona, and the density of radiation that creates the ionosphere of the planets. The information will be used to create better forecasts of space weather needed to protect the aircraft, satellites and astronauts living and working in space.

S69-56058 (25 Oct. 1969) --- Astronaut Charles Conrad Jr., commander of the Apollo 12 lunar landing mission, sits in the cockpit of a Lunar Landing Training Vehicle (LLTV) during a lunar simulation flight at Ellington Air Force Base. The LLTV is used to train Apollo crews in lunar landing techniques.

The Space Shuttle Columbia soars from Launch Pad 39A at 2:02 p.m. EDT July 1 to begin the 16-day STS-94 Microgravity Science Laboratory-1 (MSL-1) mission. The launch window was opened 47 minutes earlier than the originally scheduled time of 2:37 p.m. to improve the opportunity to lift off before Florida summer rain showers reached the space center. The crew members are Mission Commander James D. Halsell Jr.; Pilot Susan L. Still; Payload Commander Janice Voss; Mission Specialists Michael L.Gernhardt and Donald A. Thomas; and Payload Specialists Roger K. Crouch and Gregory T. Linteris. During the space flight, the MSL-1 will be used to test some of the hardware, facilities and procedures that are planned for use on the International Space Station while the flight crew conducts combustion, protein crystal growth and materials processing experiments. Also onboard is the Hitchhiker Cryogenic Flexible Diode (CRYOFD) experiment payload, which is attached to the right side of Col

Test Firing Orion Abort System

The Soyuz TMA-18 rocket launches from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on Friday, April 2, 2010 carrying Expedition 23 Soyuz Commander Alexander Skvortsov of Russia, Flight Engineer Mikhail Kornienko of Russia and NASA Flight Engineer Tracy Caldwell Dyson of the U.S. to the International Space Station. (

Rocket Vapor In Sky, Vandenberg Air Force Base, California

The Soyuz TMA-13 spacecraft launches carrying Expedition 18 Commander Michael Fincke, Flight Engineer Yuri V. Lonchakov and American spaceflight participant Richard Garriott, Sunday, Oct. 12, 2008, from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. The three crew members are scheduled to dock with the International Space Station on Oct. 14. Fincke and Lonchakov will spend six months on the station, while Garriott will return to Earth Oct. 24 with two of the Expedition 17 crew members currently on the International Space Station.

The Soyuz TMA-12M rocket launches from Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on Wednesday, March 26, 2014 carrying Expedition 39 Soyuz Commander Alexander Skvortsov of the Russian Federal Space Agency, Roscosmos, Flight Engineer Steven Swanson of NASA, and Flight Engineer Oleg Artemyev of Roscosmos to the International Space Station.

A NASA sounding rocket experiment has detected a surprising surplus of infrared light in the dark space between galaxies, a diffuse cosmic glow as bright as all known galaxies combined. The glow is thought to be from orphaned stars flung out of galaxies. The findings redefine what scientists think of as galaxies. Galaxies may not have a set boundary of stars, but instead stretch out to great distances, forming a vast, interconnected sea of stars. Observations from the Cosmic Infrared Background Experiment, or CIBER, are helping settle a debate on whether this background infrared light in the universe, previously detected by NASAs Spitzer Space Telescope, comes from these streams of stripped stars too distant to be seen individually, or alternatively from the first galaxies to form in the universe. This is a time-lapse photograph of the Cosmic Infrared Background Experiment (CIBER) rocket launch, taken from NASA's Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia in 2013. The image is from the last

STS113-S-035 (23 November 2002) --- The Space Shuttle Endeavour arcs into the still-black sky over the Atlantic Ocean, casting a fiery glow on its way. Liftoff from the Kennedy Space Center's Launch Complex 39 occurred at 7:49:47 p.m. (EST), November 23, 2002. The launch is the 19th for Endeavour, and the 112th flight in the Shuttle program. Mission STS-113 is the 16th assembly flight to the International Space Station, carrying another structure for the Station, the P1 integrated truss. Crewmembers onboard were astronauts James D. Wetherbee, commander; Paul S. Lockhart, pilot, along with astronauts Michael E. Lopez-Alegria and John B. Herrington, both mission specialists. Also onboard were the Expedition 6 crewmembers--astronauts Kenneth D. Bowersox and Donald R. Pettit, along with cosmonaut Nikolai M. Budarin--who went on to replace Expedition 5 aboard the Station.

