Space Exploration and Operations

Images featuring NASA's space shuttles, transportation, and assembly buildings, highlighting activities related to space exploration.

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49 assets in this story
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CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - The space shuttle Endeavour moves into the Vehicle Assembly Building, or VAB, at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Endeavour moved from Bay 2 of the Orbiter Processing Facility to switch places with Atlantis which had been in the VAB. Endeavour will undergo final preparations for its cross-country ferry flight targeted for mid-September. 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. 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.
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CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - At NASAs Kennedy Space Center in Florida, space shuttle Atlantis is being towed from the Vehicle Assembly Building over to Orbiter Processing Facility-1. Atlantis forward reaction control system, orbiter maneuvering system pods and three space shuttle main engines have been removed. The work is part of the Space Shuttle Programs transition and retirement processing of the three space shuttles. Atlantis is being prepared for display at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex and is scheduled to rollover to the complex in November.
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CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla., -- Workers transport NASA's Juno spacecraft from Astrotech's Payload Processing Facility in Titusville, Fla., to the Hazardous Processing Facility for fueling. The spacecraft will be loaded with the propellant necessary for orbit maneuvers and the attitude control system.Juno is scheduled to launch aboard a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket from Cape Canaveral, Fla., 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.
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CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - A missing part of a panel on the southeast corner of the Vehicle Assembly Building at NASA's Kennedy Space Center is minor damage caused by Tropical Storm Hanna as it passed Floridas east coast. The panel bent a UHF antenna on the roof of the Launch Control Center. Hanna kept well offshore, bearing only bursts of rain and wind along the coastline as it moved north.
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CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- At NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, space shuttle Discovery enters the Vehicle Assembly Building, or VAB, after rolling from Orbiter Processing Facility-2, or OPF-2.Discovery will be stored inside the VAB for approximately one month while shuttle Atlantis undergoes processing in OPF-2 following its final mission, STS-135. Discovery flew its 39th and final mission, STS-133, in February and March 2011, and currently is being prepared for public display at the Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center in Virginia.
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NASA's Pegasus Barge, which has a storied history of supporting the Space Shuttle Program, arrived at the Kennedy Space Center Launch Complex 39B turn basin wharf, carrying its first load in support of the agency's Artemis missions. The upgraded 310-foot-long barge arrived Friday, Sept. 27, ferrying the 212-foot-long Space Launch System (SLS) core stage pathfinder. Weighing in at 228,000 pounds, the pathfinder is a full-scale mockup of the rocket's core stage. The pathfinder will be utilized by the Exploration Ground Systems Program and their contractor, Jacobs, to practice offloading, moving and stacking maneuvers, utilizing important ground support equipment to train employees and certify all the equipment works properly. The pathfinder will stay at Kennedy for approximately one month before trekking back to NASA's Michoud Assembly Facility in Louisiana.
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During a practice run, crawler-transporter 2 (CT-2) is at the entrance to High Bay 2 of the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) at NASAs Kennedy Space Center in Florida on May 1, 2019. CT-2 entered High Bay 2, and picked up the space shuttle-era mobile launch platform-3 (MLP-3). The VAB is getting its first commercial tenant. Northrop Grumman signed a Reimbursable Space Act Agreement with NASA for use of the facilities. The company will assemble and test its new OmegA rocket inside the massive facilitys High Bay 2. The company also will modify MLP-3 to serve as the launch vehicles assembly and launch platform. Northrop Grumman is developing the OmegA rocket, an intermediate/heavy-class launch vehicle, as part of a launch services agreement with the U.S. Air Force.
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Two of the observatories for NASA's Magnetospheric Multiscale Observatory, or MMS, the lower stack, mini-stack number 1, begin the trip from the Building 2 south encapsulation bay to the Building 1 high bay at the Astrotech payload processing facility in Titusville, Florida, near Kennedy Space Center. The MMS upper stack, mini-stack number 2, is scheduled to arrive in about two weeks. MMS is a Solar Terrestrial Probes mission comprising four identically instrumented spacecraft that will use Earths magnetosphere as a laboratory to study the microphysics of three fundamental plasma processes: magnetic reconnection, energetic particle acceleration and turbulence. Launch aboard a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket from Space Launch Complex 41 on Cape Canaveral Air Force Station is targeted for March 12, 2015.
