Aerospace Engineering Work

Snapshots of engineers working on space shuttle engine installations and testing at NASA facilities. Highlights the complexity of aerospace technology.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - In the Orbiter Processing Facility bay 2, technicians work the engine installer to maneuver main engine 1 into place on space shuttle Endeavour. The scheduled launch vehicle for the STS-126 mission, Endeavour will deliver a multi-purpose logistics module to the International Space Station. Launch is targeted for Nov. 10. Endeavour is also the backup shuttle, if needed for rescue, for the STS-125 mission in October that will make repairs on the Hubble Space Telescope. For that purpose, it is designated STS-400.

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. -- In this overhead view inside Orbiter Processing Facility 3 at Kennedy Space Center, technicians guide engine No. 3 toward the aft fuselage of Discovery for installation during processing for mission STS-120. Mission STS-120 will be the 23rd flight to the International Space Station. Space Shuttle Discovery will carry the U.S. Node 2. Launch is targeted for Oct. 20. NASA/Dimitri Gerondidakis

The Soyuz rocket and Soyuz MS-02 spacecraft are assembled on Friday, Oct. 14, 2016 at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. Expedition 49 flight engineer Shane Kimbrough of NASA, Soyuz commander Sergey Ryzhikov of Roscosmos, and flight engineer Andrey Borisenko of Roscosmos are scheduled to launch from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on Oct. 19.

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. -In the Orbiter Processing Facility Bay 1 at NASA Kennedy Space Center, a crane is attached to the remote manipulator system boom in Atlantis payload bay. The boom is being removed from Atlantis and will be temporarily stored. The RMS includes the electromechanical arm that maneuvers a payload from the payload bay of the orbiter to its deployment position and then releases it. It can also grapple a free-flying payload, maneuver it to the payload bay of the orbiter and berth it in the orbiter. The RMS arm is 50 feet 3 inches long and 15 inches in diameter. It weighs 905 pounds, and the total system weighs 994 pounds. The RMS has six joints that correspond roughly to the joints of the human arm, with shoulder yaw and pitch joints; an elbow pitch joint; and wrist pitch, yaw and roll joints. The end effector is the unit at the end of the wrist that actually grabs, or grapples, the payload.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - Using a Hyster forklift, workers maneuver space shuttle main engine No. 1 (top) into place in space shuttle Discovery in Orbiter Processing Facility bay 3 at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Each engine is 14 feet long, weighs about 6,700 pounds, and is 7.5 feet in diameter at the end of the nozzle. Discovery is being processed for its next mission, STS-119, targeted for launch on Feb. 12, 2009. Discovery and its crew will deliver integrated truss structure 6 (S6) and solar arrays to the International Space Station.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - A crane moves the engine-handling device away from the Pratt and Whitney Rocketdyne space shuttle main engine, or SSME, that it rotated into a horizontal position inside the SSME Processing Facility, the engine shop at NASAs Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The engine is secured on a portable workstand before being transferred into a transportation canister.The engine is one of the last SSMEs remaining at Kennedy and is being prepared for shipment to NASA's Stennis Space Center in Mississippi. The first two groups of engines were shipped from Kennedy to Stennis in November 2011 and January 2012 the remaining engines are scheduled to depart on April 9. Altogether, 15 shuttle-era engines will be stored at Stennis for reuse on NASAs Space Launch System heavy-lift rocket, under development.

. On May 24, 2022, the core stage production team moved the Space Launch System (SLS) rocket engine section for Artemis II to the core stage final integration area at NASAs Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans. While there, the engine section team is completing installation of the main propulsion systems, finishing integration of the electrical and avionics systems, and preparing for functional testing of the various systems. During final integration, the team also will install remaining internal thermal protection systems and prepare to position the engine section from vertical to horizontal so that it can be joined with the rest of the core stage. The engine section is located at the bottom of the core stage and includes the rockets main propulsion systems that connect to the core stages four RS-25 engines that will help launch the Artemis II lunar mission. This fall, the engine section will be horizontally integrated with the previously-joined forward assembly and liquid hydroge

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - In Orbiter Processing Facility-1 at NASAs Kennedy Space Center in Florida, a technician monitors the progress as a crane is used to carry an orbital maneuvering system (OMS) pod that will be installed on space shuttle Discovery.The OMS pod was returned from White Sands Space Harbor in New Mexico where it underwent a complete deservicing and cleaning. The work is part of the Space Shuttle Programs transition and retirement processing of space shuttle Discovery. The shuttle will go to the Smithsonians National Air and Space Museum, Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center in Chantilly, Va., in April 2012.

Workers at the Michoud Assembly Facility (MAF) near New Orleans, Louisiana, install the last engine on the S-IB stage. Developed by the Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC) and built by the Chrysler Corporation at MAF, the S-IB stage utilized eight H-1 engines to produce a combined thrust of 1,600,000 pounds.

