Rocket Launch Preparations

Images of rockets on launch pads at dusk and dawn, symbolizing space exploration and advancements in technology. Dynamic and powerful.

GOES-P LAUNCH L-0 DELTA IV TOWER ROLLBACK

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. -- The Delta II rocket with the THEMIS spacecraft atop sits ready for launch on Pad 17-B at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station after the mobile service tower moves away from the pad. THEMIS, an acronym for Time History of Events and Macroscale Interactions during Substorms, consists of five identical probes that will track violent, colorful eruptions near the North Pole. This will be the largest number of scientific satellites NASA has ever launched into orbit aboard a single rocket. The THEMIS mission aims to unravel the mystery behind auroral substorms, an avalanche of magnetic energy powered by the solar wind that intensifies the northern and southern lights. The mission will investigate what causes auroras in the Earths atmosphere to dramatically change from slowly shimmering waves of light to wildly shifting streaks of bright color. Launch is scheduled for 6:05 p.m.

The United Launch Alliance Delta II booster, or first stage, with the interstage attached on top is moved out of the Vertical Integration Facility (VIF) at Space Launch Complex 2 on June 21, 2018, at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. The second stage will be lifted up at the VIF. NASA's Ice, Cloud and land Elevation Satellite-2 (ICESat-2) will launch on the final 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.

On Oct. 30, 2020, preparations are underway for the mobile launcher for the Artemis I mission, atop crawler-transporter 2, to depart Launch Pad 39B and return to the Vehicle Assembly Building at NASAs Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The nearly 400-foot-tall mobile launcher was at the pad for 10 days, while engineers with Exploration Ground Systems and Jacobs performed several tasks, including a timing test to validate the launch teams countdown timeline, and a thorough, top-to-bottom wash down of the mobile launcher to remove any debris remaining from construction and installation of the umbilical arms. Artemis I will test the Orion spacecraft and Space Launch System as an integrated system ahead of crewed flights to the Moon. Under the Artemis program, NASA will land the first woman and the next man on the Moon in 2024.

The Soyuz MS-18 rocket is launched with Expedition 65 NASA astronaut Mark Vande Hei, Roscosmos cosmonauts Pyotr Dubrov and Oleg Novitskiy, Friday, April 9, 2021, at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - The payload fairing protecting NOAAs Deep Space Climate Observatory spacecraft, or DSCOVR, tops the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket set to lift off at 6:10 p.m. EST from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. DSCOVR is a partnership between NOAA, NASA and the U.S. Air Force. DSCOVR will maintain the nation's real-time solar wind monitoring capabilities which are critical to the accuracy and lead time of NOAA's space weather alerts and forecasts.

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. -- The solid rocket boosters on the Delta II 7925 rocket are revealed following the retraction of the mobile service tower, or gantry, on Launch Pad 17A at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. Equipped with three stages and nine strap-on solid rocket motors, the Delta II rocket packs plenty of punch for sending the Phoenix spacecraft on its way toward Mars. Launch is targeted for Aug. 4 during one of two opportunities for liftoff: 5:26 or 6:02 a.m. EDT. Phoenix will land in icy soils near the north polar, permanent ice cap of Mars and explore the history of the water in these soils and any associated rocks, while monitoring polar climate. Landing on Mars is planned in May 2008 on arctic ground where a mission currently in orbit, Mars Odyssey, has detected high concentrations of ice just beneath the top layer of soil.

A United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket with NASAs Mars 2020 Perseverance rover onboard is seen as it is rolled out of the Vertical Integration Facility to the launch pad at Space Launch Complex 41, Tuesday, July 28, 2020, at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. The Perseverance rover is part of NASAs Mars Exploration Program, a long-term effort of robotic exploration of the Red Planet. Launch is scheduled for Thursday, July 30.

The Artemis I vehicle, with the Orion spacecraft atop, rolls for wet dress rehearsal from the Vehicle Assembly Building at NASAs Kennedy Space Center on March 17, 2022. At the pad, the vehicle will undergo checkouts and teams will practice countdown to ensure the stack is ready for launch.

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. - NASA's Swift spacecraft lifts off from Complex 17A, Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in sunny Florida, on Nov. 20 at 12 16 00.611 p.m. EST aboard a Boeing Delta II expendable launch vehicle. Swift is a first-of-its-kind multi-wavelength observatory dedicated to the study of gamma-ray burst science. Its three instruments will work together to observe GRBs and afterglows in the gamma ray, X-ray, ultraviolet and optical wavebands.

Large gantry mechanisms on either side of the Soyuz TMA-08M spacecraft are raised into position to secure the rocket at the launch pad on Tuesday, March 26, 2013 at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. Launch of the Soyuz rocket is scheduled for March 29 and will send Expedition 35 Soyuz Commander Pavel Vinogradov, and Flight Engineers Chris Cassidy of NASA and Alexander Misurkin of Russia on a five and a half-month mission aboard the International Space Station.

NASAs Space Launch System (SLS) rocket with the Orion spacecraft aboard is seen at sunrise atop a mobile launcher at Launch Complex 39B, Monday, April 4, 2022, as the Artemis I launch team conducts the wet dress rehearsal test at NASAs Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Ahead of NASAs Artemis I flight test, the wet dress rehearsal will run the Artemis I launch team through operations to load propellant, conduct a full launch countdown, demonstrate the ability to recycle the countdown clock, and drain the tanks to practice timelines and procedures for launch.

