NASA Technical Inspections

Images of technicians conducting technical inspections and tests on equipment at NASA facilities, featuring laptops and control panels.

USML-1, Howard Ross working with the Glovebox Module

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - In the Vehicle Assembly Building at NASA's Kennedy Space Centers in Florida, a technician conducts terahertz scans of five ice frost ramps on the external fuel tank, designated ET-133, for space shuttle Atlantis STS-129 mission. The ice frost ramps are made from foam insulation and cover brackets that hold pressurization lines on the outside of the external tank. Terahertz scans are wave frequency analysis in the infrared band that can see through the foam insulation to help look for any voids or pockets where the foam is not bonded to the metal primer. The ramps being scanned were on the top part of the tank in the same area where foam came off during the last two shuttle launches. The data will be used to help assess whether foam on ET-132, the fuel tank attached to shuttle Discovery at Kennedys Launch Pad 39A, is fit for its flight on the STS-128 mission to the International Space Station.

Technician testing a control panel with electric measurement instrument

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. -- On Launch Pad 39A at NASA's Kennedy Space Center, the wiring is checked and validated before the tanking test on space shuttle Atlantis' external tank set for Dec. 18. The test wiring has been spliced into an electrical harness in the aft main engine compartment connected with the engine cut-off, or ECO, sensor system. The attached wiring leads to the interior of the mobile launcher platform where the time domain reflectometry, or TDR, test equipment is located.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - At the Vehicle Assembly Building at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, a worker connects an aerial lift to the Approach and Landing Test Assembly (ALTA) pod. The lift will be used to raise the ALTA pod onto space shuttle Endeavour. The demonstration test is being conducted to ensure the centers equipment will fit into the hangar at the National Air and Space Museum when installing an ALTA pod on shuttle Enterprise. The pod must be reinstalled on a shuttle for transport on a 747 carrier aircraft. The simulation also tests procedures and timelines necessary to carry out the process. The work is part of the Space Shuttle Programs transition and retirement processing. Enterprise, which was not equipped for space flight, was built as a test vehicle to demonstrate that the orbiter could fly in the atmosphere and land like an airplane. In 1985, Enterprise was ferried from the Kennedy Space Center to Dulles Airport, Washington, D.C., and became the property of th

USML-1, Howard Ross working with the Glovebox Module

NASA mission controllers, engineers, pilots and communications specialists in the mission control room monitor the supersonic research flight off the coast of Galveston, as part of the QSF18 flight series. The flight operations crew tracks the status of the flights, maintains communications with the aircraft, communicates with U.S. Coast Guard, and coordinates community feedback data.

An unidentified researcher works aboard the P-3B NASA research aircraft at Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport, Tuesday, June 28, 2011, in Baltimore, Md. The aircraft is part of a month-long field campaign designed to improve satellite measurements of air pollution. The name of the experiment -- Deriving Information on Surface conditions from Column and Vertically Resolved Observations Relevant to Air Quality (DISCOVER -- AQ) -- is a mouthful, but its purpose is simple. Come July, the aircraft will be flying spirals over six ground stations in Maryland.

Technology

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - A technician in the Life Science Building at NASA's Kennedy Space Center works on the FASTRACK Space Experiment Platform. The rack is designed to support two standard lockers that fit inside the space shuttle's crew middeck. It is being developed jointly by Kennedy and Space Florida to facilitate NASA and commercial use of reusable U.S. suborbital flight vehicles currently under development. FASTRACK will enable investigators to test experiments, apparatus and analytical techniques in hardware compatible with the International Space Station, and to perform science that can be carried out during the reduced gravity available for brief periods during aircraft parabolas. Flight testing of the FASTRACK will be performed on four consecutive days between September 9-12 from Ellington Field near NASA's Johnson Space Center, Houston.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - In Orbiter Processing Facility Bay 2 at NASAs Kennedy Space Center in Florida, United Space Alliance senior aerospace technician Bobby Wright prepares two launch and entry seats to be moved from the space shuttle Endeavour's mid-deck to the flight deck. The orbiter is undergoing final preparations for its cross-country ferry flight to California. 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. - In the Space Station Processing Facility at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, engineers prepare to load experiments requiring low temperatures into the General Laboratory Active Cryogenic International Space Station ISS Experiment Refrigerator, or GLACIER. The samples will then be transported to Space Launch Complex-40 on Cape Canaveral Air Force Station where the GLACIER will be loaded aboard the SpaceX Dragon capsule. Scheduled for launch on March 1 atop a Falcon 9 rocket, Dragon will be marking its third trip to the space station. The mission is the second of 12 SpaceX flights contracted by NASA to resupply the orbiting laboratory.