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CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- The container that carries the Raffaello multi-purpose logistics module (MPLM), secured on its transportation vehicle, begins its journey from the Canister Rotation Facility to Launch Pad 39A at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Once there, the canister will be lifted to the payload changeout room. The payload ground-handling mechanism then will be used to transfer Raffaello out of the canister into space shuttle Atlantis' payload bay. Next, the rotating service structure that protects the shuttle from the elements and provides access will be rotated back into place.Commander Chris Ferguson, Pilot Doug Hurley and Mission Specialists Sandra Magnus and Rex Walheim are targeted to lift off on Atlantis July 8, taking with them the MPLM packed with supplies, logistics and spare parts to the 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 hel
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CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - The space shuttle Atlantis is lifted and tilted for display at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex in Florida. Atlantis will be exhibited at 43.21 degrees with its payload bay doors open so the shuttle will look as it did in space. Atlantis was wrapped in a protective plastic to protect it from dust and debris while being prepared for display.The new home of Atlantis is scheduled to open in July 2013. The exhibits in the new, 90,000-square-foot interactive facility will tell the story of the 30-year Space Shuttle Program and what lies ahead in space exploration. More than 60 exhibits will be set up around Atlantis, including a full-scale mockup of the Hubble Space Telescope and a full-scale model of a portion of the International Space Station. Over the course of its 26-year career, Atlantis traveled 125,935,769 miles during 307 days in space over 33 missions.
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CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - The Orion spacecraft crew access arm, or CAA, seal prototype is being checked out at the Launch Equipment Test Facility at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The tests will use a mockup of the vehicle Outer Mold Line and CAA white room to test the performance of the seal while simulating vehicle to CAA white room excursions.Orion is the exploration spacecraft designed to carry crews to space beyond low Earth orbit. It will provide emergency abort capability, sustain the crew during the space travel and provide safe re-entry from deep space return velocities. The first unpiloted test flight of the Orion is scheduled to launch in 2014 atop a Delta IV rocket and in 2017 on a Space Launch System rocket.
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CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - Workers use a crane to install a new parabolic telemetry antenna and tracker camera to the roof of the Launch Control Center, or LCC, in Launch Complex 39 at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. This antenna and camera system is the first of three that will be installed on the LCC roof for the Radio Frequency and Telemetry Station RFTS, which will be used to monitor radio frequency communications from a launch vehicle at Launch Pad 39A or B as well as provide radio frequency relay for a launch vehicle in the Vehicle Assembly Building. The RFTS replaces the shuttle-era communications and tracking labs at Kennedy. The modern RFTS checkout station is designed to primarily support NASA's Space Launch System, or SLS, and Orion spacecraft, but can support multi-user radio frequency tests as the space center transitions to support a variety of rockets and spacecraft.
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CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- Shuttle Atlantis makes its final planned move, or rollover, into the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) from Orbiter Processing Facility-1 at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida.The move called "rollover" is a major milestone in processing for the STS-135 mission to the International Space Station. Commander Chris Ferguson, Pilot Doug Hurley and Mission Specialists Sandra Magnus and Rex Walheim are targeted to launch in early July, taking with them the Raffaello multipurpose logistics module packed with supplies, logistics and spare parts. The STS-135 mission also will fly a system to investigate the potential for robotically refueling existing spacecraft and return a failed ammonia nfor 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 Shuttle Program.
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CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - At NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, firing room 3 of the Launch Control Center is undergoing a major reconstruction. Space shuttle era consoles have been removed as well as flooring and cables that had been in place dating back to the Apollo program.For more than 40 years, the firing rooms of the Launch Control Center have served as the brain” for launches at NASA’s Florida Spaceport. Whether an Apollo-Saturn rocket or the space shuttle, the focus was always on one program. Now the firing rooms are also being modified to be more generic in nature supporting a variety of future launch vehicles.