A Northrop Grumman Antares rocket carrying a Cygnus resupply spacecraft is seen on the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceports Pad-0A, Thursday, October 1, 2020, at NASA's Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia. Northrop Grummans 14th contracted cargo resupply mission with NASA to the International Space Station will deliver nearly 8,000 pounds of science and research, crew supplies and vehicle hardware to the orbital laboratory and its crew. The CRS-14 Cygnus spacecraft is named after the first female astronaut of Indian descent, Kalpana Chawla, and is scheduled to launch at 9:38 p.m., Thursday, October 1, 2020 EDT.

VANDENBERG AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. - At Space Launch Complex 2 on Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, an exhaust cloud builds around the United Launch Alliance Delta II rocket carrying NASA's Orbiting Carbon Observatory-2, or OCO-2, into space.Launch was on schedule at 5:56 a.m. EDT on July 2 following the repair of the pad's water suppression system, which failed on the first launch attempt July 1. OCO-2 is NASAs first mission dedicated to studying atmospheric carbon dioxide, the leading human-produced greenhouse gas driving changes in Earths climate. OCO-2 will provide a new tool for understanding the human and natural sources of carbon dioxide emissions and the natural "sinks" that absorb carbon dioxide and help control its buildup. The observatory will measure the global geographic distribution of these sources and sinks and study their changes over time.

The gantry rolls back at Space Launch Complex 2 at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, on Sept. 14, 2018, for the final United Launch Alliance Delta II rocket which will carry NASA's Ice, Cloud and land Elevation Satellite-2 (ICESat-2). Liftoff is scheduled for Sept. 15, 2018, at 8:46 a.m. EDT (5:46 a.m. PDT). The satellite will measure the height of our changing Earth, one laser pulse at a time, 10,000 laser pulses per second. ICESat-2 will provide scientists with height measurements that create a global portrait of Earth's third dimension, gathering date that can precisely track changes of terrain, including glaciers, sea ice and forests.

The Soyuz TMA-21 spacecraft is seen on the launch pad at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, Saturday, April 2, 2011. The launch of the Soyuz spacecraft with Expedition 27 Soyuz Commander Alexander Samokutyaev, NASA Flight Engineer Ron Garan and Russian Flight Engineer Andrey Borisenko is scheduled for Tuesday, April 5, 2011. The Soyuz, which has been dubbed Gagarin”, is launching one week shy of the 50th anniversary of the launch of Yuri Gagarin from the same launch pad in Baikonur on April 12, 1961 to become the first human to fly in space. The first stage of the Soyuz booster is emblazoned with the name Gagarin” and the likeness of the first person to fly in space.

In this view looking up, NASAs Artemis I Moon rocket and mobile launcher - carried atop the crawler-transporter 2 - can be seen following their arrival at Launch Pad 39B at the agencys Kennedy Space Center in Florida on June 6, 2022. The rocket rolled out of the Vehicle Assembly Building in the early morning hours to travel the 4.2 miles to the launch pad for NASAs next wet dress rehearsal attempt ahead of the Artemis I launch. The first in an increasingly complex series of missions, Artemis I will test the Space Launch System rocket and Orion spacecraft as an integrated system prior to crewed flights to the Moon. Through Artemis, NASA will land the first woman and first person of color on the lunar surface, paving the way for a long-term lunar presence and using the Moon as a steppingstone before venturing to Mars.

The Soyuz MS-04 spacecraft is seen after being raised into a vertical position on the launch pad Monday, April 17, 2017 at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. Launch of the Soyuz rocket is scheduled for April 20 Baikonur time and will carry Expedition 51 Soyuz Commander Fyodor Yurchikhin of Roscosmos and Flight Engineer Jack Fischer of NASA into orbit to begin their four and a half month mission on the International Space Station.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - The mobile service tower on Launch Complex 37 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station rolls back to reveal the Boeing Delta IV rocket that will launch the GOES-O satellite into orbit. The terminal countdown to the liftoff of GOES-O will begin at 12:59 p.m. EDT for a launch window that extends from 6:14 p.m. to 7:14 p.m. June 26. The latest Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite, GOES-O was developed by NASA for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, or NOAA. Each of the GOES satellites continuously provides observations of 60 percent of the Earth including the continental United States, providing weather monitoring and forecast operations as well as a continuous and reliable stream of environmental information and severe weather warnings. Once in orbit, GOES-O will be designated GOES-14, and NASA will provide on-orbit checkout and then transfer operational responsibility to NOAA.

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

A Northrop Grumman Antares rocket carrying a Cygnus resupply spacecraft is raised into a vertical position on Pad-0A, Monday, April 15, 2019. Northrop Grummans 11th contracted cargo resupply mission with NASA to the International Space Station will deliver about 7,600 pounds of science and research, crew supplies and vehicle hardware to the orbital laboratory and its crew.

The mobile service tower is rolled back at Launch Pad 17-B, Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, to reveal NASA's Space Infrared Telescope Facility (SIRTF) ready for launch aboard a Delta II Heavy launch vehicle. Liftoff is scheduled for Aug. 25 at 1:35:39 a.m. EDT. SIRTF will obtain images and spectra by detecting the infrared energy, or heat, radiated by objects in space. Consisting of a 0.85-meter telescope and three cryogenically cooled science instruments, SIRTF will be the largest infrared telescope ever launched into space. It is the fourth and final element in NASAs family of orbiting “Great Observatories.” Its highly sensitive instruments will give a unique view of the Universe and peer into regions of space that are hidden from optical telescopes.

The service structure is lifted into position around the Soyuz rocket, Tuesday, April 6, 2021, at site 31 of the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. Expedition 65 NASA astronaut Mark Vande Hei, Roscosmos cosmonauts Pyotr Dubrov and Oleg Novitskiy are scheduled to launch aboard their Soyuz MS-18 spacecraft on April 9.