Largest Rocket in the World Successfully Test Fired, Seen From Remote Camera Angle About 200 Yards Away

ISS037-E-009224 (10 Oct. 2013) --- This is one of a series of views that captured a missile launch from Earth as seen on Oct. 10, 2013 by the Expedition 37 crew aboard the International Space Station.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - A United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket carrying NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory climbs to orbit on a crisp Florida morning. Liftoff from Launch Complex 41 on Cape Canaveral Air Force Station was at 10 23 a.m. EST Feb. 11. This is the 100th launch of a commercial Atlas_Centaur rocket. The observatory, known as SDO, is the first mission in NASA's Living With a Star Program and is designed to study the causes of solar variability and its impacts on Earth. The spacecraft's long-term measurements will give solar scientists in-depth information to help characterize the interior of the Sun, the Sun's magnetic field, the hot plasma of the solar corona, and the density of radiation that creates the ionosphere of the planets. The information will be used to create better forecasts of space weather needed to protect the aircraft, satellites and astronauts living and working in space.

Trip to Western States: White Sands Missile Range, New Mexico. View of a missile launch during demonstrations at the White Sands Missile Range in White Sands, New Mexico, attended by President John F. Kennedy. Notes: Scratches throughout image are original to the negative.

The Soyuz TMA-18 rocket launches from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on Friday, April 2, 2010 carrying Expedition 23 Soyuz Commander Alexander Skvortsov of Russia, Flight Engineer Mikhail Kornienko of Russia and NASA Flight Engineer Tracy Caldwell Dyson of the U.S. to the International Space Station. (

A United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket lifts off from Space Launch Complex 3 at Vandenberg Air Force Base, California, carrying NASA's Interior Exploration using Seismic Investigations, Geodesy and Heat Transport, or InSight, Mars lander. Liftoff was at 4:05 a.m. PDT (7:05 a.m. EDT). The spacecraft will be the first mission to look deep beneath the Martian surface. It will study the planet's interior by measuring its heat output and listen for marsquakes. InSight will use the seismic waves generated by marsquakes to develop a map of the planets deep interior. The resulting insight into Mars formation will provide a better understanding of how other rocky planets, including Earth, were created.

Contrail from rocket launch, Space Coast, Florida

An unarmed Minuteman III intercontinental ballistic missile launches during an operational test Sept. 5, 2016, at Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif.

The launch of the Little Joe booster for the LJ1B mission on the launch pad from the wallops Flight Facility, Wallops Island, Virginia, on January 21, 1960. This mission achieved the suborbital Mercury capsule test, testing of the escape system, and biomedical tests by using a monkey, named Miss Sam.

STS106-S-013 (8 September 2000)--- This view of shock-wave condensation collars backlit by the Sun occurred during the launch of the Space Shuttle Atlantis on September 8, 2000. The scene was captured on 35mm motion picture film. One frame was digitized to make this still image. Although the primary effect is created by the forward fuselage of the Atlantis, secondary effects can be seen on the solid rocket booster (SRB) forward skirt, shuttle vertical stabilizer and wing trailing edge, behind the Space Shuttle Main Engines (SSME). The perfect on-time launch took place at 8:45:47 a.m. (EDT), September 8, 2000. Onboard the shuttle were astronauts Terrence W. Wilcutt, Scott D. Altman, Edward T. Lu, Richard A. Mastracchio and Daniel C. Burbank, along with cosmonauts Yuri I. Malenchenko and Boris V. Morukov who represent the Russian Aviation and Space Agency.