. Move crews at NASAs Michoud Assembly Facility lift the aft liquid oxygen tank (LOX) barrel out of the Vertical Weld Center (VWC) for its next phase of production. The aft barrel will eventually be mated with the forward barrel and the forward and aft domes to form the LOX tank, which will be used in the Space Launch Systems (SLS) Artemis IV mission. The LOX tank holds 196,000 gallons of super-cooled liquid oxygen to help fuel four RS-25 engines. The SLS core stage is made up of five unique elements: the forward skirt, liquid oxygen tank, intertank, liquid hydrogen tank, and the engine section. The liquid oxygen hardware, along with the liquid hydrogen tank will provide propellant to the four RS-25 engines to produce more than two million pounds of thrust to help launch NASAs Orion spacecraft, astronauts, and supplies beyond Earths orbit to the Moon. Together with its four RS-25 engines, the rockets massive 212-foot-tall core stage the largest stage NASA has ever built and its twin

. Technicians at NASAs Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans moved the engine section of NASAs Space Launch System (SLS) rocket for Artemis II, the first crewed mission to the Moon, into position for the final join of the core stage Feb. 22. The engine section is the bottom-most portion of the 212-foot-tall core stage. It is the last of five major elements that is needed to connect the stage into one major structure. In addition to its miles of cabling and hundreds of sensors, the engine section is a crucial attachment point for the four RS-25 engines and two solid rocket boosters that produce a combined 8.8 million pounds of thrust at liftoff and flight. During launch and flight, liquid propellants from the liquid hydrogen tank and liquid oxygen tanks are delivered through the engine section to the four RS-25 engines. The engine section also includes the avionics that help steer the engines after liftoff. Next, teams will join the engine section to the core stage for the second SLS

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

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - At NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, technicians using a Hyster forklift prepare to remove one of the three main engines on space shuttle Discovery. Engine removal is part of the post-landing processing. Discovery completed the STS-119 mission March 28 with a landing at Kennedy's Shuttle Landing Facility. Each engine is 14 feet long, weighs about 6,700 pounds, and is 7.5 feet in diameter at the end of the nozzle. Discovery next will be used on the STS-128 mission to deliver supplies and equipment to the International Space Station. The launch is targeted for Aug. 6.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - In the Assembly and Refurbishment Facility at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, technicians examine the assembly of the Ares I-X forward skirt and the forward skirt extension. The forward skirt is the initial piece of first-stage hardware in preparation for the August 2009 test flight of NASA'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.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- In Orbiter Processing Facility-1 at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, removal of main engine no. 3 from space shuttle Atlantis is under way. Inspection and maintenance of each main engine is standard procedure following a shuttle mission. Some of the engines maintained and stored in the engine shop could be used for Atlantis, on what currently is planned as the 'launch on need,' or potential rescue mission for Endeavour's STS-134 mission, targeted for launch Feb. 26, 2011.

In the clustering procedure, an initial assembly step for the first stage (S-IB stage) of the Saturn IB launch vehicle, workers at the Michoud Assembly Facility (MAF) near New Orleans, Louisiana, place the first of eight outboard fuel tanks next to the central liquid-oxygen tank of the S-IB stage. Developed by the Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC) and built by the Chrysler Corporation at MAF, the S-IB stage utilized eight H-1 engines to produce a combined thrust of 1,600,000 pounds.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- In Orbiter Processing Facility-1 at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, technicians carefully remove engine No. 2, one of three space shuttle main engines from Endeavour, using a specially designed engine installer, called a Hyster forklift.The removal is part of Endeavour's transition and retirement processing. Endeavour is being prepared for public display at the California Science Center in Los Angeles. Endeavour flew 25 missions, spent 299 days in space, orbited Earth 4,671 times and traveled 122,883,151 miles over the course of its 19-year career.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - Technicians secure a Pratt and Whitney Rocketdyne space shuttle main engine, or SSME, onto a portable workstand inside the SSME Processing Facility, the engine shop at NASAs Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The engine was rotated into a horizontal position with the aid of an engine-handling device attached to a crane.The engine is one of the last SSMEs remaining at Kennedy and is being prepared for shipment to NASA's Stennis Space Center in Mississippi. The first two groups of engines were shipped from Kennedy to Stennis in November 2011 and January 2012 the remaining engines are scheduled to depart on April 9. Altogether, 15 shuttle-era engines will be stored at Stennis for reuse on NASAs Space Launch System heavy-lift rocket, under development.

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.

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. - In high bay 3 of the Vehicle Assembly Building, the external tank designated for Space Shuttle Discovery is lowered into position between the solid rocket boosters on the mobile launcher platform. Discovery is scheduled to launch on mission STS-121 in July.

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. -- In Orbiter Processing Facility Bay 3, a crane carries the new orbital boom sensor system to be installed in Discoverys payload bay. The previous boom was removed for repairs on the manipulator positioning mechanism, the pedestals that hold the boom in place in the payload bay. Discovery is the designated orbiter for the second return-to-flight mission, STS-121. The mission is scheduled no earlier than mid-May.