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. -- Rollback of the mobile service tower, or gantry, from around the Delta II 7925 rocket is complete on Launch Pad 17A at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. Equipped with three stages and nine strap-on solid rocket motors, the Delta II rocket packs plenty of punch for sending the Phoenix spacecraft on its way toward Mars. Launch is targeted for Aug. 4 during one of two opportunities for liftoff: 5:26 or 6:02 a.m. EDT. Phoenix will land in icy soils near the north polar, permanent ice cap of Mars and explore the history of the water in these soils and any associated rocks, while monitoring polar climate. Landing on Mars is planned in May 2008 on arctic ground where a mission currently in orbit, Mars Odyssey, has detected high concentrations of ice just beneath the top layer of soil.

The launch gantry is rolled back to reveal NASA's Orion spacecraft mounted atop a United Launch Alliance Delta IV Heavy rocket at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station's Space Launch Complex 37 on Dec. 3, 2014. Part of Batch image transfer from Flickr.

The Northrop Grumman Antares rocket, with Cygnus resupply spacecraft onboard, is seen on Pad-0A as rain and high winds move through the area, Thursday, Nov. 15, 2018 at NASA's Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia. Northrop Grumman's 10th contracted cargo resupply mission for NASA to the International Space Station will deliver about 7,400 pounds of science and research, crew supplies and vehicle hardware to the orbital laboratory and its crew. Launch is currently targeted for Saturday, Nov. 17 at 4:01 a.m. EST.

The Soyuz MS-09 rocket is launched with Expedition 56 Soyuz Commander Sergey Prokopyev of Roscosmos, flight engineer Serena Auñón-Chancellor of NASA, and flight engineer Alexander Gerst of ESA (European Space Agency), Wednesday, June 6, 2018 at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. Prokopyev, Auñón-Chancellor, and Gerst will spend the next six months living and working aboard the International Space Station.

The Soyuz TMA-05M spacecraft is raised into position at the launch pad at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, Thursday, July 12, 2012. The launch of the Soyuz spacecraft with Expedition 32 Soyuz Commander Yuri Malenchenko, NASA Flight Engineer Sunita Williams and JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) Flight Engineer Akihiko Hoshide is scheduled for the morning of Sunday, July 15, local time.

NASAs Space Launch System (SLS) rocket with the Orion spacecraft aboard is seen illuminated by spotlights atop a mobile launcher at Launch Complex 39B, Friday, March 18, 2022, after being rollout out to the launch pad for the first time at NASAs Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Ahead of NASAs Artemis I flight test, the fully stacked and integrated SLS rocket and Orion spacecraft will undergo a wet dress rehearsal at Launch Complex 39B to verify systems and practice countdown procedures for the first launch.

Workers are seen on a gantry after the Soyuz rocket was raised into a vertical position on the launch pad, Friday, Dec. 15, 2017 at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. Expedition 54 Soyuz Commander Anton Shkaplerov of Roscosmos, flight engineer Scott Tingle of NASA, and flight engineer Norishige Kanai of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) are scheduled to launch at 2:21 a.m. Eastern Time (1:21 p.m. Baikonur time) on Dec. 17 and will spend the next five months living and working aboard the International Space Station.

A Delta launch vehicle carrying Galaxy-C lifts off from launch Pad 17B. Galaxy-C is the last commercial communications satellite scheduled for launch by a Delta. Base: Cape Canaveral State: Florida (FL) Country: United States Of America (USA)

The Moon is seen rising behind NASAs Space Launch System (SLS) rocket with the Orion spacecraft aboard atop a mobile launcher as it rolls out to Launch Complex 39B for the first time, Thursday, March 17, 2022, at NASAs Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Ahead of NASAs Artemis I flight test, the fully stacked and integrated SLS rocket and Orion spacecraft will undergo a wet dress rehearsal at Launch Complex 39B to verify systems and practice countdown procedures for the first launch.

A Japanese H-IIA rocket with the NASA-Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) Core Observatory onboard, is seen on launch pad 1 of the Tanegashima Space Center, Friday, Feb. 28, 2014, Tanegashima, Japan. Once launched, the GPM spacecraft will collect information that unifies data from an international network of existing and future satellites to map global rainfall and snowfall every three hours.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- On Cape Canaveral Air Force Station's Launch Pad 17-B, NASA's Gamma-ray Large Area Space Telescope , or GLAST, sits poised for launch atop the United Launch Alliance Delta II rocket after rollback of the mobile service tower. 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. Launch is scheduled for 11:45 a.m. June 11.

The Soyuz TMA-17 spacecraft is raised into vertical position at the launch pad of the Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan, Friday, Dec. 18, 2009. The launch of the Soyuz spacecraft with Expedition 22 NASA Flight Engineer Timothy J. Creamer of the U.S., Soyuz Commander Oleg Kotov of Russia and Flight Engineer Soichi Noguchi of Japan, is scheduled for Monday, Dec., 21, 2009 at 3:52a.m. Kazakhstan time.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - The towering 327-foot-tall Ares I-X rocket slowly approaches the fixed service structure on Launch Pad 39B at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, a 4.2-mile trip that began seven hours earlier.The test rocket left the Vehicle Assembly Building at 1:39 a.m. EDT on its 4.2-mile trek to the pad and was "hard down" on the pads pedestals at 9:17 a.m. The transfer of the pad from the Space Shuttle Program to the Constellation Program took place May 31. Modifications made to the pad include the removal of shuttle unique subsystems, such as the orbiter access arm and a section of the gaseous oxygen vent arm, along with the installation of three 600-foot lightning towers, access platforms, environmental control systems and a vehicle stabilization system. Part of the Constellation Program, the Ares I-X is the test vehicle for the Ares I. The Ares I-X flight test is targeted for Oct. 27.

