Space Launch Complex Images

Exterior and processing views of space launch facilities, featuring rockets, launch pads, and the iconic Vehicle Assembly Building under various atmospheric conditions.

Biologische Anstalt Helgoland Alfred-Wegener-Institut fuer Meeres- und Polarforschung auf Helgoland Copyright: xZoonar.com/RenatexKrafftx 990558

Exterior view of Launch Complex 39A

VANDENBERG AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. -- The upper vehicle stack, consisting of the first, second and third stages, of the Taurus XL rocket is ready for processing in a temporary processing tent near the pad at Space Launch Complex 576-E at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. Orbital Sciences' Taurus XL is a four-stage rocket that will carry NASA's Glory spacecraft into low Earth orbit. To the left the tent is the launch pad, where Stage 0 and the Stage 0/1 interstage are poised for launch.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. Launch is scheduled for 5:09 a.m. EST Feb. 23. For information, visit www.nasa.gov/glory.

S89-30719 (22 March 1989) --- Space shuttle Atlantis is seen soon in duplicate, thanks to reflection in nearby water, after arriving at Pad 39-B. The spacecraft left the vehicle assembly building (VAB) at 12:01A.M. and arrived to this point at 7 A.M. Atlantis is scheduled for NASA STS-30 mission on which the Magellan will be deployed to orbit planet Venus and map its topographic features. Launch is scheduled for April 28.

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CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - A supermoon” begins to rise through the clouds near the 525-foot-tall Vehicle Assembly Building in Launch Complex 39 at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.The scientific term for the supermoon phenomenon is "perigee moon." Full moons vary in size because of the oval shape of the moon's orbit. The moon follows an elliptical path around Earth with one side about 50,000 kilometers closer than the other. Full moons that occur on the perigee side of the moon's orbit seem extra big and bright. For additional information, visit http://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2014/10jul_supermoons/.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- A surveillance helicopter passes over Space Launch Complex 17B on Cape Canaveral Air Force Station where preparations to launch the United Launch Alliance Delta II Heavy rocket that will carry NASA's Gravity Recovery and Interior Laboratory mission into space are being completed. 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 surface. Launch is scheduled for 8:37:06 a.m. EDT Sept. 8.

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. - On Launch Pad 17-B at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Fla., the first stage of a Boeing Delta II rocket inside the mobile service tower is reflected in the overflow pool (foreground). The Delta II is the launch vehicle for the Deep Impact spacecraft. A NASA Discovery mission, Deep Impact will probe beneath the surface of Comet Tempel 1 on July 4, 2005, when the comet is 83 million miles from Earth, and reveal the secrets of its interior. After releasing a 3- by 3-foot projectile to crash onto the surface, Deep Impacts flyby spacecraft will collect pictures and data of how the crater forms, measuring the craters depth and diameter, as well as the composition of the interior of the crater and any material thrown out, and determining the changes in natural outgassing produced by the impact. It will send the data back to Earth through the antennas of the Deep Space Network. Deep Impact project management is handled by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena

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

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

Ismael H. Otero, NASA Kennedy Space Center's project manager on the thermal energy program, addresses the news media and NASA Social about the new Thermal Energy Storage (TES) tank Feb. 17. The TES tank works like a giant battery and is saving the center utility cost. These savings will be applied to new sustainable projects at Kennedy.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - Workers take an early morning walk along the Pathfinder Trail near the Operations and Support Building II at Kennedy Space Center in Florida, to officially kick off National Employee Health and Fitness Month with the NASA Moves! challenge.NASA Moves! challenged the workforce from each of the agency's field centers to engage in at least 20 minutes of activity, or 10,000 steps, each day from May 18-31. About 100 people participated in the kickoff event on the Pathfinder Trail in the heart of the center's Launch Complex 39. The one-third-mile-long gravel walkway traces the iconic shape of a space shuttle orbiter and features a set of exercise stations. The friendly contest is part of NASA's new Health4Life initiative, a Web-based health initiative designed to help employees track their health, fitness and nutrition. Health4Life also provides an array of resources geared toward increasing physical activity.

Exterior view of Launch Complex 39A

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - At NASAs Kennedy Space Center in Florida, Robert Lightfoot, NASA associate director, partially hidden in the center, learns about Integrated Ground Operations Demonstration Units, or IGODU, technology during a tour of the Cyrogenics Testbed Laboratory. Second from left is Kennedy Director Bob Cabana.