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CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- At the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex in Florida, construction crews remove 16,000 square feet of plastic shrink-wrap from the space shuttle Atlantis. The spacecraft was enclosed in the plastic shrink-wrap since November of last year to protect the artifact from dust and debris during construction of the 90,000-square-foot facility. Last November, the space shuttle Atlantis made its historic final journey to its new home, traveling 10 miles from the Kennedy Space Center's Vehicle Assembly Building to the spaceport's visitor complex. The new $100 million 'Space Shuttle Atlantis' facility will include interactive exhibits that tell the story of the 30-year Space Shuttle Program and highlights the future of space exploration. The 'Space Shuttle Atlantis' exhibit scheduled to open June 29, 2013.
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CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- At the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex in Florida, construction crews prepare to remove 16,000 square feet of plastic shrink-wrap from the space shuttle Atlantis. The spacecraft was enclosed in the plastic shrink-wrap since November of last year to protect the artifact from dust and debris during construction of the 90,000-square-foot facility. Last November, the space shuttle Atlantis made its historic final journey to its new home, traveling 10 miles from the Kennedy Space Center's Vehicle Assembly Building to the spaceport's visitor complex. The new $100 million 'Space Shuttle Atlantis' facility will include interactive exhibits that tell the story of the 30-year Space Shuttle Program and highlights the future of space exploration. The 'Space Shuttle Atlantis' exhibit scheduled to open June 29, 2013.
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Seen here is an exterior view of the Launch Control Center (LCC) at NASAs Kennedy Space Center in Florida, located next to the iconic Vehicle Assembly Building, on July 8, 2021. The LCC will house the team of engineers responsible for launching the Space Launch System (SLS) rocket and Orion spacecraft for the Artemis I mission. On July 8, teams from Kennedy, Marshall Space Flight Center in Alabama, and Johnson Space Center in Houston came together to perform the first joint integrated launch countdown simulation for Artemis I. The training exercise involved rehearsing all aspects of the launch countdown, from cryogenic loading - filling tanks in the Space Launch System (SLS) rockets core stage with liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen - to liftoff. These simulations will help certify that the launch team is ready for Artemis I - the first test flight of SLS and Orion as an integrated system prior to crewed flights to the Moon.
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CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - The Mobile Launcher is visible through a window inside Firing Room 4 in the Launch Control Center at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The Ground Systems Development and Operations Program is overseeing efforts to create a new multi-user firing room in Firing Room 4. The main floor consoles, cabling and wires below the floor and ceiling tiles above have been removed. Sub-flooring has been installed and the room is marked off to create four separate rooms on the main floor. The design of Firing Room 4 will incorporate five control room areas that are flexible to meet current and future NASA and commercial user requirements. The equipment and most of the consoles from Firing Room 4 were moved to Firing Room 2 for possible future reuse.
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CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - The space shuttle Atlantis is lifted and tilted for display at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex in Florida. Atlantis will be exhibited at 43.21 degrees with its payload bay doors open so the shuttle will look as it did in space. Atlantis was wrapped in a protective plastic to protect it from dust and debris while being prepared for display.The new home of Atlantis is scheduled to open in July 2013. The exhibits in the new, 90,000-square-foot interactive facility will tell the story of the 30-year Space Shuttle Program and what lies ahead in space exploration. More than 60 exhibits will be set up around Atlantis, including a full-scale mockup of the Hubble Space Telescope and a full-scale model of a portion of the International Space Station. Over the course of its 26-year career, Atlantis traveled 125,935,769 miles during 307 days in space over 33 missions.
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Holographic animation of 3D wireframe car model with engine and otter technical parts. Holographic animation of 3D wireframe car model with engine
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Enterprise server hardware delivering computing capacity for AI, automation tools and neural training. Supercomputers archiving deep learning datasets at scale, aerial shot.
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Datacenter computing center in Hollands Kroon. Data technology ICT equipment building housing like servers. Datacenter computing center in Hollands Kroon. Data technology ICT equipment building like servers. Copyright: xZoonar.com/HugoxKurkx 19171633
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CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - An aerial view of part of NASA's Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex in Florida. A full-size orbiter replica (at right), the "Explorer," allows guests to picture more clearly what it's like to live and work in space. Full-size, genuine solid rocket boosters and an external fuel tank are also on display, representing all three components of a space shuttle.