The Soyuz rocket with Expedition 33/34 crew members, Russian Cosmonaut and Soyuz Commander Oleg Novitskiy, NASA Astronaut and Flight Engineer Kevin Ford, and Russian Cosmonaut and Flight Engineer Evgeny Tarelkin onboard the TMA-06M spacecraft launches to the International Space Station on Tuesday, October 23, 2012, in Baikonur, Kazakhstan. Ford, Novitskiy and Tarelkin will be on a five-month mission aboard the International Space Station.

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

The United Launch Alliance (ULA) Delta II rocket launches with the NASA Ice, Cloud and land Elevation Satellite-2 (ICESat-2) onboard, Saturday, Sept. 15, 2018, from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. The ICESat-2 mission will measure the changing height of Earth's ice.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - On Launch Pad 17-B at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida, the Space Tracking and Surveillance System - Demonstrator spacecraft is bathed in light under a dark, cloudy sky. Rain over Central Florida's east coast caused the scrub of the launch. STSS Demo is a space-based sensor component of a layered Ballistic Missile Defense System designed for the overall mission of detection, tracking and discriminating ballistic missiles. STSS is capable of tracking objects after boost phase and provides trajectory information to other sensors. It will be launched by NASA for the Missile Defense Agency between 8 and 8:58 a.m. EDT Sept. 24.

The Soyuz rocket with Soyuz MS-13 spacecraft onboard is seen on the launch pad after the arrival of Expedition 60 flight engineer Luca Parmitano of ESA (European Space Agency), flight engineer Andrew Morgan of NASA, and Soyuz Commander Alexander Skvortsov of Roscosmos, Saturday, July 20, 2019 at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. Parmitano, Morgan, and Skvortsov are scheduled to launch at 12:28 p.m. Eastern time (9:28 p.m. Baikonur time) on July 20.

VANDENBERG AFB, CALIF. -- The partially assembled Delta II rocket (right) and the gantry (left) wait for the rocket's second stage to be transported to the launch pad. The Delta II rocket will launch the Aqua-EOS satellite. Aqua is one of a series of spacebased platforms that are central to NASA's Earth Science Enterprise (ESE), a long-term study of the scope, dynamics and implications of global change. The Aqua program is composed of Aqua and other spacecraft (including Terra and Aura) and a data distribution system (ESDIS, and Mission Operations Center Implementation Team). Flying in an orbit that covers the globe every 16 days, Aqua will provide a six-year chronology of the planet and its processes. Comprehensive measurements taken by its onboard instruments will allow multidisciplinary teams of scientists and researchers from North and South America, Asia, Australia and Europe to assess long-term change, identify its human and natural causes and advance the development of mod

Lunabotics Practice Session

The Soyuz TMA-13 spacecraft arrives at the launch pad at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, Friday, Oct. 10, 2008. The Soyuz is scheduled to launch to the International Space Station Oct. 12 with Expedition 18 Commander Michael Fincke, Flight Engineer Yuri V. Lonchakov and American spaceflight participant Richard Garriott. The three crew members will dock their Soyuz to the International Space Station on Oct. 14. Fincke and Lonchakov will spend six months on the station, while Garriott will return to Earth Oct. 24 with two of the Expedition 17 crew members currently on the International Space Station.

A SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket is ready for launch on the pad at Launch Complex 39A at NASAs Kennedy Space Center in Florida on June 24, 2019. SpaceX and the U.S. Department of Defense will launch two dozen satellites to space, including four NASA payloads that are part of the Space Test Program-2, managed by the U.S. Air Force Space and Missile Systems Center. The launch window opens at 11:30 p.m. EDT on June 24. The four NASA payloads include two technology demonstrations to improve how spacecraft propel and navigate, as well as two NASA science missions to help us better understand the nature of space and how it impacts technology on spacecraft and the ground.

Large gantry mechanisms on either side of the Soyuz TMA-205M spacecraft are raised into position to secure the rocket at the launch pad on Thursday, July 12, 2012 at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.

The Soyuz MS-10 spacecraft is launched with Expedition 57 Flight Engineer Nick Hague of NASA and Flight Engineer Alexey Ovchinin of Roscosmos, Thursday, Oct. 11, 2018 at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. During the Soyuz spacecraft's climb to orbit, an anomaly occurred, resulting in an abort downrange. The crew was quickly recovered and is in good condition.

A Delta 162 launch vehicle, carrying Westar V, the fifth in a series of Western Union communications satellites, lifts off from Pad 17 at 8:24 p.m. EDT. Base: Cape Canaveral Air Force Station State: Florida (FL) Country: United States Of America (USA)

The Soyuz TMA-09M spacecraft is raised into vertical position after arriving at the Baikonur Cosmodrome launch pad by train, Sunday, May 26, 2013, in Kazakhstan. The launch of the Soyuz rocket to the International Space Station (ISS) with Expedition 36/37 Soyuz Commander Fyodor Yurchikhin of the Russian Federal Space Agency (Roscosmos), Flight Engineers; Luca Parmitano of the European Space Agency, and Karen Nyberg of NASA, is scheduled for Wednesday May 29, Kazakh time. Yurchikhin, Nyberg, and, Parmitano, will remain aboard the station until mid-November.

The Soyuz TMA-13M rocket is launched with Expedition 40 Soyuz Commander Maxim Suraev, of the Russian Federal Space Agency, Roscosmos, Flight Engineer Alexander Gerst, of the European Space Agency, ESA, and Flight Engineer Reid Wiseman of NASA, Thursday, May 29, 2014 at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. Suraev, Gerst, and Wiseman will spend the next five and a half months aboard the International Space Station.