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. - The container holding the radioisotope thermoelectric generator (RTG) is moved toward the door of the RTG facility at Kennedy Space Center. The RTG is the baseline power supply for the NASAs New Horizons spacecraft, scheduled to launch in January 2006 on a journey to Pluto and its moon, Charon. As it approaches Pluto, the spacecraft will look for ultraviolet emission from Pluto's atmosphere and make the best global maps of Pluto and Charon in green, blue, red and a special wavelength that is sensitive to methane frost on the surface. It will also take spectral maps in the near infrared, telling the science team about Pluto's and Charon's surface compositions and locations and temperatures of these materials. When the spacecraft is closest to Pluto or its moon, it will take close-up pictures in both visible and near-infrared wavelengths. It is expected to reach Pluto in July 2015.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- An airship from the British Broadcasting Corp., or BBC, flies over the processing facilities in Launch Complex 39 toward the Vehicle Assembly Building at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida.A team of scientists from the BBC's television project "Cloud Lab" are conducting a number of experiments aboard the airship as it flies across the U.S., exploring all aspects of the Earth's atmosphere. One of the experiments is NASA's Microorganisms in the Stratosphere, or MIST, which is designed to measure the microbial survival and cellular responses to exposure in the upper atmosphere.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - Renamed the Mission Control Center, the facility continued to be the flight control through the first three missions of Project Gemini. The Mercury Mission Control Center in Florida played a key role in the United States' early spaceflight program. Located at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, the original part of the building was constructed between 1956 and 1958, with additions in 1959 and 1963. The facility officially was transferred to NASA on Dec. 26, 1963, and served as mission control during all the Project Mercury missions, as well as the first three flights of the Gemini Program, when it was renamed Mission Control Center. With its operational days behind, on June 1, 1967, the Mission Control Center became a stop on the public tour of NASA facilities until the mid-90s. In 1999, much of the equipment and furnishings from the Flight Control Area were moved to the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex where they became part of the exhibit there. The building

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. - In the pre-dawn hours on Launch Pad 17-B at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, the mobile service tower is silhouetted with the Boeing Delta II rocket that will launch NASAs Deep Impact spacecraft. The Delta II waits for the arrival and mating of the second stage. A NASA Discovery mission, Deep Impact will probe beneath the surface of Comet Tempel 1 on July 4, 2005, when the comet is 83 million miles from Earth, and reveal the secrets of its interior. After releasing an impactor on a course to hit the comets sunlit side, Deep Impacts flyby spacecraft will collect pictures and data of how the crater forms, measure the craters depth and diameter, as well as the composition of the interior of the crater and any material thrown out, and determine the changes in natural outgassing produced by the impact. It will send the data back to Earth through the antennas of the Deep Space Network.

LUNAR LANDER FRANKLIN INSTITUTE PHILADELPHIA PA

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. -- The Pegasus launch vehicle is moved from the Skid Strip, Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, to the Multi-Payload Processing Facility (MPPF) at KSC. There it will be mated to the Galaxy Evolution Explorer (GALEX). The Pegasus will carry into orbit the GALEX, a space telescope that will observe galaxies in ultraviolet light across 10 billion years of cosmic history. Led by the California Institute of Technology, GALEX will conduct several first-of-a-kind sky surveys, including an extra-galactic (beyond our galaxy) ultraviolet all-sky survey. During its 29-month mission GALEX will produce the first comprehensive map of a Universe of galaxies under construction, bringing more understanding of how galaxies like the Milky Way were formed. GALEX is due to be launched from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station March 25.

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. - The Mobile Service Tower is rolled back at Launch Complex 17A to reveal a Delta II rocket ready to launch the Mars Exploration Rover-A mission. NASA's 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 are not yet able to go. MER-A, with the rover Spirit aboard, is scheduled to launch on June 8 at 2:06 p.m. EDT, with two launch opportunities each day during a launch period that closes on June 24.