Teams with NASAs Exploration Ground Systems and contractor Jacobs integrate the interim cryogenic propulsion stage (ICPS) for NASAs Space Launch System (SLS) rocket with the launch vehicle stage adapter (LVSA) atop the massive SLS core stage in the agencys Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) at NASAs Kennedy Space Center in Florida on July 5, 2021. The ICPS is a liquid oxygen and liquid hydrogen-based system that will fire its RL 10 engine to give the Orion spacecraft the big in-space push needed to fly tens of thousands of miles beyond the Moon. The next component to be stacked on top of ICPS will be the Orion stage adapter, which will connect the ICPS with the spacecraft. Through Artemis, NASA will send the first woman and the first person of color to the lunar surface, as well as establish a sustainable presence on and around the Moon. As the first in an increasingly complex set of missions, Artemis I will test SLS and Orion as an integrated system prior to crewed flights to the Moo

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -In High Bay 4 of the Vehicle Assembly Building at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, a large crane is attached to the Ares I-X upper stage simulator service module/service adapter segment to lift and move it to a stand. 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. The Ares I-X is targeted for launch in July 2009.

jsc2018e025507 - In the Integration Facility at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, the Soyuz MS-08 spacecraft awaits its rotation to a horizontal position March 14 to be encapsulated in the upper stage of a Soyuz booster rocket. Expedition 55 crewmembers Drew Feustel and Ricky Arnold of NASA and Oleg Artemyev of Roscosmos will launch in the Soyuz March 21 for a five-month mission on the International Space Station...NASA/Victor Zelentsov.

In the clustering procedure, an initial assembly step for the first stage (S-IB stage) of the Saturn IB launch vehicle, workers at the Michoud Assembly Facility (MAF) near New Orleans, Louisiana, place the first of eight outboard fuel tanks (left) next to the central liquid-oxygen tank of S-IB stage. Developed by the Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC) and built by the Chrysler Corporation at MAF, the S-IB stage utilized eight H-1 engines to produce a combined thrust of 1,600,000 pounds.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- At NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, a space shuttle main engine secured on a Hyster forklift is installed in space shuttle Discovery in Orbiter Processing Facility-3. Three main engines, weighing 7,000 pounds each, will be installed for the STS-133 mission to the International Space Station. Engines are inspected and maintained in the nearby Space Shuttle Main Engine Processing Facility before installation. Discovery and its STS-133 crew are targeted to deliver the Express Logistics Carrier-4 filled with external payloads and experiments, as well as critical spare components to the station later this year.

STS-132 ET-136 OFFLOAD FROM BARGE AND XFER TO VAB

In the Orbiter Processing Facility, the nose cap (foreground) removed from Atlantis (behind) waits to be shipped 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.

. These photos show how technicians at NASAs Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans installed the second of four RS-25 engines onto the core stage for the agencys SLS (Space Launch System) rocket that will help power NASAs first crewed Artemis mission to the Moon. Crews added the second engine, with the serial number E2047 in position one, to the stage Sept. 15. The serial number for the engine installed Sept. 11 in position two on the core stage is E2059. Engineers consider the engines to be soft mated to the rocket stage. Following soft mate of all four engines, technicians with NASA, Aerojet Rocketdyne, an L3Harris Technologies company and the RS-25 engines lead contractor, along with Boeing, the core stage lead contractor, will fully secure the engines to the stage and integrate the propulsion and electrical systems within the structure. All four RS-25 engines are located at the base of the core stage within the engine section.NASA is working to land the first woman and first per

Discovery/T&R FRCS Removal & Lift to Transporter

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - Workers begin de-stacking a mock Orion capsule and service module in the Vehicle Assembly Building at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The stack has been used to evaluate potential techniques to be used in assembling the Orion and service module for operational flights in the future.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - In the Rotation, Processing and Surge Facility at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, the Ares I-X center forward segment is secured onto a stand after the segment's removal from the transporter in the foreground. The booster used for the Ares I-X launch is being modified by adding new forward structures and a fifth segment simulator. The stacking operations are scheduled to begin in the Vehicle Assembly Building in April. Launch of the Ares I-X flight test is targeted for July 2009.

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. -- At Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, workers prepare the Delta II second stage for GLAST for weighing. The Delta rocket will be used to launch the Gamma-Ray Large Area Space Telescope, or GLAST, May 16 from Launch Pad 17-B on CCAFS. The GLAST is a powerful space observatory that will explore the Universe's ultimate frontier, where nature harnesses forces and energies far beyond anything possible on Earth; probe some of science's deepest questions, such as what our Universe is made of, and search for new laws of physics; explain how black holes accelerate jets of material to nearly light speed; and help crack the mystery of stupendously powerful explosions known as gamma-ray bursts.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- Technicians in the Vehicle Assembly Building at NASAs Kennedy Space Center in Florida, prepare to jack crawler-transporter 2, or CT-2, four feet off the floor to facilitate removal of the roller bearing assemblies. After inspections, new assemblies will be installed. The Ground Systems Development and Operations Program office at Kennedy is overseeing the upgrades to CT-2 so that it can carry NASAs Space Launch System heavy-lift rocket and new Orion spacecraft to the launch pad. 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.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - Space shuttle Atlantis moves into the Vehicle Assembly Building from Orbiter Processing Facility-2 at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Atlantis will be moved to the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex in November where it will be placed on public display.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- In the Canister Rotation Facility at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, workers monitor the progress of the payload canister as an overhead crane rotates it into a vertical position.The canister will then be delivered to Launch Pad 39A, lifted into the rotating service structure where the module will be moved into the clean room before it is installed into space shuttle Discovery's payload bay. Discovery and its STS-133 crew will deliver the PMM, packed with supplies and critical spare parts, as well as Robonaut 2, the dexterous humanoid astronaut helper, to the International Space Station. Launch is targeted for 4:40 p.m. EDT, Nov. 1.