Engineers from NASAs Armstrong Flight Research Center and Empirical Systems Aerospace prepare a cruise motor controller, planned to be used on NASAs all-electric X-57 Maxwell, for vibration testing at Armstrongs environmental lab. Testing the cruise motor controller at various vibration levels, based on baseline flight testing in the projects first phase, helps ensure that the hardware will withstand similar vibration in flight conditions. X-57, NASAs first all-electric experimental aircraft, or X-plane, will fly in its first all-electric configuration in 2020.

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.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- The heat shield tiles that will be installed to the backshell of the Orion Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle's Exploration Flight Test EFT-1 capsule are manufactured inside the Thermal Protection System Facility at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The insulation includes thermal barriers that are used around hatches, thrusters and other open areas of the backshell to protect the joints from heat. EFT-1 will be used during Orion's first test flight in space.

Crew Module Water Landing Model Assent Test site photos at Aberdeen Test Center (Aberdeen, MD)

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. - In the Orbiter Processing Facility, United Space Alliance technicians Dave Fuller (left) and Jim Burgess (right) lift the first Reinforced Carbon-Carbon panel toward the left wing leading edge of Discovery for installation. The RCC panels are mechanically attached to the wing with spars, a series of floating joints to reduce loading on the panels caused by wing deflections. Discovery has been named as the orbiter to fly on the first Return to Flight mission, STS-114.

Dr. Scott Shipley of Ascentech Enterprises makes an adjustment to the Spectrum unit. He is the project engineer for the effort working under the Engineering Services Contract at NASA's Kennedy Space Center. The device is being built for use aboard the International Space Station and is designed to expose different organisms to different color of fluorescent light while a camera records what's happening with time-laps imagery. Results from the Spectrum project will shed light on which living things are best suited for long-duration flights into deep space.

Technician in a computer room, data center

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. -- Columbia's Orbiter Experiment Support System (OEX) recorder is put on taping equipment in the KSC Launch Control Center. The recorder tape is being duplicated and will be reviewed at the Johnson Space Center in Houston and other facilities. No actual sensor data on that tape has been reviewed at this time, Search teams near Hemphill, Texas recovered the recorder, which stores sensor information about temperature, aerodynamic pressure, vibrations and other data from dozens of sensor locations on the orbiter, operating only during launch and re-entry. The OEX uses magnetic tape to record data that is not sent to the ground by telemetry.

JSC2005-E-04513 (3 Feb. 2005) --- European Space Agency (ESA) astronaut Christer Fuglesang, STS-116 mission specialist, uses virtual reality hardware in the Space Vehicle Mockup Facility at the Johnson Space Center to rehearse some of his duties on the upcoming mission to the international space station. This type of virtual reality training allows the astronauts to wear a helmet and special gloves while looking at computer displays simulating actual movements around the various locations on the station hardware with which they will be working.

Switch cabinet, electronics workshop

sell, technology and consumption concept - hand pushing button on vending machine operation panel keyboard. hand pushing button on vending machine keyboard

Man with congenital blindness using assistive technology at his computer to listen

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. - In the Orbiter Processing Facility, Boeing worker Alden Pitard looks at a 3D digital scan of an actuator. There are two actuators per engine on the Shuttle, one for pitch motion and one for yaw motion. The Space Shuttle Main Engine hydraulic servoactuators are used to gimbal the main engine.

A Space Launch System (SLS) avionics handling tool demonstration takes place inside Kennedy Space Centers Vehicle Assembly Building on April 4, 2019. The demonstration showed that avionics boxes could be successfully and safely mounted into the SLS rockets upper stage — called the Interim Cryogenic Propulsion Stage, or ICPS — with low risk of damaging a closely located hydrazine tank. Avionics boxes include the Inertial Navigation and Control Assembly and flight batteries. The actual installation will take place just weeks before NASAs SLS rocket and uncrewed Orion spacecraft lift off on Exploration Mission-1 from Launch Pad 39B at Kennedy.

Researcher checks data on his computer screen in the tower at the Mt. Washington Observatory and the summit of Mt. Washington.

Monitor reuse in Penang, Malysia

NASA mission controllers, engineers, pilots and communications specialists in the mission control room monitor the supersonic research flight off the coast of Galveston, as part of the QSF18 flight series. The flight operations crew tracks the status of the flights, maintains communications with the aircraft, communicates with U.S. Coast Guard, and coordinates community feedback data.