On a normal day of activity prior to the launch of mission STS-95, the parking lot (foreground), plus the grandstand and buildings at the Press Site (beyond and to the right), are easily located from the air. The view gives no indication of the media frenzy the launch would generate with the return to space of John H. Glenn Jr., a senator from Ohio, whose first flight was aboard Friendship 7 in February 1962, and the first American to orbit the Earth. Glenn is one of a crew of seven on board Space Shuttle Discovery for the nine-day mission

S73-37929 (16 Nov. 1973) --- A sunrise view at the Kennedy Space Center showing in the near distance the Skylab 4/Saturn 1B space vehicle on Pad B, Launch Complex 39, on the morning of the launch. The liftoff was at 9 01 23 a.m. (EST), Friday, Nov. 16, 1973. Skylab 4 is the third and last of three scheduled manned Skylab missions. Aboard the Skylab 4 Command/Service Module were astronauts Gerald P. Carr, Edward G. Gibson and William R. Pogue. This picture was photographed by astronaut Bruce McCandless II.

NASA Zeichen im Kennedy Space Center, Florida NASA Sign in Kennedy Space Center, Florida, USA. NASA Zeichen im Kennedy Space Center, Florida, USA. Copyright: xZoonar.com/UlfxNammertx 21320587

An aerial survey of NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida was conducted after Hurricane Dorian skirted the Space Coast area. The survey was performed to identify structures and facilities that may have sustained damage from Hurricane Dorian as the storm passed to the east of Kennedy on September 3 and 4, 2019. Officials determined that the center received some isolated damage and limited water intrusion. Beach erosion also occurred, although the storm surge was less than expected. NASA closed the center ahead of the storms onset and only a small team of specialists known as the Rideout Team was on the center as the storm approached and passed.

STS-133 ET-137 Tanking Test as seen from Press Site

Workers prepare to move the shipping container with the Cassini orbiter inside the Payload Hazardous Servicing Facility (PHSF) for prelaunch processing, testing and integration. The orbiter arrived at KSCs Shuttle Landing Facility in a U.S. Air Force C-17 air cargo plane from Edwards Air Force Base, California. The orbiter and the Huygens probe already being processed at KSC are the two primary components of the Cassini spacecraft, which will be launched on a Titan IVB/Centaur expendable launch vehicle from Cape Canaveral Air Station. Cassini will explore Saturn, its rings and moons for four years. The Huygens probe, designed and developed for the European Space Agency (ESA), will be deployed from the orbiter to study the clouds, atmosphere and surface of Saturns largest moon, Titan. The orbiter was designed and assembled at NASAs Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California. Following postflight inspections, integra

STS-133 ET-137 Tanking Test as seen from Press Site

Photographed on 06/20/79. -- NASA airframe crash test #17. Model aircraft suspended at crash facility. Model aircraft shown on fire. Shown before and after crash.

Lunar Landing Research Facility

The Soyuz rocket is seen after being 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 weather balloon is released at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida before flights of agency F-18 jets to measure the effects of sonic booms. Several flights a day have been taking place the week of Aug. 21, 2017 as part of NASA's Sonic Booms in Atmospheric Turbulence, or SonicBAT II Program. NASA at Kennedy is partnering with the agency's Armstrong Flight Research Center in California, Langley Research Center in Virginia, and Space Florida for a program in which F-18 jets will take off from the Shuttle Landing Facility and fly at supersonic speeds while agency researchers measure the effects of low-altitude turbulence caused by sonic booms.

Space Environments Complex at Plum Brook Station

The Soyuz TMA-5 vehicle rolled to its launch pad at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, Tuesday, October 12, 2004, in preparation for its launch October 14 to send Expedition 10 Commander and NASA Science Officer Leroy Chiao, Flight Engineer and Soyuz Commander Salizhan Sharipov and Russian Space Forces cosmonaut Yuri Shargin to the International Space Station. Chiao and Sharipov will replace the Expedition 9 crew of Gennady Padalka and Mike Fincke, while Shargin will conduct eight days of scientific experiments. He will return to earth with the Expedition 9 crew October 24.

SDO LAUNCH L-0 PRELAUNCH

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- At NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, as Susan Danley of Flight Structures and Kim Simpson of Fluids, Mechanical and Structural Systems look on, Gary Dahlke of Engineering and Technology, left, and Leandro James of Systems Hardware Engineering attach a small rocket prior to its launch stand as part of Rocket University. The goal was to test its systems and to verify that it performed as designed. As part of Rocket University, the engineers are given an opportunity to work a fast-track project to develop skills in developing spacecraft systems of the future. As NASA plans for future spaceflight programs to low-Earth orbit and beyond, teams of engineers at Kennedy are gaining experience in designing and flying launch vehicle systems on a small scale. Four teams of five to eight members from Kennedy are designing rockets complete with avionics and recovery systems. Launch operations require coordination with federal agencies, just as they would with rockets la