Crews Complete SLS Liquid Oxygen Tank Forward Dome for Artemis IV. Teams completed welding of the liquid oxygen dome for the core stage of a future SLS (Space Launch System) rocket at NASAs Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans. The dome, which will cap off the forward end of the liquid oxygen tank, was lifted off of the robotic weld tool and moved to an assembly area for the next phase of production. Later, crews will add the forward dome to join the two barrels and the aft dome to complete the liquid oxygen tank. The flight hardware will be used for Artemis IV, the first flight of SLS in its Block 1B configuration. The SLS core stage liquid oxygen tank holds 196,000 gallons of super-cooled liquid propellant. The SLS core stage is made up of five unique elements: the forward skirt, liquid oxygen tank, intertank, liquid hydrogen tank, and the engine section. The liquid oxygen and the liquid hydrogen tanks will provide propellant to the four RS-25 engines to produce more than two mil

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - In Orbiter Processing Facility bay 3 at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, space shuttle main engine No. 1 is installed in space shuttle Discovery. Each engine is 14 feet long, weighs about 6,700 pounds, and is 7.5 feet in diameter at the end of the nozzle. Discovery is being processed for its next mission, STS-119, targeted for launch on Feb. 12, 2009. Discovery and its crew will deliver integrated truss structure 6 (S6) and solar arrays to the International Space Station.

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. -- In the Space Station Processing Facility at NASA's Kennedy Space Center, an overhead crane moves the Experiment Logistics Module Pressurized Section, or ELM-PS, of the Japanese Experiment Module, called Kibo, across the facility toward a payload canister for eventual transfer to Launch Pad 39A. The ELM-PS is the primary payload for space shuttle Endeavour's STS-123 mission, which is targeted for launch to the International Space Station on March 11.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - Inside Orbiter Processing Facility-2 at NASAs Kennedy Space Center in Florida, technicians attach a large crane to the remote manipulator system (RMS) robotic arm in space shuttle Atlantis payload bay to prepare it for removal. The RMS will be transported to NASAs Johnson Space Center in Houston for possible use on future spaceflights. The work is part of the Space Shuttle Programs transition and retirement processing of shuttle Atlantis. The shuttle is being prepared for display at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - The Orbiter Boom Sensor System is being removed from space shuttle Endeavour in NASA Kennedy Space Center's Orbiter Processing Facility bay 2. After returning from the STS-127 mission July 31, 2009, Endeavour now is being processed for the STS-130 mission targeted for Feb. 4, 2010. Endeavour will deliver to the International Space Station the Tranquility pressurized module that will provide room for many of the station's life support systems.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- In the Vehicle Assembly Building at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, workers monitor the progress of external fuel tank, ET-122, for space shuttle Endeavour's STS-134 mission as it is being attached to the twin solid rocket boosters on the mobile launcher platform.Endeavour and its crew will deliver the Express Logistics Carrier-3 and the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer to the International Space Station. Launch is targeted for April 19.

VANDENBERG AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. - In Orbital Sciences Corp. Building 1555 at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, technicians monitor the loading of the Taurus XL rocket components onto an Assembly Integration Trailer in preparation for moving to Pad 576-E on north Vandenberg later this month.The Orbital Sciences Taurus XL rocket, targeted to lift off Feb. 23, 2011, from Vandenberg's Space Launch Complex 576-E, will take NASA's Glory satellite into low Earth orbit. Glory is scheduled to collect data on the properties of aerosols and black carbon. It also will help scientists understand how the sun's irradiance affects Earth's climate.

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. -- Inside the Vehicle Assembly Building, the external tank for Endeavour is lowered between the solid rocket boosters toward the mobile launcher platform below. Endeavour is currently targeted for rollover to the VAB July 5. Endeavour is the designated orbiter for mission STS-118, targeted for launch on Aug. 9 to the International Space Station. The mission will continue space station construction by delivering a third starboard truss segment, S5, as well as carrying the external stowage platform 3.

On Jan. 13, 2016, technicians at Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans finish welding together the primary structure of the Orion spacecraft destined for deep space on Artemis I. Part of Batch image transfer from Flickr.

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. - In the Orbiter Processing Facility at NASAs Kennedy Space Center, United Space Alliance technicians Terry Williams (left) and Ron Delaney retract the nose landing gear on Space Shuttle Atlantis. Compression measurements will be taken of the newly installed nose landing gear thermal barrier seal with the gear in position in its wheel well and the landing gear doors closed. Atlantis is being processed for launch on the second Return to Flight mission, STS-121, which is scheduled to fly in July.

Upper Stage of the Saturn V in the Vehicle Assembly Building

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - In Orbiter Processing Facility Bay 2 at NASAs Kennedy Space Center in Florida, United Space Alliance technicians lift a heat shield for installation around space shuttle Endeavours replica shuttle main engine RSME number 1.The work is part of Transition and Retirement of the remaining space shuttles, Endeavour and Atlantis. Endeavour is being prepared for public display at the California Science Center in Los Angeles. Its ferry flight to California is targeted for mid-September. Endeavour was the last space shuttle added to NASAs orbiter fleet. Over the course of its 19-year career, Endeavour spent 299 days in space during 25 missions.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- This overhead view in the Rotation, Processing and Surge Facility at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, shows the booster segment seated in the work stand and the transportation and storage pallet where it will be moved. The segments will be used for space shuttle Atlantis on what currently is planned as the 'launch on need,' or potential rescue mission for the final shuttle flight, Endeavour's STS-134 mission.