The Soyuz rocket with Expedition 33/34 crew members, Soyuz Commander Oleg Novitskiy, Flight Engineer Kevin Ford of NASA, and Flight Engineer Evgeny Tarelkin of ROSCOSMOS onboard the TMA-06M spacecraft launches to the International Space Station on Tuesday, October 23, 2012, in Baikonur, Kazakhstan. Ford, Novitskiy and Tarelkin will be on a five-month mission aboard the International Space Station.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - The United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket carrying NASA's Radiation Belt Storm Probes, or RBSP, lifts off Space Launch Complex 41 on Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida at 4:05 a.m. EDT.RBSP will explore changes in Earth's space environment caused by the sun -- known as "space weather" -- that can disable satellites, create power-grid failures and disrupt GPS service. The mission also will provide data on the fundamental radiation and particle acceleration processes throughout the universe.

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. - Solid rocket boosters are positioned around the base of a Delta II rocket for the Mars Exploration Rover 1 (MER-1) launch on June 25 at Launch Complex 17-B, Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. NASAs twin Mars Exploration Rovers are designed to study the history of water on Mars. These robotic geologists are equipped with a robotic arm, a drilling tool, three spectrometers, and four pairs of cameras that allow them to have a human-like, 3D view of the terrain. Each rover could travel as far as 100 meters in one day to act as Mars scientists' eyes and hands, exploring an environment where humans cant yet go. MER-2 (MER-A) will launch June 5.

An Augmented Target Docking Adapter (ATDA) atop an Atlas launch vehicle is launched from Kennedy Space Center's Pad 14 at Cape Canaveral, Florida. The ATDA is a rendezvous and docking vehicle for the Gemini 9-A space mission.

The Soyuz MS-07 rocket is launched with Expedition 54 Soyuz Commander Anton Shkaplerov of Roscosmos, flight engineer Scott Tingle of NASA, and flight engineer Norishige Kanai of Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), Sunday, Dec. 17, 2017 at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. Shkaplerov, Tingle, and Kanai will spend the next five months living and working aboard the International Space Station.

The Soyuz MS-10 spacecraft is launched with Expedition 57 Flight Engineer Nick Hague of NASA and Flight Engineer Alexey Ovchinin of Roscosmos, Thursday, Oct. 11, 2018 at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. During the Soyuz spacecraft's climb to orbit, an anomaly occurred, resulting in an abort downrange. The crew was quickly recovered and is in good condition.

A Martin Marietta Atlas IIA/AC-110 sits poised on Complex 36A ready to carry the Orion into orbit. Base: Cape Canaveral State: Florida (FL) Country: United States Of America (USA)

The Soyuz MS-18 rocket is launched with Expedition 65 NASA astronaut Mark Vande Hei, Roscosmos cosmonauts Pyotr Dubrov and Oleg Novitskiy, Friday, April 9, 2021, at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.

Standing atop the mobile launcher, NASAs Space Launch System (SLS) rocket and Orion spacecraft arrive at Launch Pad 39B at the agencys Kennedy Space Center in Florida on March 18, 2022. The Artemis I stack was carried from the Vehicle Assembly Building to the pad - a 4.2-mile journey that took nearly 11 hours to complete - by the agencys crawler-transporter 2 for a wet dress rehearsal ahead of the uncrewed launch. Artemis I will test SLS and Orion as an integrated system prior to crewed flights to the Moon. Through Artemis, NASA will land the first woman and the first person of color on the lunar surface, paving the way for a long-term lunar presence and serving as a steppingstone on the way to Mars.

NASAs Space Launch System (SLS) rocket with the Orion spacecraft aboard is seen atop the mobile launcher at Launch Pad 39B, Monday, Aug. 29, 2022, as the Artemis I launch teams load more than 700,000 gallons of cryogenic propellants including liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen as the launch countdown progresses at NASAs Kennedy Space Center in Florida. NASAs Artemis I flight test is the first integrated test of the agencys deep space exploration systems: the Orion spacecraft, SLS rocket, and supporting ground systems. Launch of the uncrewed flight test is targeted for no earlier than 8:33 a.m. ET.

The Orbital Sciences Corporation Antares rocket, with the Cygnus spacecraft onboard, is seen during sunrise, Saturday, July 12, 2014, at launch Pad-0A of NASA's Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia. The Antares will launch with the Cygnus spacecraft filled with over 3,000 pounds of supplies for the International Space Station, including science experiments, experiment hardware, spare parts, and crew provisions. The Orbital-2 mission is Orbital Sciences' second contracted cargo delivery flight to the space station for NASA.

The Soyuz rocket is erected into position after being rolled out to the launch pad by train, on Sunday, October 21, 2012, at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. Launch of the Soyuz rocket is scheduled for October 23 and will send Expedition 33/34 Flight Engineer Kevin Ford of NASA, Soyuz Commander Oleg Novitskiy and Flight Engineer Evgeny Tarelkin of ROSCOSMOS on a five-month mission aboard the International Space Station.

The Soyuz TMA-15M spacecraft is raised into position on the launch pad Friday, Nov. 21, 2014 at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. Launch of the Soyuz rocket is scheduled for Nov. 24 and will carry Expedition 42 Soyuz Commander Anton Shkaplerov of the Russian Federal Space Agency (Roscosmos), Flight Engineer Terry Virts of NASA , and Flight Engineer Samantha Cristoforetti of the European Space Agency into orbit to begin their five and a half month mission on the International Space Station.