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - NASA astronauts Jon McBride, left, and Wendy Lawrence address students and teachers involved with the NASA OPTIMUS PRIME Spinoff Video Contest in the Rocket Garden of the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex. The contest challenged students in grades three through 12 to study NASA spinoff technologies and produce short, creative videos promoting their favorites. The NASA Goddard Space Flight Center's Innovative Partnerships Office in Greenbelt, Md., designed the contest to help students see the benefits of NASA technology here on Earth. NASA collaborated with Hasbro in using the OPTIMUS PRIME character.

VANDENBERG AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. -- On Space Launch Complex 576-E at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, the Taurus XL rocket is in its launch configuration. The upper stack, consisting of Stages 1, 2 and 3, as well as the encapsulated Glory spacecraft, is attached to an interstage and Stage 0 at the launch pad. The Orbital Sciences Taurus XL rocket will launch Glory into low Earth orbit. 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. Launch is scheduled for 5:09 a.m. EST Feb. 23. For information, visit www.nasa.gov/glory.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - Nancy Bray, right, Center Operations director at Kennedy Space Center, and Lori Hicks, Human Resources, take an early morning walk along the center's Pathfinder Trail near the Operations and Support Building II at Kennedy Space Center in Florida, to officially kick off National Employee Health and Fitness Month with the NASA Moves! challenge.NASA Moves! challenged the workforce from each of the agency's field centers to engage in at least 20 minutes of activity, or 10,000 steps, each day from May 18-31. About 100 people participated in the kickoff event on the Pathfinder Trail in the heart of the center's Launch Complex 39. The one-third-mile-long gravel walkway traces the iconic shape of a space shuttle orbiter and features a set of exercise stations. The friendly contest is part of NASA's new Health4Life initiative, a Web-based health initiative designed to help employees track their health, fitness and nutrition. Health4Life also provides an array of resourc

Exterior view of the Mission Control Center

MOJAVE DESERT, Calif. - In the Mojave Desert in California, students and engineers participate in a pre-launch briefing before the lift off of the Garvey Spacecraft Corporation's Prospector P-18D rocket. The rocket is scheduled to launch the RUBICS-1 payload on a high-altitude, suborbital flight. The rocket will carry four satellites made from four-inch cube sections.The rocket reached a peak altitude of about 9,000 feet, however the parachute deployed prematurely and the vehicle continued on its trajectory, coasting and tumbling to a hard landing on its side. In spite of the rough ride, all four CubeSats were recovered. PhoneSat and RUBICS received data in flight, but sustained structural damage. CP-9 and StangSat fared better, and their teams are working to recover as much information as possible. Collectively known as CubeSats, the satellites were designed to record shock, vibrations and heat inside the rocket. The results will be used to prove or strengthen their designs before

TEST FLIGHT OF THE LANDER PROTOTYPE MIGHTY EAGLE” OVER A SIMULATED LUNAR LANDSCAPE. SEPTEMBER 20, 2013

At Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, dozens of photographers set up their cameras to capture the launch of the Boeing Delta II rocket carrying the 2001 Mars Odyssey spacecraft. Liftoff is scheduled for 11:02 a.m. EDT. The spacecraft, built by Lockheed Martin Space Systems for the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, will orbit Mars after a 7-month journey, mapping the surface looking for geological features that could indicate the presence of water, now or in the past. Science gathered by three science instruments on board will be key to future missions to Mars, including orbital reconnaissance, lander and human missions

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- University students gather for the opening ceremony of NASA's second annual Lunabotics Mining Competition at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex in Florida.Thirty-six teams of undergraduate and graduate students from the United States, Bangladesh, Canada, Colombia and India will participate in NASA's Lunabotics Mining Competition May 26 - 28 at the agency's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The competition is designed to engage and retain students in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM). Teams will maneuver their remote controlled or autonomous excavators, called lunabots, in about 60 tons of ultra-fine simulated lunar soil, called BP-1. The competition is an Exploration Systems Mission Directorate project managed by Kennedy's Education Division. The event also provides a competitive environment that could result in innovative ideas and solutions for NASA's future excavation of the moon.