The Soyuz TMA-14M rocket launches from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on Friday, Sept. 26, 2014 carrying Expedition 41 Soyuz Commander Alexander Samokutyaev of the Russian Federal Space Agency (Roscosmos), Flight Engineer Barry Wilmore of NASA, and Flight Engineer Elena Serova of Roscosmos into orbit to begin their five and a half month mission on the International Space Station. (

Team Vandenberg successfully launches an unarmed Minuteman III intercontinental ballistic missile from Vandenberg Air Force Base, California. The purpose of this launch was to test the reliability and accuracy of Air Force weapon systems. Base: Vandenberg Air Force Base State: California (CA) Country: United States Of America (USA)

Space Shuttle Rakete startet mit Explosion und Rauch im Raum mit dem Planeten Erde und Sonne. Start der Weltraummission Raketenstart *** Space Shuttle Rocket launches with Explosion and Smoke at Room with the Planets Earth and Sun Start the Space mission Rocket Launch 1102801823

The first X-43A hypersonic research aircraft and its modified Pegasus booster rocket were carried aloft by NASA's NB-52B carrier aircraft from Dryden Flight Research Center at Edwards Air Force Base, Calif., on June 2, 2001 for the first of three high-speed free flight attempts. About an hour and 15 minutes later the Pegasus booster was released from the B-52 to accelerate the X-43A to its intended speed of Mach 7. Before this could be achieved, the combined Pegasus and X-43A "stack" lost control about eight seconds after ignition of the Pegasus rocket motor. The mission was terminated and explosive charges ensured the Pegasus and X-43A fell into the Pacific Ocean in a cleared Navy range area. A NASA investigation board is being assembled to determine the cause of the incident. Work continues on two other X-43A vehicles, the first of which could fly by late 2001. Central to the X-43A program is its integration of an air-breathing "scramjet" engine that could enable a variety of high-sp

This launch marked the end of the Scout Spacelift Program. The Last Scout Rocket lifted its payload into space from space launch complex 5. The payload was a Miniature Sensor Technology Integration-2 (MSTI-2) low cost high performance satellite that collects and transfers data for the DOD and the enivironmental research. This view is from E-Station Remote Unmanned Tracking sight near the launch pad of the SLC-5. The first Scout launch was 23 August 1962. Base: Vandenberg Air Force Base State: California (CA) Country: United States Of America (USA)

A blue and white rocket launches, blowing dirt off the floor of Jean Dry Lake during Springfest 2006.

Larry Foster's green and white rocket shoots skyward at a launch event sponsored by the Southern Arizona Rocketry Association (SARA).

S81-33179 (12 April 1981) --- Though their STS-1 task has been performed, the two solid rocket boosters (SRB) still glow following their jettisoning from the space shuttle Columbia on its way to many firsts. Among the history recorded by the spacecraft is the marking of a mission in a reusable spacecraft. STS-1 is NASA's first manned mission since the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project in 1975. Inside the cabin of the climbing spacecraft are astronauts John W. Young and Robert L. Crippen.

S66-63440 (12 Nov. 1966) --- Area of northwestern Mexico as seen from the Gemini-12 spacecraft during its 16th revolution of Earth. View is looking northwest. Body of water in the foreground is the Gulf of California. Pacific Ocean is in the background. Peninsula in center of picture is Baja California. States of Sonora (upper right) and Sinaloa (lower center) of Mexican mainland is in right foreground. City of Guaymas, Sonora, is near the center of the picture.

Largest Rocket in the World Successfully Test Fired, Seen From Remote Camera Angle About 200 Yards Away

The Soyuz TMA-18 rocket launches from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on Friday, April 2, 2010 carrying Expedition 23 Soyuz Commander Alexander Skvortsov of Russia, Flight Engineer Mikhail Kornienko of Russia and NASA Flight Engineer Tracy Caldwell Dyson of the U.S. to the International Space Station. (

This photograph shows a static firing test of the Solid Rocket Qualification Motor-8 (QM-8) at the Morton Thiokol Test Site in Wasatch, Utah. The twin solid rocket boosters provide the majority of thrust for the first two minutes of flight, about 5.8 million pounds, augmenting the Shuttle's main propulsion system during liftoff. The major design drivers for the solid rocket motors (SRM's) were high thrust and reuse. The desired thrust was achieved by using state-of-the-art solid propellant and by using a long cylindrical motor with a specific core design that allows the propellant to burn in a carefully controlled marner. Under the direction of the Marshall Space Flight Center, the SRM's are provided by the Morton Thiokol Corporation.