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. -- On Launch Pad 39A, technicians overlook wires and monitoring equipment that will be used to validate the circuit on the test wiring from the electrical harness in space shuttle Atlantis' aft main engine compartment connected with the engine cut-off system. The test wiring leads from the tail mast on the mobile launcher platform to the interior where the Time Domain Reflectometry, or TDR, test equipment will be located to test the sensor system.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- At the Astrotech payload processing facility in Titusville, Fla., doors are opened on the shipping container holding NASA's Kepler spacecraft. After removal from the container, the spacecraft will be rotated to vertical, uncovered and prepared for initial testing. A NASA Discovery mission, Kepler is specifically designed to survey our region of the Milky Way galaxy to discover hundreds of Earth-size and smaller planets in or near the habitable zone and determine how many of the billions of stars in our galaxy have such planets. Results from this mission will allow us to place our solar system within the continuum of planetary systems in the Galaxy. After processing at Astrotech, Kepler will be carried to its launch pad at Cape Canaveral. NASA's planet-hunting Kepler mission is scheduled to launch no earlier than March 5 atop a Delta II rocket.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - At the Aerospace and Defense Manufacturing Center in Cape Canaveral, Fla., Craig Technologies Mechanical Engineer Technician Mike Cousineau checks the performance of one of the 1,600 pieces of specialty equipment at the 161,000-square-foot facility. In June of last year, NASA signed a partnership agreement with Craig Technologies to maintain an inventory of unique processing and manufacturing equipment for future mission support at the agency's Kennedy Space Center. The Cape Canaveral, Fla., facility, formerly known as the NASA Shuttle Logistics Depot NSLD, is now the Aerospace and Defense Manufacturing Center ADMC.

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. - Workers in the KSC Launch Control Center look at the printout from Columbia's Orbiter Experiment Support System (OEX) recorder. After duplication the tape will be reviewed at the Johnson Space Center in Houston and other facilities. No actual sensor data on that tape has been reviewed at this time. Search teams near Hemphill, Texas recovered the recorder, which stores sensor information about temperature, aerodynamic pressure, vibrations and other data from dozens of sensor locations on the orbiter, operating only during launch and re-entry. The OEX uses magnetic tape to record data that is not sent to the ground by telemetry.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - In Orbiter Processing Facility 1 at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, United Space Alliance technicians complete the inspection of window #8, removed from the top of space shuttle Atlantis' crew module. Inspection and maintenance of the crew module windows is standard procedure between shuttle missions. Atlantis is next slated to deliver an Integrated Cargo Carrier and Russian-built Mini Research Module to the International Space Station on the STS-132 mission. The second in a series of new pressurized components for Russia, the module will be permanently attached to the Zarya module. Three spacewalks are planned to store spare components outside the station, including six spare batteries, a boom assembly for the Ku-band antenna and spares for the Canadian Dextre robotic arm extension. A radiator, airlock and European robotic arm for the Russian Multi-purpose Laboratory Module also are payloads on the flight. Launch is targeted for May 14.

Engineers Raquel Rodriguez Monje and Fabien Nicaise discuss placement of the DopplerScatt radar instrument on the NASA B200 before its final installation onto the aircrafts fuselage.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- On Launch Pad 39A at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, workers remove the ground umbilical carrier plate (GUCP) from space shuttle Discovery's external fuel tank. A hydrogen gas leak at that location during tanking for Discovery's STS-133 mission to the International Space Station caused the launch attempt to be scrubbed Nov. 5. The GUCP will be examined to determine the cause of the hydrogen leak and then repaired. The GUCP is the overboard vent to the pad and the flame stack where the excess hydrogen is burned off.

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. -- On Launch Pad 39A, a technician explains how test equipment -- the blue monitor -- will be used to validate the circuit on test wiring from the electrical harness in space shuttle Atlantis' aft main engine compartment connected with the engine cut-off system. The test wiring leads from the tail mast on the mobile launcher platform to the interior where the Time Domain Reflectometry, or TDR, test equipment will be located to test the sensor system.

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. -- Working near the top of a solid rocket booster, NASA and United Space Alliance SRB technicians hook up SRB cables to a CIRRUS computer for testing. From left are Jim Glass, with USA, performing a Flex test on the cable; Steve Swichkow, with NASA, and Jim Silviano, with USA, check the results on a computer. The SRB is part of Space Shuttle Atlantis, rolled back from Launch Pad 39A in order to conduct tests on the cables. A prior extensive evaluation of NASAs SRB cable inventory on the shelf revealed conductor damage in four (of about 200) cables. Shuttle managers decided to prove the integrity of the system tunnel cables already on Atlantis before launching. Workers are conducting inspections, making continuity checks and conducting X-ray analysis on the cables. The launch has been rescheduled no earlier than Feb. 6. br