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. -- The second Mars Exploration Rover (MER-1) enters Kennedy Space Center. MER-2 and other hardware have already arrived at KSC for processing. While at KSC, each of the rovers, their aeroshells and landers will undergo a full mission simulation. After spin balance testing, each spacecraft will be mated to a solid propellant upper stage booster that will propel the spacecraft out of Earth orbit. Approximately 10 days before launch they will be transported to the launch pad for mating with their respective Boeing Delta II rockets. The rovers will serve as robotic geologists to seek answers about the evolution of Mars, particularly for a history of water. The rovers are identical to each other, and will land at different regions of Mars. Launch of the MER-1 is scheduled for May 30. MER-2 will follow June 25.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - Flowers are placed at the Astronauts Memorial Foundation's Space Mirror Memorial at NASA's Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex on the 28th anniversary of the space shuttle Challenger accident. The day of the accident in 1986 dawned bitterly cold. Temperatures hovered just a few degrees above freezing as Challenger and its seven astronauts lifted off on the STS-51L mission. The flight ended just 73 seconds later when an O-ring in the right solid rocket booster failed, causing a fireball that led to the loss of the vehicle and crew Commander Francis Scobee, Pilot Michael Smith, Mission Specialists Judith Resnik, Ellison Onizuka and Ronald McNair, and Payload Specialists Gregory Jarvis and Sharon Christa McAuliffe, a teacher.

Workers surround two of the observatories, the lower stack, mini-stack number 1, for NASA's Magnetospheric Multiscale Observatory, or MMS, on their 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.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- At the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, NASA administrator Charles Bolden, at right, enjoys an unobstructed view of the flame trench on Launch Pad 39B with Apollo astronauts and their families and friends. The pad is being modified to support the agency's new Orion spacecraft which will lift off atop the Space Launch System rocket. Orion is designed to take humans farther than theyve ever gone before, serving as the exploration vehicle that will carry astronauts to deep space and sustain the crew during travel to destinations such as an asteroid or Mars.The visit of the former astronauts was part of NASA's 45th anniversary celebration of the Apollo 11 moon landing. As the world watched, the Apollo 11 astronauts landed in the moon's Sea of Tranquility aboard the lunar module Eagle on July 20, 1969. For more, visit http://www.nasa.gov/press/2014/july/nasa-honors-historic-first-moon-landing-eyes-first-mars-mission.

The filming of scenes for the movie "Contact" by Warner Bros.' cast and crew at Kennedy Space Center's Launch Complex 39 Press Site on January 29 is captured by cameras on the roof of the Vehicle Assembly Building. The screenplay for "Contact" is based on the best-selling novel by the late astronomer Carl Sagan. The cast includes Jodie Foster, Matthew McConaughey, John Hurt, James Woods, Tom Skerritt, David Morse, William Fichtner, Rob Lowe and Angela Bassett. Described by Warner Bros. as a science fiction drama, "Contact" will depict humankind's first encounter with evidence of extraterrestrial life

Launch Complex 39 surrounding areas are seen during an aerial survey of NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida on September 12, 2017. The survey was performed to identify structures and facilities that may have sustained damage from Hurricane Irma as the storm passed Kennedy on September 10, 2017. NASA closed the center ahead of the storms onset and only a small team of specialists known as the Rideout Team was on the center as the storm approached and passed.

A two-stage SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket lifts off from Launch Complex 39A at NASAs Kennedy Space Center in Florida for Demo-1, the first uncrewed mission of the agencys Commercial Crew Program. Liftoff was at 2:49 a.m., March 2, 2019. The SpaceX Crew Dragons trip to the International Space Station is designed to validate end-to-end systems and capabilities, leading to certification to fly crew. NASA has worked with SpaceX and Boeing in developing the Commercial Crew Program spacecraft to facilitate new human spaceflight systems launching from U.S. soil with the goal of safe, reliable and cost-effective access to low-Earth orbit destinations, such as the space station.

COTS-2 Cold Storage Nanorack Experiment Packaging for Dragon Capsule take from SSPF to Pad 40

A full rainbow is in view over the Launch Complex 39B area at NASAs Kennedy Space Center in Florida on June 12, 2022. The Artemis I Space Launch System and Orion spacecraft atop the mobile launcher were moved to Pad 39B atop the crawler-transport 2 for a prelaunch test called a wet dress rehearsal. Artemis I will be the first integrated test of the SLS and Orion spacecraft. In later missions, NASA will land the first woman and the first person of color on the surface of the Moon, paving the way for a long-term lunar presence and serving as a steppingstone on the way to Mars.