A BARREL balloon launches up into the sky, destined to float on the circumpolar winds around the South Pole for up to three weeks while measuring Earth's magnetic field and energetic particles from the radiation belts.

S81-39527 (12 Nov. 1981) --- This photograph of the STS-2 crew and the space shuttle Columbia soaring toward Earth orbit was captured with a hand-held 70mm camera (using an 80mm lens) operated from the rear station of a T-38 jet aircraft. Mission specialist-astronaut Kathryn D. Sullivan took the picture, and part of the wing tip of her aircraft can be seen in lower left corner. Astronaut John W. Young piloting NASA s shuttle training aircraft (STA) was taking pictures from a higher angle. A close look can delineate his craft above the orbiter and supportive elements, almost perpendicular to them from this point of view. Another T-38 jet, with a TV camera operator as back-seat passenger, can be seen at lower left corner near the smoke trails from the shuttle.

AN air-to-air side view of an AGM-86 air-launched cruise missile near the Air Force Flight Test Center. Base: Edwards Air Force Base State: California (CA) Country: United States Of America (USA)

970623-F-3500D-001. Complete Scene Caption: A reconfigured Minuteman II intercontinental ballistic missile was launched from Vandenberg AFB at 8:39 p.m. 23 June 1997. The missile, part of the Multi-Service Launch System developed by Lockheed-Martin Astronautics, deployed a payload of nine target objects in space to test sensors carried aloft by a second Minuteman II that was launched from the Kwajalein Missile Range in the south Pacific Ocean approximately 20 minutes later. It carried sensors using existing National Missile Defense technology to identify and track the nine target objects released by the Vandenberg missile. A side effect from the launch resulted in what is termed as a "twilight phenomenon," a multicolored light show in the upper atmosphere created when unburned missile propellant particles and water left in the wake of the missile freeze in the dense upper atmosphere. These frozen fragments reflect the high altitude sunlight, typically producing a green, blue, white a

The Soyuz TMA-13 spacecraft launches carrying Expedition 18 Commander Michael Fincke, Flight Engineer Yuri V. Lonchakov and American spaceflight participant Richard Garriott, Sunday, Oct. 12, 2008, from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. The three crew members are scheduled to dock with the International Space Station on Oct. 14. Fincke and Lonchakov will spend six months on the station, while Garriott will return to Earth Oct. 24 with two of the Expedition 17 crew members currently on the International Space Station.

Crowds of spectators watch from Jetty Park in Cape Canaveral, Florida, on July 2, 2019, as a Northrop Grumman provided booster launches from Launch Pad 46 carrying, a fully functional Launch Abort System with a test version of Orion attached for NASAs Ascent Abort-2 (AA-2). Launch time was 7 a.m. EDT. During AA-2, the booster will send the LAS and Orion to an altitude of 31,000 feet, traveling at Mach 1.15 (more than 1,000 mph). The LAS three motors will work together to pull the crew module away from the booster and prepare it for splashdown in the Atlantic Ocean. The flight test will prove that the abort system can pull crew to safety in the unlikely event of an emergency during ascent.

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. --Trailing columns of fire, space shuttle Endeavour hurtles into the night sky, on the STS-123 mission. Liftoff was on time at 2:28 a.m. EDT. The crew will make a record-breaking 16-day mission to the International Space Station and deliver the first section of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency's Kibo laboratory and the Canadian Space Agency's two-armed robotic system, Dextre.

VANDENBERG AFB, Calif. -- The Landsat Data Continuity Mission spacecraft lifts off at 1 02 p.m. EST, 10 02 a.m. PST) atop a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket from Space Launch Complex 3 at California's Vandenberg Air Force Base. The Landsat Data Continuity Mission LDCM is the future of Landsat satellites. It will continue to obtain valuable data and imagery to be used in agriculture, education, business, science, and government. The Landsat Program provides repetitive acquisition of high resolution multispectral data of the Earth's surface on a global basis. The data from the Landsat spacecraft constitute the longest record of the Earth's continental surfaces as seen from space. It is a record unmatched in quality, detail, coverage, and value.

