Space Shuttle Engine Maintenance

Images depicting technicians and equipment involved in the removal, inspection, and installation of space shuttle engines, showcasing industrial settings with machinery and workspace activity.

T&R Atlantis Final Engine Removal

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. - During a media tour of the Columbia Debris Hangar, photographers pause at the mockup of the leading edge of Columbias left wing. About 83,000 pieces of debris from Columbia were shipped to KSC from search and recovery efforts in East Texas. About 83,000 pieces of debris were shipped to KSC, which represents about 38 percent of the dry weight of Columbia, equaling almost 85,000 pounds. The debris is being packaged for storage in an area of the Vehicle Assembly Building.

NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine, center, is seen on a work platform between the four RS-25 engines of the first core stage of the agencys Space Launch System (SLS) rocket along with Lisa Bates, SLS Deputy Stages Manager at NASA, Mark Nappi, Boeing Green Run Test Manager, Richard Gilbrech, Director of NASA's Stennis Space Center, Julie Bassler, SLS Stages Manager at NASA, and NASA astronaut Raja Chari, during a tour of the B-2 Test Stand, Monday, Feb. 10, 2020, at NASAs Stennis Space Center near Bay St. Louis, Mississippi. Over the coming months, the first core stage of NASAs SLS rocket will be undergoing a series of integrated Green Run tests prior to its maiden flight.

Discovery/T&R FRCS Removal & Lift to Transporter

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

Switzerland, Geneva, Part of ATLAS Cavern in CERN. ATLAS Cavern, located 92 m. below ground, hosts the detector, with its muon wheel, 240 tones end-cap magnets and 830 tones barrel toroid magnets. CERN, the European Organization for Nuclear Research, is the biggest particle physics laboratory in the world.

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

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- In Orbiter Processing Facility-2 at NASAs Kennedy Space Center in Florida, technicians used a Hyster forklift to remove Engine #1, the final engine to be removed from space shuttle Atlantis. The forklift will be used to transport the engine to the Engine Shop for possible future use. Each of the three space shuttle main engines is 14 feet long and weighs 7,800 pounds. Removal of the space shuttle main engines is part of the Transition and Retirement work that is being performed in order to prepare Atlantis for eventual display at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex in Florida.

Interior View of Orbiter Processing Facility 3

Lockheed Martin Photography By Garry Tice1011 Lockheed Way, Palmdale, Ca. 93599Event: SEG 410 Main Wing, COBRA Drillng Machine, Drilling Lower Wing SkinsDate: 1/07/20Additional Info:

Artemis III Engine Section Moves to VAB. Technicians at NASAs Michoud Assembly Facility move the engine section of NASAs Space Launch System rocket for Artemis III to the VAB on November 17, 2022. This hardware makes up the lowest portion of the 212-foot-tall core stage; and when complete, it will house the four RS-25 engines as well as vital systems for mounting, controlling, and delivering fuel from the propellant tanks to the rockets engines. Together with its four RS-25 engines and its twin solid rocket boosters, it will produce 8.8 million pounds of thrust to send NASAs Orion spacecraft, astronauts, and supplies beyond Earths orbit to the Moon and, ultimately, Mars. Offering more payload mass, volume capability, and energy to speed missions through space, the SLS rocket, along with NASAs Gateway in lunar orbit, the Humane Landing System, and Orion spacecraft, is part of NASAs backbone for deep space exploration and the Artemis lunar program. No other rocket is capable of carrying

Interior View of Orbiter Processing Facility 3

England, West Midlands, Solihull. Land Rover production at their plant in Solihull.

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. - In the Orbiter Processing Facility bay 1 at NASAs Kennedy Space Center, a Hyster fork lift (left) holding the first Space Shuttle Main Engine (SSME) maneuvers into position number 1 (upper chamber) behind Atlantis for installation. Overall, an SSME weighs approximately 7,000 pounds. Three engines provide the thrust, along with the two Solid Rocket Boosters, for liftoff. After about 2 minutes, the two boosters are spent and are separated from the external tank. The SSMEs continue firing for about 8 minutes. They shut down just before the craft is inserted into orbit. The SSMEs are tested at Stennis Space Center in Mississippi. Atlantis is being processed for the second Return to Flight mission, STS-121, scheduled for launch in a window from July 12 through July 31.