Staff Sgt. Corey Crim inspects an oscillator in the Precision Measurement Equipment Laboratory March 28, 2014, at Misawa Air Base, Japan. As part of the PMEL flight, Crim and his coworkers calibrate more than 4,000 units annually for multiple agencies across base. Crim is from the 35th Maintenance Squadron.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - Inside the Vehicle Assembly Building at NASAs Kennedy Space Center, technicians install a new valve on Atlantis external tank after small dings were found on the sealing surface of the quick disconnect system that handles liquid-hydrogen fuel for the shuttles three main engines. The tank will be attached to the twin solid rocket boosters on Aug. 3 for the STS-125 mission, the fifth and final shuttle servicing mission to NASAs Hubble Space Telescope. During the mission, the crew will install new instruments on the telescope, including the Cosmic Origins Spectrograph and the Wide Field Camera 3. A refurbished Fine Guidance Sensor will replace one unit of three now onboard. Mission specialists will also install new gyroscopes, batteries and thermal blankets on the telescope. Launch is targeted for Oct. 8.

Diverse team of spies using trojan virus to ccause malware, working together to crack firewall encryption at night. Male hackers analyzing database to steal personal sensitive information.

VANDENBERG AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. --In Space Launch Complex 576-E, Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, Stages 1 and 2 of the Taurus XL launch vehicle are being integrated for NASA's Orbiting Carbon Observatory, called OCO. OCO is a new Earth-orbiting mission sponsored by NASA's Earth System Science Pathfinder Program. The observatory is targeted to launch Feb. 23 from Space Launch Complex 576-E at Vandenberg.

On Thursday, March 19 and Friday, March 20, SpaceX teams in Firing Room 4 at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida and the company's Mission Control in Hawthorne, California, along with NASA flight controllers in Mission Control Houston, executed a full simulation of launch and docking of the Crew Dragon spacecraft, with NASA astronauts Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley participating in SpaceX's flight simulator.

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. - In the Space Station Processing Facility, a worker observes data from the Traveled Work Systems Test (TWST) conducted on the Node 2. The TWST executes open work that traveled with the Node 2 from Italy and simulates the on-orbit activation sequence. Node 2 was powered up Aug. 19 for the testing. The second of three Space Station connecting modules, the Node 2 attaches to the end of the U.S. Lab and provides attach locations for several other elements. Node 2 is scheduled to launch on mission STS-120, assembly flight 10A to the International Space Station.

A1C Jonathan Etster a satellite communication operators/repair technician with the 2064th Information Systems Squadron, works on the fault systems status console at the satellite communication facility. Base: Shemya Air Force Base State: Alaska (AK) Country: United States Of America (USA)

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - Inside the Space Station Processing Facility at NASAs Kennedy Space Center in Florida, a cold storage team member prepares an International Space Station experiment cryogenic freezer called a Glacier unit, for transport to Space Launch Complex-40 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. The unit is for an experiment late-load demonstration test with the Space Exploration Technologies Corp. SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket and Dragon capsule. SpaceX is one of two companies under contract with NASA to take cargo to the International Space Station. NASA is working with SpaceX to combine its last two demonstration flights, and if approved, the Falcon 9 would launch the Dragon capsule to the orbiting laboratory for a docking within the next several months.

S123-E-007554 (19 March 2008) --- NASA astronaut Mike Foreman, STS-123 mission specialist, uses a computer on the middeck of Space Shuttle Endeavour while docked with the International Space Station.

ISS030-E-060117 (1 Feb. 2012) --- In the International Space Stations Destiny laboratory, European Space Agency astronaut Andre Kuipers, Expedition 30 flight engineer, routes video cable for the High Rate Communication System (HRCS). HRCS will allow for two additional space-to-ground audio channels and two additional downlink video channels.

2130:At the Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center in Star City, Russia, a trainer keeps an eye on monitors as the Expedition 41/42 crew --- Barry Wilmore of NASA and Alexander Samokutyaev and Elena Serova of the Russian Federal Space Agency (Roscosmos) --- conduct a qualification exam run in a nearby Soyuz spacecraft simulator. Wilmore, Samokutyaev and Serova will launch from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, Sept. 26, Kazakh time, in their Soyuz TMA-14M spacecraft for a 5 ½ month mission on the International Space Station. Serova will become the fourth Russian woman to fly in space and the first Russian woman to conduct a long duration mission on the station.NASA/Stephanie Stoll

Aviation Electronics Technician First Class (AT1) (AW) Richard Saldana is shown calibrating multimeters at the Aircraft Intermediate Maintenance Department (AMID). Base: Naval Air Facility, Misawa State: Aomori Country: Japan (JPN)