The GOES-K weather satellite lifts off from Launch Pad 36B at Cape Canaveral Air Station on an Atlas 1 rocket (AC-79) at 1:49 a.m. EDT April 25. The GOES-K is the third spacecraft to be launched in the new advanced series of geostationary weather satellites for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). The GOES-K is built for NASA and NOAA by Space Systems/LORAL of Palo Alto, Calif. The advanced weather satellite was built and launched for NOAA under technical guidance and project management by NASAs Goddard Space Flight Center. Once it is in geosynchronous orbit at 22,240 miles above the Earths equator at 105 degrees West Longitude and undergoes its final checkout, the GOES-K will be designated GOES-10. The primary objective of the GOES-K launch is to provide a full-capability satellite in an on-orbit storage condition to assure NOAA backup continuity in weather coverage of the Earth in case one of the existing two operational GOES satellites now in orbit begins to

Expedition 11 Commander Sergei Krikalev, Flight Engineer and NASA Science Officer John Phillips and European Space Agency astronaut Roberto Vittori, of Italy, blast off aboard the Soyuz TMA-6 spacecraft from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, Friday, April 15, 2005 for a two-day trip to the International Space Station.

The Soyuz MS-17 rocket is launched with Expedition 64 Russian cosmonauts Sergey Ryzhikov and Sergey Kud-Sverchkov of Roscosmos and NASA astronaut Kate Rubins, Wednesday, Oct. 14, 2020, at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. Ryzhikov, Kud-Sverchkov, and Rubins launched at 1:45 a.m. EDT to begin a six-month mission onboard the International Space Station.

The Service arms are raised into position around the Soyuz rocket, with the TMA-09M spacecraft, after arriving at the Baikonur Cosmodrome launch pad by train, Sunday, May 26, 2013, in Kazakhstan. The launch of the Soyuz rocket to the International Space Station (ISS) with Expedition 36/37 Soyuz Commander Fyodor Yurchikhin of the Russian Federal Space Agency (Roscosmos), Flight Engineers; Luca Parmitano of the European Space Agency, and Karen Nyberg of NASA, is scheduled for Wednesday May 29, Kazakh time. Yurchikhin, Nyberg, and, Parmitano, will remain aboard the station until mid-November.

Expedition 68 Launch. The Soyuz MS-22 rocket is launched to the International Space Station with Expedition 68 astronaut Frank Rubio of NASA, and cosmonauts Sergey Prokopyev and Dmitri Petelin of Roscosmos onboard, Wednesday, Sept. 21, 2022, from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. Rubio, Prokopyev, and Petelin will spend approximately six months on the orbital complex, returning to Earth in March 2023.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- On Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida, representatives of media outlets worldwide photograph the 197-foot-tall United Launch Alliance Atlas V-551 launch vehicle carrying NASA's Juno spacecraft upon its arrival on the launch pad at Space Launch Complex 41.Liftoff is planned during a launch window which extends from 11:34 a.m. to 12:43 p.m. EDT on Aug. 5. The solar-powered spacecraft will orbit Jupiter's poles 33 times to find out more about the gas giant's origins, structure, atmosphere and magnetosphere and investigate the existence of a solid planetary core. NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif., manages the Juno mission for the principal investigator, Scott Bolton, of Southwest Research Institute in San Antonio. The Juno mission is part of the New Frontiers Program managed at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala. Lockheed Martin Space Systems, Denver, built the spacecraft. Launch management for the mission is the respo

The Soyuz MS-04 rocket launches from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on Thursday, April 20, 2017 Baikonur time carrying Expedition 51 Soyuz Commander Fyodor Yurchikhin of Roscosmos and Flight Engineer Jack Fischer of NASA into orbit to begin their four and a half month mission on the International Space Station. (

VANDENBERG AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. - Space Launch Complex 2 on Vandenberg Air Force Base in California is illuminated following the rollback of the mobile service tower, preparing the way for launch of NASA's Orbiting Carbon Observatory-2, or OCO-2, aboard a United Launch Alliance Delta II rocket.Launch is scheduled for 5:56 a.m. EDT on July 1. OCO-2 is NASAs first mission dedicated to studying atmospheric carbon dioxide, the leading human-produced greenhouse gas driving changes in Earths climate. OCO-2 will provide a new tool for understanding the human and natural sources of carbon dioxide emissions and the natural "sinks" that absorb carbon dioxide and help control its buildup. The observatory will measure the global geographic distribution of these sources and sinks and study their changes over time.

Psyche: SpaceX Falcon 9 Heavy Vertical at LC 39A. NASAs Psyche spacecraft stands tall atop a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket at Kennedy Space Centers historic Launch Complex 39A in Florida on Tuesday, Oct. 10, 2023. Liftoff of the mission to the asteroid Psyche is targeted for 10:16 a.m. EDT on Thursday, Oct. 12. The spacecraft also is hosting a technology demonstration, NASAs Deep Space Optical Communications (DSOC), which will be the first test of laser communications beyond the Moon. NASAs Launch Services Program, based at Kennedy, is responsible for the insight and approval of the launch vehicle and manages the launch service for the Psyche mission.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- Fire lights up a crystal-clear blue sky on Space Launch Complex 41 on Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida as a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket lofts NASA's Juno planetary probe into space. Liftoff was at 12:25 p.m. EDT Aug. 5. The solar-powered spacecraft will orbit Jupiter's poles 33 times to find out more about the gas giant's origins, structure, atmosphere and magnetosphere and investigate the existence of a solid planetary core.