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Parabolic at PSA, Plataforma Solar de Almeria, center for the research of solar energy by the DLR, German Aerospace Center, Almeria, Andalusia, Spain
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FRA - POLITIQUE - CYBERDEFENSE - Florence Parly, ministre des Armées, à RennesFlorence Parly, ministre des Armées, se rend jeudi 3 octobre 2019 au quartier Stéphant à Saint-Jacques-de-la-Lande ( 35 ), où elle inaugurere le premier btiment du Commandement de la cyberdéfense ( COMCYBER ), spécifiquement conçu pour répondre aux besoins techniques et opérationnels du COMCYBER et accueillir ses différentes unités.FRA - POLITICS - CYBERDEFENSE - Florence Parly, Minister of the Armed Forces, in RennesFlorence Parly, Minister of the French Armed Forces, will visit the Stéphant district in Saint-Jacques-de-la-Lande ( 35) on Thursday, October 3, 2019, where she will inaugurate the first building of the Cyber Defence Command (COMCYBER), specifically designed to meet the technical and operational needs of the COMCYBER and accommodate its various units.
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CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- At NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, remodeling for launches of future human spaceflight vehicles takes place in the Launch Control Center's Young-Crippen Firing Room. Known as Firing Room 1 in the Apollo era, it was re-named as a tribute to the Space Shuttle Program's first crewed mission, STS-1, which was flown by Commander John Young and Pilot Robert Crippen in April 1981. The firing room most recently was set up to support the Ares I-X flight test in Oct. 2009.
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CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- At NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, remodeling for launches of future human spaceflight vehicles continues in the Launch Control Center's Young-Crippen Firing Room. Consoles already have been rewired for the comprehensive upgrade and are now being outfitted with new computers and monitors.Known as Firing Room 1 in the Apollo era, it was re-named as a tribute to the Space Shuttle Program's first crewed mission, STS-1, which was flown by Commander John Young and Pilot Robert Crippen in April 1981. The firing room most recently was set up to support the Ares I-X flight test in Oct. 2009.
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CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - The enclosed Space Tracking and Surveillance System - Demonstrators, or STSS-Demo, spacecraft leaves the Astrotech payload processing facility on its way to Cape Canaveral Air Force Station's Launch Pad 17-B. 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. It will be launched by NASA for the Missile Defense Agency between 8 and 8:58 a.m. EDT Sept. 18. Approved for Public Release 09-MDA-04886 (10 SEPT 09)
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CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - Modifications continue on the Multi-Payload Processing Facility, or MPPF, at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Artist illustrations on display inside the high bay show how the interior and exterior will look after the modifications and upgrades have been completed.Kennedy's Center Operations Directorate is overseeing upgrades to the MPPF for the Ground Systems Development and Operations Program. The extensive upgrades and modernizations will support processing of Orion spacecraft for NASA's exploration missions. The 19,647-square-foot building, originally constructed in 1995, primarily will be used for Orion hypergolic fueling, ammonia servicing and high-pressure gas servicing and checkout before being transported to the Vehicle Assembly Building for integration with the Space Launch System.
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CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- Tim Macy, Delaware North Companies Parks and Resorts director of project development, described the Atlantis exhibit to members of the news media who media gather at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex for the announcement of the opening date of the date the facility will officially open and for the unveiling of the exhibit's newly designed logo. The space shuttle is wrapped in plastic to protect it during completion of construction. The 'Space Shuttle Atlantis' exhibit will open June 29, 2013. Last November, the space shuttle Atlantis made its historic final journey to its new home, traveling 10 miles from the Kennedy Space Center's Vehicle Assembly Building to the spaceport's visitor complex. The new $100 million Atlantis facility will be a 90,000-square-foot, interactive exhibit that tells the story of the 30-year Space Shuttle Program and highlights the future of space exploration.
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CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - In Firing Room 4 in the Launch Control Center at NASAs Kennedy Space Center in Florida, the legacy consoles, Launch Processing System and cabling that once supported the Space Shuttle Program have been removed. The Ground Systems Development and Operations Program is overseeing the construction in progress on a multi-use control room that will support NASA and commercial launch needs. The design of Firing Room 4 will incorporate five control room areas that are flexible to meet current and future user requirements. The equipment and consoles from Firing Room 4 are being moved to Firing Room 2 for possible future reuse.