View of crowd at Rocket Park during Apollo 11 Anniversary festivities.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- At NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, employees hold up a banner to commemorate space shuttle Endeavour's STS-134 mission as it is transported from Orbiter Processing Facility-2 to the Vehicle Assembly Building.Endeavour and its STS-134 crew will deliver the Express Logistics Carrier-3, Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer, spare parts, a high-pressure gas tank, additional spare parts for Dextre and micrometeoroid debris shields to the International Space Station. Launch is targeted for April 19 at 7:48 p.m. EDT.

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. -- A large crowd attends the launching ceremony for the new Florida quarter, held at the KSC Visitor Complex. Emceed by Center Director Jim Kennedy, the event included comments by NASA Administrator Sean OKeefe and Deputy Secretary of the Treasury Samuel W. Bodman. The coin was also officially presented by U.S. Mint Director Henrietta Holsman Fore to Florida Gov. Jeb Bush. On the stage, a map of the United States, illustrating the state quarters issued to date, is framed between the orbiter mockup and SRB-external tank exhibit. The quarter celebrates Florida as the gateway to discovery -- a destination for explorers in the past, a launch site for space explorers of the future, and an inviting place for visitors today.

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, Fla. -- More than a dozen photographers line up to photograph the Genesis-Delta launch vehicle after rollback of the Mobile Service Tower (right) on Launch Complex 17-A, Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. The Genesis launch is scheduled for Aug. 1, 2001, from CCAFS.; however, a gray overcast sky forecasts a questionable launch effort due to weather conditions. Genesis will be on a robotic NASA space mission to collect just 10 to 20 micrograms -- or the weight of a few grains of salt -- of solar wind, invisible charged particles that flow outward from the Sun -- and return them to Earth. This treasured smidgen of the Sun will be preserved in a special laboratory for study by scientists over the next century in search of answers to fundamental questions about the exact composition of our star and the birth of our solar system

During a tour for cast and crew members of the upcoming motion picture "Hidden Figures," Kennedy Space Center Director Bob Cabana points to Launch Pads 39A and 39B from the roof of the Vehicle Assembly Building. In the foreground is Pharrell Williams, musician and producer of Hidden Figures." The movie is based on the book of the same title, by Margot Lee Shetterly. It chronicles the lives of Katherine Johnson, Dorothy Vaughan and Mary Jackson, three African-American women who worked for NASA as human "computers.” Their mathematical calculations were crucial to the success of Project Mercury missions including John Glenn’s orbital flight aboard Friendship 7 in 1962. The film is due in theaters in January 2017.

Aerials of NASA Langley Research Center west area

The preliminary design for the Space Experiment Research and Processing Laboratory (SERPL) at Kennedy Space Center is shown in this artist's rendition. The SERPL is a planned 100,000-square-foot laboratory that will provide expanded and upgraded facilities for hosting International Space Station experiment processing. In addition, it will provide better support for other biological and life sciences payload processing at KSC. It will serve as a magnet facility for a planned 400-acre Space Station Commerce Park

A new NASA Space Shuttle Main Engine (SSME) roars to the approval of more than 2,000 people who came to John C. Stennis Space Center in Hancock County, Miss., on July 25 for a flight-certification test of the SSME Block II configuration. The engine, a new and significantly upgraded shuttle engine, was delivered to NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida for use on future shuttle missions. Spectators were able to experience the 'shake, rattle and roar' of the engine, which ran for 520 seconds - the length of time it takes a shuttle to reach orbit.

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, Fla. -- More than a dozen photographers line up to photograph the Genesis-Delta launch vehicle after rollback of the Mobile Service Tower (right) on Launch Complex 17-A, Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. The Genesis launch is scheduled for Aug. 1, 2001, from CCAFS.; however, a gray overcast sky forecasts a questionable launch effort due to weather conditions. Genesis will be on a robotic NASA space mission to collect just 10 to 20 micrograms -- or the weight of a few grains of salt -- of solar wind, invisible charged particles that flow outward from the Sun -- and return them to Earth. This treasured smidgen of the Sun will be preserved in a special laboratory for study by scientists over the next century in search of answers to fundamental questions about the exact composition of our star and the birth of our solar system