The first welded part of Artemis I Orion, the forward bulkhead and tunnel, is moved into final tooling at the Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans, Louisiana on Oct. 12, 2015. Part of Batch image transfer from Flickr.

STS-335 STS-135 ATLANTIS ENGINE-1 MOVE FROM ENGINE SHOP TO OPF-1

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. In the Vehicle Assembly Building at NASA Kennedy Space Center, an overhead crane lifts the right aft booster segments (aft skirt and aft motor segment) to be used with space shuttle Discovery on mission STS-121. The segments will be installed on the mobile launcher platform in Bay 3. Mission STS-121 is the second space shuttle mission in the return-to-flight sequence. The booster assembly is a major milestone in the processing sequence that leads to launch. The launch date is targeted no earlier than May.

Workers prepare transuranic nuclear waste from America's nuclear weapons program for long-term storage at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant, here a worker checks radiation readings as the lid is lifted from a shipping container; the radioactive materials are then stored in rooms carved out of an ancient salt formation a half mile below the Chihuahuan Desert, Carlsbad, New Mexico, USA, North America

060511-N-7434T-001. Base: Newport News State: Virginia (VA) Country: United States Of America (USA)

In the Integration Building at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, the Soyuz MS-12 spacecraft is lowered into position March 6 prior to its encapsulation into the nose fairing of the Soyuz booster rocket. Expedition 59 crewmembers Nick Hague and Christina Koch of NASA and Alexey Ovchinin of Roscosmos will launch on March 14, U.S. time, on the Soyuz MS-12 spacecraft from the Baikonur Cosmodrome for a six-and-a-half month mission on the International Space Station...NASA/Victor Zelentsov.

Assembly work at the Beechcraft factory in Wichita, Kansas.

. Crews at NASAs Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans load alluminum alloy panels into the Vertical Weld Center June 1. The Vertical Weld Center is a friction-stir weld tool for the large structures of the core stage for the SLS (Space Launch System) rocket. Teams load the panels into the VWC using an overhead crane system, then multiple panels are welded together to create entire barrels. The panels in these images are some of the five barrels that will form the SLS liquid hydrogen propellant tank for the SLS rocket that will power NASAs Artemis IV mission, which is also the first flight of SLS in its more powerful Block 1B configuration.The SLS core stage is made up of five unique elements: the forward skirt, liquid oxygen tank, intertank, liquid hydrogen tank, and the engine section. The liquid hydrogen propellant tank holds 537,000 gallons of liquid hydrogen cooled to minus 432 degrees Fahrenheit and sits between the core stages intertank and engine section. The liquid hydrogen

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - In the Rotation, Processing and Surge Facility at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, cranes attached to the Ares I-X center forward segment lift it off the transporter to raise it to vertical. Once vertical, the segment will be moved to a stand. The booster used for the Ares I-X launch is being modified by adding new forward structures and a fifth segment simulator. The stacking operations are scheduled to begin in the Vehicle Assembly Building in April. Launch of the Ares I-X flight test is targeted for July 2009.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - Inside the Vehicle Assembly Building, or VAB, at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, preparations are underway to remove a portion of the catwalk on the west side of Level 16. The catwalk is being removed to allow room for the removal of the 175-ton crane that is situated above the transfer aisle. The crane will be lowered to the floor to perform upgrades to its 45-year-old controls in order to improve reliability, precision and safety. The Ground Systems Development and Operations Program is overseeing upgrades and modifications to the VAB. The crane will be upgraded so that it can support lifting needs for NASA and other exploration vehicles, including the agency's Space Launch System and Orion spacecraft.

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. -- In the Space Station Processing Facility, workers begin uncovering the Long Spacer (LS), the second and final piece of the S6 Integrated Truss Segment. Both the LS and the S6 Integrated Equipment Assembly (IEA) will undergo inspections and verifications tests to prepare them for flight to the International Space Station in early 2004. Although separate for now, the two segments will be integrated and fly as one on mission STS-119. Together the two pieces weigh 26,000 pounds and measure 45 feet long. The S6 is the 11th and final piece of the Station's Integrated Truss Structure, which will measure more than 300 feet in all. .

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - Technicians close the doors to the nose gear of space shuttle Atlantis as the shuttle sits on the orbiter transporter vehicle in Orbiter Processing Facility-2 at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The shuttle is being prepared for its move from the OPF to the Vehicle Assembly Building during transition and retirement work. Later, the shuttle will be taken to the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex where it will go on public display.

Russian engineers prepare the Soyuz TMA-14 spacecraft and boosters for mating Monday, March 23, 2009 at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. The Soyuz is scheduled to launch the crew of Expedition 19 and a spaceflight participant on March 26, 2009.