The Soyuz TMA-05M rocket launches from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on Sunday, July 15, 2012 carrying Expedition 32 Soyuz Commander Yuri Malenchenko, NASA Flight Engineer Sunita Williams and JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) Flight Engineer Akihiko Hoshide to the International Space Station.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- At Space Launch Complex 17B on Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, the United Launch Alliance Delta II rocket that will launch NASA's Gravity Recovery and Interior Laboratory mission towers over the U.S. flag painted on the pad's structure. The mobile service tower has been rolled away from the vehicle for launch. The "rollback" began at about 11:20 p.m. EDT Sept. 7.GRAIL will fly twin spacecraft in tandem around the moon to precisely measure and map variations in the moon's gravitational field. The mission will provide the most accurate global gravity field to date for any planet, including Earth. This detailed information will reveal differences in the density of the moon's crust and mantle and will help answer fundamental questions about the moon's internal structure, thermal evolution, and history of collisions with asteroids. The aim is to map the moon's gravity field so completely that future lunar vehicles can safely navigate anywhere on the moons surf

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - At NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, the agency's completed Orion spacecraft begins its trip from the Launch Abort System Facility to Launch Complex 37 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. Orion spent many months in Kennedy's Neil Armstrong Operations and Checkout Building undergoing final assembly. Hundreds of employees who work there signed the banner that states, "I'm On Board!" In doing so, their signature indicated they did their part to ensure mission success. After arrival at the launch pad, United Launch Alliance engineers and technicians will lift Orion and mount it atop its Delta IV Heavy rocket.Orion is the exploration spacecraft designed to carry astronauts to destinations not yet explored by humans, including an asteroid and Mars. It will have emergency abort capability, sustain the crew during space travel and provide safe re-entry from deep space return velocities. The first unpiloted flight test of Orion is scheduled to launch Dec. 4, 201

The Soyuz TMA-04M rocket launches from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on Tuesday, May 15, 2012 carrying Expedition 31 Soyuz Commander Gennady Padalka, NASA Flight Engineer Joseph Acaba and Flight Engineer Sergei Revin to the International Space Station.

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. - Workers maneuver another solid rocket booster that will be mated with the Delta II rocket in the background. The Delta II will launch the Space Infrared Telescope Facility. The second stage will later be hoisted atop the first stage. SIRTF will obtain images and spectra by detecting the infrared energy, or heat, radiated by objects in space. Most of this infrared radiation is blocked by the Earth's atmosphere and cannot be observed from the ground. Consisting of an 0.85-meter telescope and three cryogenically cooled science instruments, SIRTF is one of NASA's largest infrared telescopes to be launched.

The Soyuz MS-04 rocket launches from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on Thursday, April 20, 2017 Baikonur time carrying Expedition 51 Soyuz Commander Fyodor Yurchikhin of Roscosmos and Flight Engineer Jack Fischer of NASA into orbit to begin their four and a half month mission on the International Space Station. (

VANDENBERG AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. -- At NASA's Launch Complex-2 at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California the United Launch Alliance Delta II rocket with the Aquarius/SAC-D spacecraft atop is prepared for launch.Liftoff is slated for 7:20 PDT/10:20 EDT today. Aquarius, the NASA-built instrument on the SAC-D spacecraft will provide new insights into how variations in ocean surface salinity relate to fundamental climate processes on its three-year mission.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - The mobile service tower on Launch Pad 17-B at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station has been rolled back to reveal the United Launch Alliance Delta II rocket ready to launch the Space Tracking and Surveillance System - Demonstrator into orbit. It is being launched by NASA for the Missile Defense System. The hour-long launch window opens at 8 a.m. EDT today.The STSS Demo is a space-based sensor component of a layered Ballistic Missile Defense System designed for the overall mission of detecting, tracking and discriminating ballistic missiles. STSS is capable of tracking objects after boost phase and provides trajectory information to other sensors.

The Soyuz TMA-04M spacecraft is raised into position at launch pad ne, Sunday, May 13, 2012. at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. The launch of the Soyuz spacecraft with Expedition 31 Soyuz Commander Gennady Padalka and Flight Engineer Sergei Revin of Russia, and prime NASA Flight Engineer Joe Acaba is scheduled for 9:01 a.m. local time on Tuesday, May 15.

The final United Launch Alliance Delta II rocket lifts off from Space Launch Complex 2 at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, on Sept. 15, 2018, carrying NASA's Ice, Cloud and land Elevation Satellite-2 (ICESat-2). Liftoff was at 9:02 a.m. EDT (6:02 a.m. PDT). The satellite will measure the height of our changing Earth, one laser pulse at a time, 10,000 laser pulses per second. ICESat-2 will provide scientists with height measurements that create a global portrait of Earth's third dimension, gathering date that can precisely track changes of terrain, including glaciers, sea ice and forests.

The Soyuz TMA-13 spacecraft arrives at the launch pad at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, Friday, Oct. 10, 2008. The Soyuz is scheduled to launch to the International Space Station Oct. 12 with Expedition 18 Commander Michael Fincke, Flight Engineer Yuri V. Lonchakov and American spaceflight participant Richard Garriott. The three crew members will dock their Soyuz to the International Space Station on Oct. 14. Fincke and Lonchakov will spend six months on the station, while Garriott will return to Earth Oct. 24 with two of the Expedition 17 crew members currently on the International Space Station.

A CONCEPT IMAGE SHOWS THE ARES I CREW LAUNCH VEHICLE DURING ASCENT. ARES I IS AN IN-LINE, TWO-STAGE ROCKET CONFIGURATION TOPED BY THE ORION CREW EXPLORATION VEHICLE AND LAUNCH ABORT SYSTEM. THE ARES I FIRST STAGE IS A SINGLE, FIVE-SEGMENT REUSABLE SOLID ROCKET BOOSTER, DERIVED FROM THE SPACE SHUTTLE. ITS UPPER STAGE IS POWERED BY A J-2X ENGINE. ARES I WILL CARRY THE ORION WITH ITS CRW OF UP TO SIX ASTRONAUTS TO EARTH ORBIT.