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. - The Lockheed Martin Atlas V Centaur stage leaves the Astrotech Space Operations Center in Titusville, Fla., for the short journey to Launch Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. The Centaur is the second stage of the launch vehicle for the New Horizons spacecraft. New Horizons will make the first reconnaissance of Pluto and its moon, Charon - a "double planet" and the last planet in our solar system to be visited by spacecraft. As it approaches Pluto, the spacecraft will look for ultraviolet emission from Pluto's atmosphere and make the best global maps of Pluto and Charon in green, blue, red and a special wavelength that is sensitive to methane frost on the surface. It will also take spectral maps in the near infrared, telling the science team about Pluto's and Charon's surface compositions and locations and temperatures of these materials. When the spacecraft is closest to Pluto or its moon, it will take close-up pictures in both visible and

United States Astronaut Hall of Fame Cape Canaveral Florida USA

NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine, at the podium, speaks to members of the news media at the NASA News Center on May 23, 2019. At far right is Kennedy Space Center Director Bob Cabana. News media were at the center for an Apollo 11 Media Day. They toured several facilities, including the Vehicle Assembly and Launch Complex 39B for a look back at the Apollo missions and a look ahead to NASAs new Moon 2024 initiative, the Artemis 1 mission and the Gateway lunar outpost.

Family members of Dr. Michael Freilich, for whom the Sentinel-6 Michael Freilich satellite is named, gather at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California on Nov. 20, 2020, the day before the spacecrafts planned launch atop a Falcon 9 rocket. Freilich served as director of NASAs Earth Science Division in the Science Mission Directorate at the agencys Headquarters from 2006 until his retirement in 2019. A tireless advocate for advancing satellite measurements of the ocean, he was instrumental in advancing ocean altimetry and helped drive the evolution of NASA Earth science from a program that launched an Earth-observing space mission every few years to one that launches several missions each year. Freilich died Aug. 5, 2020, of pancreatic cancer. Sentinel-6 Michael Freilich launched Nov. 21, 2020, at 9:17 a.m. PST (12:17 p.m. EST). NASAs Launch Services Program at Kennedy Space Center was responsible for launch management.

At the Shuttle Landing Facility, workers observe the loading of the crated Stardust spacecraft onto a trailer for transporting to the Payload Hazardous Service Facility. Built by Lockheed Martin Astronautics near Denver, Colo., for the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) and NASA, the spacecraft Stardust will use a unique medium called aerogel to capture comet particles flying off the nucleus of comet Wild 2 in January 20004, plus collect interstellar dust for later analysis. Stardust will be launched aboard a Boeing Delta 7426 rocket from Complex 17, Cape Canaveral Air Station, targeted for Feb. 6, 1999. The collected samples will return to Earth in a re-entry capsule to be jettisoned from Stardust as it swings by in January 2006

USA, Arizona, Sign at Kitt Peak National Observatory

USA, Florida, Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Mercury 7 Memorial

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - Participants watch NASA's Lunabotics Mining Competition at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex in Florida. The competition challenges university students to build machines that can collect soil such as the material found on the moon. Working inside the Caterpillar LunArena, the robotic craft dig soil that simulates lunar material. The event is judged by a machine's abilities to collect the soil, its design and operation, size, dust tolerance and its level of autonomy.

Aerial View of Proposed RPSF Area, January 7, 1966

NASA's Infinity Science Center. Infinity contains exhibits on 50 years of space exploration and offers bus tours of the nearby Stennis Space Center, Infinity Science Center, Bay St. Louis, Mississippi, United States, North America

Signs on the side of the launch tower at Launch Complex 17, Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, show the nature of the impending launch. A worker on the side watches the umbilical connections to the Boeing Delta II rocket that is carrying the 2001 Mars Odyssey spacecraft. Liftoff is scheduled for 11:02 a.m. EDT from Launch Complex 17-A at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. After an approximate 7-month journey, Mars Odyssey will orbit the planet Mars. The spacecraft, built by Lockheed Martin Space Systems for the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, will map the Martian surface looking for geological features that could indicate the presence of water, now or in the past. Science gathered by three science instruments on board will be key to future missions to Mars, including orbital reconnaissance, lander and human missions

This animated gif shows tornado tracks in the U.S. from 1950-2013. graphics courtesy of NOAA's National Weather Service Storm Prediction Center... Photographs Relating to Disasters and Emergency Management Programs, Activities, and Officials

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