Technicians at NASAs Michoud Assembly Facility move the engine section of NASAs Space Launch System rocket for Artemis III in preparation for its next step in production. This hardware is the first large piece manufactured for the Artemis III mission and makes up the lowest portion of the 212-foot-tall core stage. When complete, the engine section will house the four RS-25 engines and include vital systems for mounting, controlling and delivering fuel from the propellant tanks to the rockets engines. Together with its four RS-25 engines and its twin solid rocket boosters, it will produce 8.8 million pounds of thrust to send NASAs Orion spacecraft, astronauts, and supplies beyond Earths orbit to the Moon and, ultimately, Mars. Offering more payload mass, volume capability, and energy to speed missions through space, the SLS rocket, along with NASAs Gateway in lunar orbit, the Human Landing System, and Orion spacecraft, is part of NASAs backbone for deep space exploration and th

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - At NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, workers connect the solid rocket booster segment to two overhead cranes in the Rotation, Processing and Surge Facility. The segments will be used for space shuttle Atlantis on what currently is planned as the 'launch on need,' or potential rescue mission for the final shuttle flight, Endeavour's STS-134 mission.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - In the Assembly and Refurbishment Facility at NASA's Kennedy Space Center, the aft skirt for the Ares 1-X rocket has been lowered onto another stand. The segment is being moved onto a machine shop work stand for drilling modifications. The modifications will prepare it for the installation of the auxiliary power unit controller, the reduced-rate gyro unit, the booster decelerator motors and the booster tumble motors. Ares I is an in-line, two-stage rocket that will transport the Orion crew exploration vehicle to low-Earth orbit. Ares I-X is a test rocket. The Ares I first stage will be a five-segment solid rocket booster based on the four-segment design used for the shuttle. Ares Is fifth booster segment allows the launch vehicle to lift more weight and reach a higher altitude before the first stage separates from the upper stage, which ignites in midflight to propel the Orion spacecraft to Earth orbit.

T&R Atlantis Engine 3 Removal

Day In The Life of Artemis Employees

MULTI-PURPOSE CREW VEHICLE-TO-STAGE ADAPTER(MSA) FLIGHT HARDWARE ON CIRCUMFERENTIAL WELD TOOL, FEBRUARY 27, 2013

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - Technicians keep a close watch as the Hyster forklift backs away from the space shuttle Endeavour following installation of replica shuttle main engine RSME number 3 inside Orbiter Processing Facility Bay 2 at NASAs Kennedy Space Center in Florida.The work is part of Transition and Retirement of the remaining space shuttles, Endeavour and Atlantis. Endeavour is being prepared for public display at the California Science Center in Los Angeles. Its ferry flight to California is targeted for mid-September. Endeavour was the last space shuttle added to NASAs orbiter fleet. Over the course of its 19-year career, Endeavour spent 299 days in space during 25 missions.

Inside the Rotation, Processing and Surge Facility (RPSF) at NASAs Kennedy Space Center in Florida, technicians lift the right aft motor segment - one of five segments that make up one of two solid rocket boosters for the agencys Space Launch System (SLS) - onto an inspection stand on June 23, 2020. While in the RPSF, the boosters will be mated to the rockets two aft skirts before they are moved to the Vehicle Assembly Building for stacking on the mobile launcher. The boosters, manufactured by Northrop Grumman in Utah, recently arrived at Kennedy for processing ahead of the Artemis I launch. Together, the twin boosters provide more than 75 percent of the total SLS thrust at launch. 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.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - Inside Orbiter Processing Facility-2 at NASAs Kennedy Space Center in Florida, technicians start to position a crane and support equipment near space shuttle Atlantis in preparation for removal of the left orbital maneuvering system (OMS) pod. The work is part of the Space Shuttle Programs transition and retirement processing of shuttle Atlantis. The OMS pods will be sent to White Sands Space Harbor in New Mexico where they will undergo a complete deservicing and cleaning and then be returned to Kennedy for reinstallation on Atlantis. Atlantis is being prepared for display at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex in Florida.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - In Orbiter Processing Bay 2 at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, a Hyster forklift is moved into position to remove main engine no. 1 from space shuttle Endeavour. Engine removal is part of the post-landing processing; engine no. 2 was removed Aug. 17. Endeavour returned from the STS-127 mission July 31. Endeavour's next mission is STS-130 targeted for February 2010. Endeavour will deliver to the International Space Station the Tranquility pressurized module that will provide room for many of the station's life support systems.

The Atlas V rocket that will launch Boeing's CST-100 Starliner spacecraft is coming together inside a United Launch Alliance facility in Decatur, Alabama. Boeings Starliner will launch on the Atlas V rocket to the International Space Station as part of NASAs Commercial Crew Program.

Discovery/T&R FRCS Removal & Lift to Transporter

Druckkessel in einem Gaskraftwerk *** Pressure boilers in a Gas power plant 1074706742

The forward skirt section of NASA's SLS rocket is completed and awaiting stacking for the EM-1 launch.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - In Orbiter Processing Facility bay 3 at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, workers make adjustments to install space shuttle main engine No. 3 in space shuttle Discovery. Each engine is 14 feet long, weighs about 6,700 pounds, and is 7.5 feet in diameter at the end of the nozzle. Discovery is being processed for its next mission, STS-119, targeted for launch on Feb. 12, 2009. Discovery and its crew will deliver integrated truss structure 6 (S6) and solar arrays to the International Space Station.