S86-25293 (30 Oct. 1985) --- Barbara R. Morgan and Sharon Christa McAuliffe (right) are pictured during a visit to NASA's Kennedy Space Center (KSC) Launch Complex 39 to witness the launch of the space shuttle Challenger. McAuliffe is scheduled to launch aboard the space shuttle Challenger, STS-51L mission, herself early next year as the United States first in-space citizen observer. Morgan is the backup for the Teacher-in-Space Project s payload specialist position. The photo was taken by Keith Meyers of the New York Times. EDITOR'S NOTE The STS-51L crew members lost their lives in the space shuttle Challenger accident moments after launch on Jan. 28, 1986 from the Kennedy Space Center (KSC).

After eight months of designing, building and testing, the middle school, high school and college and university teams launched their rockets as part of NASA Student Launch on Sunday, April 8. The rockets and their payloads are designed to fly to 1-mile in altitude before deploying recovery systems that brings them safely to the ground.

01/14/2014. Takeoff and Explosion of the Challenger Sts-51l 01/28/1986 Archdc.

A drop test at U.S. Army Yuma Proving Ground in Yuma, Arizona qualifying Orion's parachute system for human spaceflight takes place on June 14, 2017. Part of Batch images transfer from Flickr.

PC271-006-047 F1 GG Testing with LOX/RP-1 (Dynetics/PWR) 02/15/2013 TS116

Like a rising sun lighting up the afternoon sky, the Space Shuttle Columbia soars from Launch Pad 39B at 2:46:00 p.m. EST, November 19, on the fourth flight of the United States Microgravity Payload and Spartan-201 satellite. The crew members include Mission Commander Kevin Kregel.; Pilot Steven Lindsey; Mission Specialists Kalpana Chawla, Ph.D., Winston Scott, and Takao Doi, Ph.D., of the National Space Development Agency of Japan; and Payload Specialist Leonid Kadenyuk of the National Space Agency of Ukraine. During the 16-day STS-87 mission, the crew will oversee experiments in microgravity; deploy and retrieve a solar satellite; and test a new experimental camera, the AERCam Sprint. Dr. Doi and Scott also will perform a spacewalk to practice International Space Station maneuvers

A blue and white rocket launches, blowing dirt off the floor of Jean Dry Lake during Springfest 2006.

Launch of STS-27, December 2, 1988. Note how the shuttle is framed by the Flag Pole (left) and the Clock (right)

VANDENBERG AFB, Calif. -- The Landsat Data Continuity Mission spacecraft lifted off at 1 02 p.m. EST, 10 02 a.m. PST) atop a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket from Space Launch Complex 3 at California's Vandenberg Air Force Base. The Landsat Data Continuity Mission LDCM is the future of Landsat satellites. It will continue to obtain valuable data and imagery to be used in agriculture, education, business, science, and government. The Landsat Program provides repetitive acquisition of high resolution multispectral data of the Earth's surface on a global basis. The data from the Landsat spacecraft constitute the longest record of the Earth's continental surfaces as seen from space. It is a record unmatched in quality, detail, coverage, and value.

A Peacekeeper ICBM is successfully launched from Launch Facility 02 on the north side of Vandenberg Air Force Base at 1:00 AM Pacific Standard time on 30 May 1996. The launch is part of the continuing follow on test and evaluation program that insures the reliability of the U.S. ICBM program. It took the missile approximately 30 minutes to travel to the Kwajalein Missile Range where it accurately dropped its payload of telemetry sensors. Base: Vandenberg Air Force Base State: California (CA) Country: United States Of America (USA)

Launch of the space shuttle Columbia; 04/04/97; Kennedy Space Center, Florida. Mission STS-83.