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. -- At a lab at NASA's Kennedy Space Center, Bob Arp, an aerospace technician with the United Launch Alliance, solders a pin to the socket of the replacement feed-through connector that will be installed in the external fuel tank for space shuttle Atlantis' STS-122 mission. The technician performed this exacting task on the Centaur upper stage for Atlas and Titan launches in 1994 and was specifically chosen for the task. Soldering the connector pins and sockets together addresses the most likely cause of a problem in the engine cutoff sensor system, or ECO system. Some of the tank's ECO sensors failed during propellant tanking for launch attempts on Dec. 6 and Dec. 9. Results of a tanking test on Dec. 18 pointed to an open circuit in the feed-through connector wiring, which is located at the base of the tank. The feed-through connector passes the wires from the inside of the tank to the outside. After the soldering is completed and the connector is reinst

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. -- At Launch Pad 39A, a team of external tank specialists from Lockheed Martin and the United Space Alliance undertakes the task of removing the hydrogen feed-through connector in support of space shuttle Atlantis' STS-122 mission. Here, a technician gives the connector a cleaning, removing any residual foam insulation, and begins disconnecting the connector assembly. Some of the tank's engine cutoff sensors, or ECO sensors, failed during propellant tanking for launch attempts on Dec. 6 and Dec. 9. Results of a tanking test on Dec. 18 pointed to an open circuit in the feed-through connector wiring, which is located at the base of the tank. The feed-through connector passes the wires from the inside of the tank to the outside. After the data from additional testing on the connector is analyzed, shuttle program managers will decide on a forward plan. Launch of STS-122 is targeted for January 2008.

United Launch Alliance (ULA) technicians assist as the solid rocket motor is moved toward the Delta II launch vehicle in the Vertical Integration Facility (VIF) at Space Launch Complex 2 on June 14, 2018, at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. The solid rocket motor will be attached to the rocket. NASA's Ice, Cloud and land Elevation Satellite-2 (ICESat-2) will launch on the final ULA Delta II rocket. ICESat-2 will measure the height of a changing Earth, one laser pulse at a time, 10,000 laser pulses a second. The satellite will carry a single instrument, the Advanced Topographic Laser Altimeter System. ICESat-2 will help scientists investigate why, and how much our planet's frozen and icy areas, called the cryosphere, is changing in a warming climate.

NASA mission controllers, engineers, pilots and communications specialists in the mission control room monitor the supersonic research flight off the coast of Galveston, as part of the QSF18 flight series. The flight operations crew tracks the status of the flights, maintains communications with the aircraft, communicates with U.S. Coast Guard, and coordinates community feedback data.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- At NASA Kennedy Space Center's Launch Pad 39A work station, a worker inspects the replacement Load Control Assembly-2 (LCA-2) which is being prepared for installation into Endeavour's aft section.Located in the orbiter's aft avionics bay 5, the LCA-2 assembly, which feeds power to the fuel line heaters, is believed to have caused the heaters for Endeavour's auxiliary power unit-1 (APU-1) to fail April 29 during the first launch attempt for the STS-134 mission. STS-134 will deliver the Express Logistics Carrier-3, Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer-2 (AMS), a high-pressure gas tank and additional spare parts for the Dextre robotic helper to the International Space Station. The mission also will be the final spaceflight for Endeavour.

JSC2010-E-080727 (17 May 2010) --- NASA astronaut Scott Kelly (right), Expedition 25 flight engineer and Expedition 26 commander, and NASA astronaut Shane Kimbrough participate in a robotics training session in the Space Station Training Facility (SSTF) in the Jake Garn Simulation and Training Facility at NASA's Johnson Space Center.

JSC2002-E-51051 (16 December 2002) --- Astronauts Joseph R. (Joe) Tanner (foreground) and Heidemarie M. Stefanyshyn-Piper, both STS-115 mission specialists, use virtual reality hardware in the Space Vehicle Mockup Facility at the Johnson Space Center (JSC) to rehearse some of their duties on the upcoming mission to the International Space Station (ISS). This type of virtual reality training allows the astronauts to wear a helmet and special gloves while looking at computer displays simulating actual movements around the various locations on the station hardware with which they will be working.

on the table the tablet is disassembled and tools

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. - In the Orbiter Processing Facility, United Space Alliance worker Dan Kenna (right) positions a Reinforced Carbon Carbon panel on the table to perform flash thermography. In the background, Paul Ogletree observes the monitor. Attached to the leading edge of the wing of the orbiters, the gray carbon composite RCC panels have sufficient strength to withstand the aerodynamic forces experienced during launch and reentry, which can reach as high as 800 pounds per square foot. The operating range of RCC is from minus 250º F to about 3,000º F, the temperature produced by friction with the atmosphere during reentry.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- John Livingston, a United Space Alliance engineer at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, describes the properties of the heat shield tiles that will be installed to the backshell of the Orion Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle's Exploration Flight Test EFT-1 capsule. The tiles are being manufactured and inspected in Kennedy's Thermal Protection System Facility. EFT-1 will be used during Orion's first test flight in space.