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, Fla. -- Workers at Launch Complex 17-A, Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, oversee the lifting of the second stage of a Delta II rocket, which is to be mated with the first stage. The Delta II will propel the Genesis spacecraft on a journey to capture samples of the ions and elements in the solar wind and return them to Earth for scientists to use to determine the exact composition of the Sun and the solar systems origin. NASAs Genesis project in managed by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif. Lockheed Martin Astronautics built the Genesis spacecraft for NASA in Denver, Colo. The launch is scheduled for July 30 at 12:36 p.m. EDT

Interior View of Orbiter Processing Facility 3

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - In Orbiter Processing Facility Bay 2 at NASAs Kennedy Space Center in Florida, technicians use the Hyster forklift to install replica shuttle main engine RSME number 1 on the space shuttle Endeavour.The work is part of Transition and Retirement of the remaining space shuttles, Endeavour and Atlantis. Endeavour is being prepared for public display at the California Science Center in Los Angeles. Its ferry flight to California is targeted for mid-September. Endeavour was the last space shuttle added to NASAs orbiter fleet. Over the course of its 19-year career, Endeavour spent 299 days in space during 25 missions.

The Liquid Oxygen (LOX) tank was moved from the Pegasus barge to the west test area for placement in test stand.

A900359 U12N MINERAL QUARRY FRONT-END EXP./SCANDI FLASH LOCKWOOD (Project Engineer) MAY 23 90 EG&G/NTS PHOTO LAB Publication Date: 5/23/1990 CABLES; CABLES & WIRES; EDGERTON, GERMESHAUSEN & GRIER; EG&G; EQUIPMENT; EQUIPMENT & INSTRUMENTS; FRONT-END EXP./SCANDI FLASH; FRONT-END EXPERIMENT; INSTRUMENTS & EQUIPMENT; INSTRUMENTS AND EQUIPMENT; MINERAL QUARRY; N-TUNNEL; NEVADA; NEVADA TEST SITE; NTS; NUCLEAR ENERGY TECHNOLOGY; PIPELINES; SCANDI FLASH; TEST SITES; TUNNELS; UGT; UNDERGROUND TESTING; WEAPONS EFFECTS; WIRE & CABLES historical images. 1972 - 2012. Department of Energy. National Nuclear Security Administration. Photographs Related to Nuclear Weapons Testing at the Nevada Test Site.

Maintainers push a KC-135 Stratotanker engine into place Jan. 24, 2014, at Royal Air Force Mildenhall, England. Each engine weighs approximately 5,000 pounds and takes several Airmen and an engine trailer to move. Due to their weight, engine trailers and manpower are the easiest method for transporting engines across hangar floors.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - A replica shuttle main engine (RSME) is poised for installation on space shuttle Discovery in Orbiter Processing Facility-1 at NASAs Kennedy Space Center in Florida.The RSME is one of three that will be installed on Discovery during Space Shuttle Program transition and retirement activities. The replicas are being built in the Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne engine shop at Kennedy to replace the shuttle engines which will be placed in storage to support NASA's Space Launch System, under development. Discovery is being prepared for display at the Smithsonians National Air and Space Museum Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center in Chantilly, Va.

VANDENBERG AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. - On Space Launch Complex 2 at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, a solid rocket booster is raised to vertical. The booster will be lifted into the service tower and installed on the Delta II rocket for the NOAA-N Prime satellite. NOAA-N Prime is the latest polar-orbiting operational environmental weather satellite developed by NASA for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. It is built by Lockheed Martin and similar to NOAA-N launched on May 20, 2005. Launch of NOAA-N Prime is scheduled for Feb. 4.

Ferrol (La Coruña), 03/16/2018. Navantia facilities in Fene. One of the jackets under construction. Photo: Miguel Muñiz. ARCHDC.

JSC2003-E-34755 (16 April 2003) --- Workers at Japan's Tsukuba Space Center are shown preparing the Japanese Experiment Module (JEM), Kibo, for lifting and packaging into an environmentally controlled shipping container for its transportation to Yokohama Harbor, where it was loaded on a container ship bound for Port Canaveral, Florida. The Kibo Pressurized Module, built by the National Space Development Agency of Japan (NASDA), is expected to arrive at the Kennedy Space Center for module integration tests with Node 2 and pre-launch processing in early June.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - In the Space Station Processing Facility at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, workers maneuver a crane that will be attached to the Kibo Experiment Logistics Module Exposed Section, or ELM-ES, behind them. The ELM-ES will be moved to a workstand. The ELM-ES is one of the final components of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency's Kibo laboratory for the International Space Station. It can provide payload storage space and can carry up to three payloads at launch. The ELM-ES will be carried aboard space shuttle Endeavour on the STS-127 mission targeted for launch Aug. 6.

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. - In the transfer aisle of the Vehicle Assembly Building, the external tank designated for Space Shuttle Discovery is ready to be lifted and moved to high bay 3. There it will be stacked with the solid rocket boosters already in place on the mobile launcher platform. Discovery is scheduled to launch on mission STS-121 in July.