British Rocket Tests In Australia -- Woomera rocket range, on the South Australian saltbush plains, has been carrying out tests of secret weapons at a mounting tempo in recent months and is intensifying its preparations for an expanded programme of experiments. Teams of British, Australian, and New Zealand scientists are being given increasing responsibility in Australia for initiation research. Woomera, recently inspected by a party of newspapermen, has developed from a frontier construction ca

Photograph taken during the launch of Syncom 2, he first geosynchronous communications satellite. Dated 20th century

Expedition 23 Soyuz Launch

The Soyuz TMA-14M rocket launches from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on Friday, Sept. 26, 2014 carrying Expedition 41 Soyuz Commander Alexander Samokutyaev of the Russian Federal Space Agency (Roscosmos), Flight Engineer Barry Wilmore of NASA, and Flight Engineer Elena Serova of Roscosmos into orbit to begin their five and a half month mission on the International Space Station. (

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. Into a blue, cloud-scattered sky, NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft lifts off on time at 2 p.m. EST aboard an Atlas V rocket from Complex 41 on Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. This was the third launch attempt in as many days after scrubs due to weather concerns. The compact, 1,050-pound piano-sized probe will get a boost from a kick-stage solid propellant motor for its journey to Pluto. New Horizons will be the fastest spacecraft ever launched, reaching lunar orbit distance in just nine hours and passing Jupiter 13 months later. The New Horizons science payload, developed under direction of Southwest Research Institute, includes imaging infrared and ultraviolet spectrometers, a multi-color camera, a long-range telescopic camera, two particle spectrometers, a space-dust detector and a radio science experiment. The dust counter was designed and built by students at the University of Colorado, Boulder. The launch at this time allows New Horizons

STS077-S-007 (19 May 1996) --- In this air-to-air 70mm frame, the Space Shuttle Endeavour is captured atop a trail of smoke as it carries six astronauts toward the fourth NASA Space Shuttle mission of the year. The photograph was taken from the Shuttle Training Aircraft (STA) which routinely checks the Florida environs for weather and safety factors. The launch occurred at 6:30:00 a.m. (EDT), May 19, 1996. Heading the six-member crew onboard is astronaut John H. Casper, mission commander. Other crew members are astronauts Curtis L. Brown, Jr., pilot; along with Daniel W. Bursch, Mario Runco, Jr., Andrew S. W. Thomas and Marc Garneau, all mission specialists. Garneau represents the Canadian Space Agency (CSA). During the approximately 10-day mission, the crew will perform a variety of payload activities, including microgravity research aboard the Spacehab 4 Module, deployment and retrieval of the Spartan 207 and deployment and rendezvous with the Passive Aerodynamically-Stabilized

nuclear rocket bomb flying over a landscape field 3d illustration of a nuclear rocket bomb flying over a landscape field Copyright: xZoonar.com/magannx 11181550

Photograph of the launch of the Unha-3 carrier rocket. Aboard the rocket was the Kwangmyongsong-3, a North Korean Earth observation satellite. Dated 2012

41D-3063 (30 Aug. 1984) --- The space shuttle Discovery climbs toward Earth orbit following a successful liftoff from KSC's Pad 39A at 8 41 50 a.m. (EDT), Aug. 30, 1984. Inside the spacecraft are six crewmembers looking forward to a busy week in space. The scene was photographed by astronaut John W. Young in the Shuttle Training Aircraft (STA).

ISS028-E-008377 (21 June 2011) --- One of the Expedition 28 crew members aboard the International Space Station, flying at an altitude of approximately 235 statute miles, on June 21 spotted and photographed this image of one of the major Texas wildfires currently burning up massive acreage. This one is near Jasper and Lake Sam Rayburn in far east Texas.

Largest Rocket in the World Successfully Test Fired

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - The first free flight of the Project Morpheus prototype lander begins as the landers engine fires at the north of the Shuttle Landing Facility at NASAs Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Testing of the prototype lander was performed at NASAs Johnson Space Center in Houston in preparation for tethered and free flight testing at Kennedy. Project Morpheus integrates NASAs automated landing and hazard avoidance technology, or ALHAT, with an engine that runs on liquid oxygen and methane, or green propellants, into a fully-operational lander that could deliver cargo to asteroids and other planetary surfaces.The landing facility will provide the lander with the kind of field necessary for realistic testing, complete with rocks, craters and hazards to avoid. Morpheus ALHAT payload allows it to navigate to clear landing sites amidst rocks, craters and other hazards during its descent. Project Morpheus is being managed under the Advanced Exploration Systems, or AES, D

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