E-Cat, medium size unit, working in ordinary conditions

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- Inside the Operations and Checkout Building high bay at NASAs Kennedy Space Center in Florida, a technician practices a procedure to repair cracks on the agencys Orion Exploration Flight Test 1 crew module, during a dry run. During proof pressure testing on the vehicle, the spacecraft sustained three cracks in the aft bulkhead. A team composed of Lockheed Martin and NASA engineers designed a set of brackets that will be used to repair the area, as well as tooling to fix the cracked structure. Orion is the exploration spacecraft designed to carry humans further into space than ever before. It will provide emergency abort capability, sustain the crew during the space travel and provide safe re-entry from deep space return velocities. Orions first unpiloted test flight is scheduled to launch in 2014 atop a United Launch Alliance Delta IV heavy rocket. A second uncrewed flight test is scheduled for 2017 on the Space Launch System rocket.

NASA mission controllers, engineers, pilots and communications specialists in the mission control room monitor the supersonic research flight off the coast of Galveston, as part of the QSF18 flight series. The flight operations crew tracks the status of the flights, maintains communications with the aircraft, communicates with U.S. Coast Guard, and coordinates community feedback data.

Teenager playing PC game on the computer

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. -- On Launch Pad 39A at NASA's Kennedy Space Center, a technician gets ready to place the cover over the engine cutoff, or ECO, sensor system connector and wiring on space shuttle Atlantis' external tank. The feed-through connector passes the wires from the inside of the tank to the outside. Results of a tanking test on Dec. 18 pointed to an open circuit in the feed-through connector wiring, which is located at the base of the tank. The pins in the replacement connector were precisely soldered to create a connection that allows sensors inside the tank to send signals to the computers onboard Atlantis. The launch date for the shuttle's STS-122 mission has now been targeted for Feb. 7.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - Technicians inside Kennedy Space Center's Orbiter Processing Facility-2 lower one of space shuttle Endeavour's recently removed fuel cells onto a waiting platform.All three of Endeavour's fuel cells were removed and will be drained of fluids. The hydrogen and oxygen dewars which feed reactants to the fuel cells remain in Endeavour's midbody and will be purged with inert gases and vented down. The work is part of the Space Shuttle Program's transition and retirement processing of shuttle Endeavour, which 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 NASA's orbiter fleet. Over the course of its 19-year career, Endeavour spent 299 days in space during 25 missions.

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. - In the back transfer aisle of the Orbiter Processing Facility bay 3, a worker checks paperwork for the Thermal Protection System (TPS) blanket to be wrapped around the Orbiter Boom Sensor System (OBSS). The installation of the insulation concludes TPS closeout prior to installation of the boom in the orbiter Discovery. The OBSS is one of the new safety measures for Return to Flight, equipping the Shuttle with cameras and laser systems to inspect the Shuttles Thermal Protection System while in space. Discovery is designated as the Return to Flight vehicle for mission STS-114, with a launch window of May 12 to June 3, 2005.

Aaron Taylor, 25th Space Range Squadron VSAT technician, operates a spectrum analyzer during a CRIMSON SKIES exercise near Peterson Space Force Base, Colorado, Nov. 2, 2022. Hosted and the led by the 527th Space Aggressor Squadron, CRIMSON SKIES was the first Aggressor driven event in the "Aggressor Red Shade SKIES series." The exercise focused on training wideband military satellite communication (MILSATCOM) operators and crews to identify, react to, and resolve adversary interference on the Wideband Global SATCOM (WGS) constellation.

N-233 computer hardware - digital VAX-11/780

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. -- In the Space Shuttle Maine Engine Shop, workers get ready to install an engine controller in one of the three main engines of the orbiter Discovery. The controller is an electronics package mounted on each space shuttle main engine. It contains two digital computers and the associated electronics to control all main engine components and operations. The controller is attached to the main combustion chamber by shock-mounted fittings. Discovery is the designated orbiter for mission STS-120 to the International Space Station. It will carry a payload that includes the Node 2 module, named Harmony. Launch is targeted for no earlier than Oct. 20.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - In Orbiter Processing Facility 2 at NASA's Kennedy Space Center, members of space shuttle Endeavour's STS-126 crew participate in a crew equipment interface test, or CEIT. From left are Mission Specialists Steve Bowen and Heidemarie Stefanyshyn-Piper. The CEIT provides hands-on experience with hardware and equipment slated to fly on their mission. Endeavour will deliver a multi-purpose logistics module to the International Space Station on the STS-126 mission. Launch is targeted for Nov. 10.