The Atlas V 421 rocket, settles onto Space Launch Complex-41, preparing to launch the sixth and final Space Based Infrared System Geosynchronous Earth Orbit (SBIRS GEO 6) satellite for the U.S. Space Force's Space Systems Command (SSC), at Cape Canaveral, Fla., on Aug. 2, 2022 US Space Force photo by Walter Talens

The Soyuz rocket is raised into vertical position on the launch pad, Tuesday, March 12, 2019 at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. Expedition 59 crewmembers Nick Hague and Christina Koch of NASA, along with Alexey Ovchinin of Roscosmos, will launch 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.

jsc2020e016998 - At the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, the Soyuz MS-16 spacecraft and its booster stand at their vertical position at the Site 31 launch pad April 6 after the closing of gantry arms following rollout for final preparations for launch. Expedition 63 crewmembers Chris Cassidy of NASA and Anatoly Ivanishin and Ivan Vagner of Roscosmos are set to launch aboard the Soyuz MS-16 April 9 for a six-and-a-half month mission on the International Space Station...NASA/Victor Zelentsov.

A United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket carrying the U.S. Space Forces Space Based Infrared System Geosynchronous Earth Orbit 6 missile warning satellite is moved into position at Launch Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Fla. The GEO-6 satellite is scheduled to be launched into space Thursday morning.

The gantry arms close around the Soyuz TMA-15M spacecraft to secure the rocket at the launch pad on Friday, Nov. 21, 2014 at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. Launch of the Soyuz rocket is scheduled for Nov. 24 and will carry Expedition 42 Soyuz Commander Anton Shkaplerov of the Russian Federal Space Agency (Roscosmos), Flight Engineer Terry Virts of NASA , and Flight Engineer Samantha Cristoforetti of the European Space Agency into orbit to begin their five and a half month mission on the International Space Station.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- At NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida media take advantage of the beautiful sunrise to snap photos of space shuttle Atlantis on Launch Pad 39A after the payload canister carrying the Raffaello multi-purpose logistics module (MPLM) was lifted into the payload changeout room on the rotating service structure.Commander Chris Ferguson, Pilot Doug Hurley and Mission Specialists Sandra Magnus and Rex Walheim are targeted to lift off on space shuttle Atlantis July 8, taking with them the MPLM packed with supplies, logistics and spare parts to the International Space Station. The STS-135 mission also will fly a system to investigate the potential for robotically refueling existing satellites and return a failed ammonia pump module to help NASA better understand the failure mechanism and improve pump designs for future systems. STS-135 will be the 33rd flight of Atlantis, the 37th shuttle mission to the space station, and the 135th and final mission of NASA's Space S

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

The Soyuz MS-04 rocket launches from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on Thursday, April 20, 2017 Baikonur time carrying Expedition 51 Soyuz Commander Fyodor Yurchikhin of Roscosmos and Flight Engineer Jack Fischer of NASA into orbit to begin their four and a half month mission on the International Space Station. (

The Soyuz MS-04 rocket launches from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on Thursday, April 20, 2017 Baikonur time carrying Expedition 51 Soyuz Commander Fyodor Yurchikhin of Roscosmos and Flight Engineer Jack Fischer of NASA into orbit to begin their four and a half month mission on the International Space Station. (

VANDENBERG AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. -- The Orbital Sciences Taurus XL rocket and NASA's encapsulated Glory spacecraft await launch on the pad at Vandenberg Air Force Base's Space Launch Complex 576-E in California. Liftoff originally was scheduled for 5:09 a.m. EST Feb. 23, but was scrubbed for at least 24 hours due to a technical issue that engineers are evaluating. Once Glory reaches orbit, it will 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. For information, visit www.nasa.gov/glory.

A United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket is rolled to Space Launch Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. The launch vehicle will send the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's, or NOAA's, Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite, or GOES-S, into orbit. The GOES series is designed to significantly improve the detection and observation of environmental phenomena that directly affect public safety, protection of property and the nation's economic health and prosperity. GOES-S is slated to lift off at 5:02 p.m. EST on March 1, 2018 aboard a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket.

The Soyuz TMA-20 spacecraft is raised into vertical position at the launch pad of the Baikonur Cosmodrome, Monday, Dec. 13, 2010 in Kazakhstan. The launch of the Soyuz spacecraft with Expedition 26 Soyuz Commander Dmitry Kondratyev, NASA Flight Engineer Catherine Coleman, and Italian astronaut Paolo Nespoli is scheduled for Thursday, Dec., 16, 2010 at 1:09 a.m. local time.

The Soyuz MS-09 rocket is launched with Expedition 56 Soyuz Commander Sergey Prokopyev of Roscosmos, flight engineer Serena Auñón-Chancellor of NASA, and flight engineer Alexander Gerst of ESA (European Space Agency), Wednesday, June 6, 2018 at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. Prokopyev, Auñón-Chancellor, and Gerst will spend the next six months living and working aboard the International Space Station.

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

The Soyuz rocket is raised into vertical position on the launch pad, Tuesday, March 12, 2019 at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. Expedition 59 crewmembers Nick Hague and Christina Koch of NASA, along with Alexey Ovchinin of Roscosmos, will launch 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.

VANDENBERG AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. -- The Orbital Sciences Taurus XL rocket and NASA's encapsulated Glory spacecraft await launch on the pad at Vandenberg Air Force Base's Space Launch Complex 576-E in California. Liftoff originally was scheduled for 5:09 a.m. EST Feb. 23, but was scrubbed for at least 24 hours due to a technical issue that engineers are evaluating. Once Glory reaches orbit, it will 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. For information, visit www.nasa.gov/glory.

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