Technicians with NASAs Exploration Ground Systems rehearse lifting operations using a mock-up of the Space Launch System (SLS) aft booster segment, referred to as a pathfinder, inside the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) at the agencys Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Sept. 11, 2020, in preparation for Artemis I. The exercise involved preparing the aft pathfinder segment in High Bay 4 of the VAB and moving it over to High Bay 3, where it was placed on the mobile launcher. Stacking of the actual booster segments will occur later this year, before the SLS core stage arrives at Kennedy. Artemis I is the first in a series of increasingly complex missions that will test SLS and the Orion spacecraft as an integrated system prior to crewed flights to the Moon.

This image shows technicians and engineers move and connect the liquid oxygen tank (LOX) to the intertank as they continue the process of the forward join on the core stage of NASAs Space Launch System rocket for Artemis II, the first crewed mission of NASAs Artemis program at NASAs Michoud Assembly Facility. The forward join connects the forward skirt, the liquid oxygen tank (LOX) and the intertank structures to form the top part of the SLS rockets core stage. Now, NASA and Boeing, the SLS prime contractor, will continue to integrate various systems inside the forward part of the core stage and prepare for structural joining of the liquid hydrogen tank and engine section to form the bottom of the stage. Together with its four RS-25 engines, the rockets massive 212-foot-tall core stage — the largest stage NASA has ever built — and its twin solid rocket boosters will produce 8.8 million pounds of thrust to send NASAs Orion spacecraft, astronauts and supplies beyond Earths orbit t

The Soyuz TMA-05M spacecraft and booster are seen at the Integration Facility at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan July 11, 2012 following the mating of the upper stages of the vehicle to the first stage as preparations continued for the launch July 15 of Expedition 32/33 Soyuz Commander Yuri Malenchenko, NASA Flight Engineer Sunita Williams and Flight Engineer Aki Hoshide of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency to the International Space Station. NASA/Victor Zelentsov

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - At NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, the Ares I-X forward center segment arrives in the transfer aisle of the Vehicle Assembly Building, or VAB. The launch vehicle is being assembled in the VAB's High Bay 3. Part of the Constellation Program, the Ares I-X is the test vehicle for the Ares I, which is the essential core of a space transportation system that eventually will carry crewed missions back to the moon, on to Mars and out into the solar system . The Ares I-X flight test is targeted for no earlier than Aug. 30.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- In the Rotation, Processing and Surge Facility, or RSPF, at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, workers prepare for the propellant grain inspection of the final solid rocket booster segments, which is a required safety analysis. The booster segments were manufactured at the ATK solid rocket booster plant in Promontory, Utah, and traveled to Kennedy along the Florida East Coast Railway. The booster segments will be stacked and then mated to space shuttle Atlantis and its external fuel tank in the Vehicle Assembly Building. The segments will be used for what currently is planned as the 'launch on need,' or potential rescue mission for the final shuttle flight, Endeavour's STS-134 mission.

This photograph is a view of stacking the major components of the S-IC (first) stage of the Saturn V vehicle at the Boeing vertical assembly building at the Michoud Assembly Facility (MAF). The view shows the Saturn V S-IC (first) stage thrust structure being placed for the final assembly. The Saturn IB and Saturn V first stages were manufactured at the MAF located 24 kilometers (approximately 15 miles) east of downtown New Orleans, Louisiana. The prime contractors, Chrysler and Boeing, jointly occupied the MAF. The basic manufacturing building boasted 43 acres under one roof. By 1964, NASA added a separate engineering and office building, vertical assembly building, and test stage building. By 1966, other changes to the site included enlarged barge facilities and other miscellaneous support buildings.

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. -- In the Space Station Processing Facility at NASA's Kennedy Space Center, an overhead crane is fitted onto the Japanese Experiment Module, called Kibo. The module will be lifted to a scale for weighing. Also known as the JEM-PM, the module is the primary payload for space shuttle Discovery's STS-124 mission, which is targeted for launch to the International Space Station on April 24.

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. - In the Space Shuttle Main Engine (SSME) Processing Facility, Boeing-Rocketdyne technicians prepare to move SSME 2058, the first SSME fully assembled at KSC. Move conductor Bob Brackett (on ladder) and technicians secure a sling around the engine under the direction of crane operator Joe Ferrante (left). The engine will be lifted from its vertical work stand into a horizontal position in preparation for shipment to NASAs Stennis Space Center in Mississippi to undergo a hot fire acceptance test. It is the first of five engines to be fully assembled on site to reach the desired number of 15 engines ready for launch at any given time in the Space Shuttle program. A Space Shuttle has three reusable main engines. Each is 14 feet long, weighs about 7,800 pounds, is seven-and-a-half feet in diameter at the end of its nozzle, and generates almost 400,000 pounds of thrust. Historically, SSMEs were assembled in Canoga Park, Calif., with post-flight inspections perfor

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

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - In the Vehicle Assembly Building's High Bay 4 at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, the Ares I-X forward assembly has joined other segments on the floor. Ares I-X is the flight test vehicle for the Ares I, a component of the Constellation Program. Ares I is the essential core of a safe, reliable, cost-effective space transportation system that eventually will carry crewed missions back to the moon, on to Mars and out into the solar system. The launch of the Ares I-X flight test is targeted for August 2009.

LAUNCH VEHICLE STAGE ADAPTER (LVSA) AFT CONE MOVE FROM THE VERTICAL WELD TOOL TO THE FLOOR OF BLDG 4755

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