NASA mission controllers, engineers, pilots and communications specialists in the mission control room monitor the supersonic research flight off the coast of Galveston, as part of the QSF18 flight series. The flight operations crew tracks the status of the flights, maintains communications with the aircraft, communicates with U.S. Coast Guard, and coordinates community feedback data.

PENTIUM II CLUSTER INSTALLATION

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - Inside Orbiter Processing Facility-2 at NASAs Kennedy Space Center in Florida, United Space Alliance technicians close space shuttle Atlantis midbody door for the final time.The orbiter is undergoing final preparations for its transfer to the Kennedy Space Center Visitor complex targeted for November. The work is part of Transition and Retirement of the remaining shuttle. Atlantis is being prepared for public display at the visitor complex. Over the course of its 26-year career, Atlantis spent 293 days in space during 33 missions.

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. - KSC videographer Glenn Benson adjusts a high definition camera being used to photograph the south wall of the Vehicle Assembly Building that sustained damage from Hurricane Frances as it passed over Central Florida during the Labor Day weekend. 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. The VAB lost 820, 4- x 16-foot panels or more than 52,000 square feet of its surface. There was damage to the roof as well.

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. - In the back transfer aisle of the Orbiter Processing Facility bay 3, a worker checks the resistance measurement of one of the Thermal Protection System (TPS) blanket ground wires to ensure a proper ground between the blanket to be installed and the Orbiter Boom Sensor System (OBSS). The installation will conclude TPS closeout prior to installation of the boom in the orbiter Discovery. The OBSS is one of the new safety measures for Return to Flight, equipping the Shuttle with cameras and laser systems to inspect the Shuttles Thermal Protection System while in space. Discovery is designated as the Return to Flight vehicle for mission STS-114, with a launch window of May 12 to June 3, 2005.

Lead Instrumentation Engineer Kevin Taylor keeps an eye on the load levels during Underway Recovery Test 6 operations off the coast of San Diego. Kennedy Space Centers NASA Recovery Team works with the U.S. Navy to improve recovery procedures and hardware ahead of Orion's next flight, Exploration Mission-1, when it splashes down in the Pacific Ocean.

Bosque Farms, New Mexico, Paul Ridley, an amateur radio operator, operates a Morse code station during the American Radio Relay League's annual field day. During this event, members set up their equipment in a public place and attempt to contact as many other stations as possible

Engineers monitor data during vibration testing of a cruise motor controller for the X-57 Maxwell, NASAs first all-electric X-plane. Attached to a table at NASA Armstrong Flight Research Centers environmental lab, the cruise motor controller is exposed to specific levels of vibration, allowing NASA to examine the structural integrity of the hardware. Engineers, meanwhile, monitored data, including waveforms of electrical current, and recorded readings.

Derek Abramson and Robert Jensen unload the Hybrid Quadrotor 90C (HQ-90) at NASA Armstrong Flight Research Centers Dale Reed Subscale Flight Research Lab in California on Oct. 1, 2020. The Resilient Autonomy project will use the vertical lift and transition remotely piloted aircraft for software testing at NASA Armstrong.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - In Orbiter Processing Facility Bay 2 at NASAs Kennedy Space Center in Florida, United Space Alliance aerospace technician Tom Goldean installs a heat shield carrier panel 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.

IT professional using tablet PC with data on screen and connecting cables in server room

The circuit boards and sensors of a robotic hand are designed by a robotics engineer. in the Robotics Institute Research Center The circuit boards and sensors of a robotic hand are designed by a robotics engineer. in the Robotics Institute Research Center ,model released, Symbolfoto Copyright: xZoonar.com/SunanxWongsa-ngax 21904218 ,model released, Symbolfoto ,property released

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - Inside Orbiter Processing Facility-1 at NASAs Kennedy Space Center in Florida, a United Space Alliance technician inspects window No. 4 for imperfections before it is installed on space shuttle Atlantis. The work is part of the Space Shuttle Programs transition and retirement processing of space shuttles Atlantis and Endeavour. Atlantis is being prepared for display at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex and is scheduled to roll over to the complex in November. The visitor complex is targeting a July 2013 grand opening for Atlantis new home.