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CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- Bill Moore, Delaware North's chief operating officer of the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex, speaks to news media representatives during the announcement of the date the facility will officially open and for the unveiling of the exhibit's newly designed logo. The 'Space Shuttle Atlantis' exhibit will open June 29, 2013. Last November, the space shuttle Atlantis made its historic final journey to its new home, traveling 10 miles from the Kennedy Space Center's Vehicle Assembly Building to the spaceport's visitor complex. The new $100 million Atlantis facility will be a 90,000-square-foot, interactive exhibit that tells the story of the 30-year Space Shuttle Program and highlights the future of space exploration.
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CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- At NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, hundreds of space shuttle workers congregate beneath a tent or inside the transfer aisle at the Vehicle Assembly Building, sharing a party following the successful liftoff of space shuttle Atlantis on the STS-135 mission, the final flight of the agency's Space Shuttle Program. Atlantis, with its crew of Commander Chris Ferguson, Pilot Doug Hurley, Mission Specialists Sandy Magnus and Rex Walheim, lifted off at 11:29 a.m. EDT on July 8, 2011 to deliver the Raffaello multi-purpose logistics module packed with supplies and spare parts for the International Space Station.
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CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- Members of the news media gather at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex for the announcement of the opening date that the facility will officially open and for the unveiling of the exhibit's newly designed logo. The 'Space Shuttle Atlantis' exhibit will open June 29, 2013. Last November, the space shuttle Atlantis made its historic final journey to its new home, traveling 10 miles from the Kennedy Space Center's Vehicle Assembly Building to the spaceport's visitor complex. The new $100 million Atlantis facility will be a 90,000-square-foot, interactive exhibit that tells the story of the 30-year Space Shuttle Program and highlights the future of space exploration.
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The Space Experiment Research and Processing Laboratory (SERPL) is a major new research facility under construction at the International Space Research Park located on KSC. Being developed as a partnership between KSC and the State of Florida, it will serve as the primary gateway to the International Space Station for science experiments and as a world-class home to ground-based investigations in fundamental and applied biological science. NASAs life sciences contractor will be the primary tenant of the facility, leasing space to conduct flight experiment processing and NASA-sponsored research. About 20 percent of the facility will be available for use by Floridas university researchers through the Florida Space Research Institute.
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KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, Fla. - The grid on the floor of the RLV Hangar is filling up with pieces of Columbia debris that have been collected by workers in the field. The Columbia Reconstruction Project Team is attempting to reconstruct the bottom of the orbiter as part of the investigation into the accident that caused the destruction of Columbia and loss of its crew as it returned to Earth on mission STS-107. To date, more than 35,000 pieces have been shipped to KSC; 1,218 are identified.
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CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- A near-empty Firing Room No. 1 in the Launch Control Center at NASA's Kennedy Space Center is ready for the installation of racks of equipment. The firing room will support the future Ares rocket launches as part of the Constellation Program. Future astronauts will ride to orbit on Ares I, which uses a single five-segment solid rocket booster, a derivative of the space shuttle's solid rocket booster, for the first stage. Ares will be launched from Pad 39B, which is being reconfigured from supporting space shuttle launches. The Launch Control Center firing rooms face the launch pads.
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Headquarters Space Operations Command (SpOC) was furnished with updated signage at Building 1, at Peterson Space Force Base, Colorado.
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Confetti is launched as the spaceport's historic countdown clock is dedicated as the newest display at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex. Now located at the entrance to the visitor complex, the spaceport's historic countdown clock was used starting with the launch of Apollo 12 on Nov. 14, 1969. Originally set up at the space center's Press Site, the clock operated through the final space shuttle mission, STS-135, launched on July 8, 2011. The old countdown clock was replaced in 2014 with a modern light emitting diode, or LED, display.
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The Zone 3 Subscale Drone Facility contract for Tyndall Air Force Base, Florida, was awarded Feb. 17, 2022. The $71.8 million project was awarded to B.L. Harbert International. (Graphic by Craig Rodarte, AFIMSC Public Affairs)