NASA mission controllers, engineers, pilots and communications specialists in the mission control room monitor the supersonic research flight off the coast of Galveston, as part of the QSF18 flight series. The flight operations crew tracks the status of the flights, maintains communications with the aircraft, communicates with U.S. Coast Guard, and coordinates community feedback data.

NASA Astronaut Doug Hurley interfaces with the display inside a mock-up of the Crew Dragon spacecraft in Hawthorne, California, during a testing exercise on Tuesday, April 3, 2018.

Mary Lakaszcyck, a technician with ASRC Federal Data Solutions, demonstrates a pair of augmented reality (AR) goggles inside the high bay of the Neil Armstrong Operations and Checkout Building at NASAs Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Jan. 16, 2020. Orion manufacturer Lockheed Martin provided the goggles to technicians to help place tapes where components will be installed on the Orion crew module adapter for NASAs Artemis II mission, the first crewed mission aboard the spacecraft. Using the AR goggles saves significant labor and time to complete tasks. Manufactured by Microsoft, the goggles, called HoloLens2, are the second version used by Lockheed.

A man at a "Bag Wrap" secure luggage concession wraps a guitar case in plastic at London Gatwick Airport, in West Sussex, UK.

Video surveillance, control room with monitor wall

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- At the NASA Shuttle Logistics Depot in Cape Canaveral, Florida, technicians remove the cover on the Load Control Assembly-2 (LCA-2) to begin the testing process.Located in space shuttle Endeavour's aft avionics bay 5, the LCA-2, which distributes power to nine shuttle systems, is believed to have caused fuel line heaters for Endeavour's auxiliary power unit-1 (APU-1) to fail April 29 during the first launch attempt for the STS-134 mission. The LCA-2 will be replaced and systems will be retested before the launch is rescheduled. STS-134 will deliver the Express Logistics Carrier-3, Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer-2 (AMS), a high-pressure gas tank and additional spare parts for the Dextre robotic helper to the International Space Station. The mission also will be the final spaceflight for Endeavour.

NASA Recovery Team members monitor activities during Underway Recovery Test-7 (URT-7) in the well deck of the USS John P. Murtha on Nov. 4, 2018. During URT-7, the team practices recovering a test version of the Orion capsule from the Pacific Ocean and towing it into the well deck of the ship. URT-7 is one in a series of tests conducted by the Exploration Ground Systems Recovery Team to verify and validate procedures and hardware that will be used to recover the Orion spacecraft after it splashes down in the Pacific Ocean following deep space exploration missions. Orion will have emergency abort capability, sustain the crew during space travel and provide safe re-entry from deep space return velocities.

Ultra Efficient Engine Technology (UEET) W-7 2-Stage Proof of Concept Compressor - Blade Tip Clearance Sensor Calibration

PENTIUM II CLUSTER INSTALLATION

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. - In the Orbiter Processing Facility, Ryan Levann, with United Space Alliance, checks data on the tile removed from the thermal barrier around the umbilical areas, the external tank attach points, on the underside of Atlantis. The umbilical areas are closed off after ET separation by a door, seen here. The exposed area of each closed door is covered with reusable surface insulation.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- In Orbiter Processing Facility-2 at NASAs Kennedy Space Center in Florida, United Space Alliance technicians have removed one of the auxiliary power units from space shuttle Endeavour and are placing it on a special cart. The work is part of Endeavours transition and retirement processing. The spacecraft 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.

The BARREL instrument in Antarctica- prior to being encased in its protective box - destined to float beneath a giant balloon to study magnetic fields and energetic particles near the South Pole.

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. - In the Orbiter Processing Facility, John Legere, NASA Quality Assurance specialist, examines the attachment point for the first Reinforced Carbon-Carbon panel to be installed on the left wing leading edge of Discovery. The RCC panels are mechanically attached to the wing with spars, a series of floating joints to reduce loading on the panels caused by wing deflections. Discovery has been named as the orbiter to fly on the first Return to Flight mission, STS-114.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - Students from California Polytechnic Institute, or CalPoly, and Merritt Island High School in Florida perform integration tests on a pair of cubesats they will fly on a suborbital mission in the summer. A team from each school built a satellite and the two will work together inside a small rocket to measure vibration and other data during launch. NASA engineers are acting as mentors for the project and some of the space agency's labs at Kennedy Space Center, including this one inside the Operations and Checkout Building, are being used by the teams.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry looks at new solar technology during a tour of the University of Texas at Austin Pickle Research Center in Austin, Texas, before a clean energy roundtable discussion on April 27, 2016.

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