STS-132 ATLANTIS ARM LIFT & INSTALL

. The engine that will power NASAs quiet supersonic X-59 in flight is installed, marking a major milestone in the experimental aircrafts journey toward first flight. The installation of the F414-GE-100 engine at Lockheed Martins Skunk Works facility brings the vehicle close to the completion of its assembly.

110219-N-7004H-032ATLANTIC OCEAN (Feb. 19, 2011) Aviation MachinistÕs Mate 1st Class Juan Jimenez, right, and Aviation MachinistÕs Mate Airman Lindsey K. Lagrone, both assigned to the aircraft intermediate maintenance department aboard the aircraft carrier USS George H.W. Bush (CVN 77), perform maintenance on an F/A-18E Super Hornet engine. George H.W. Bush is underway in the Atlantic Ocean conducting a joint task force exercise.

Discovery/T&R FRCS Removal & Lift to Transporter

Interior View of Orbiter Processing Facility 3

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - In Orbiter Processing Facility-1 at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, the tool stowage assembly is lifted by jib crane over a work platform. The tool box will be moved across the platform and installed into space shuttle Atlantis' payload bay. The assembly contains tools and hardware that will be needed on the extravehicular activities, or spacewalks, conducted during the STS-132 mission. On STS-132, the six-member crew will deliver an Integrated Cargo Carrier and a Russian-built Mini-Research Module to the International Space Station. STS-132 is the 34th mission to the station and the 132nd space shuttle mission. Launch is targeted for May 14.

Lockheed Martin Photography By Garry Tice1011 Lockheed Way, Palmdale, Ca. 93599Event: SEG 410 Main Wing, COBRA Drillng Machine, Drilling Lower Wing SkinsDate: 1/07/20Additional Info:

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. - In the Orbiter Processing Facility, a technician appears to ride the Space Shuttle Main Engine (SSME) as he maneuvers the SSME on the Hyster lift into position for installation on Discovery, the vehicle designated for the Return to Flight mission STS-114. Overall, an SSME weighs approximately 7,000 pounds. An SSME operates at greater temperature extremes than any mechanical system in common use today. The liquid hydrogen fuel is -423 degrees Fahrenheit, the second coldest liquid on Earth. When the hydrogen is burned with liquid oxygen, the temperature in the engine's combustion chamber reaches +6000 degrees Fahrenheit -- that's higher than the boiling point of Iron. The maximum equivalent horsepower developed by the three SSMEs is just over 37 million horsepower. The energy released by the three SSMEs is equivalent to the output of 23 Hoover Dams.

Interior View of Orbiter Processing Facility 3

Orion assembly line at the Operations and Checkout Building at Kennedy Space Center where Lockheed Martin technicians are working to assemble the Orion spacecraft for Artemis I and II on Nov. 15, 2018.

returning a boat mould for haul in a boat building factory

JSC2001-E-26680 --- One of a series of three photos of the next station module that will launch--the Russian Docking Compartment, named Pirs, the Russian word for pier. The module is planned for launch from Baikonur Sept. 14, and to dock with the station on Sept. 16. It will serve as a Russian airlock for the station and also will provide a docking port for Soyuz or Progress craft arriving at the station. This image shows the Pirs under construction at Energia in Moscow.

View of the synchrotron or circular particle accelerator of a hadrontherapy center for cancer treatment.

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. -- The P3 Integrated Truss Structure is lowered onto a workstand in the Space Station Processing Facility. The port-side P3 truss is scheduled to be added to the International Space Station on mission STS-115 in 2002 aboard Space Shuttle Atlantis. The P3 will be attached to the first port truss segment, P1, being installed in an earlier mission

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

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. - In the Orbiter Processing Facility, Atlantis is seen after its nose cap was removed for routine inspection. The nose cap is made of reinforced carbon-carbon (RCC), which has an operating range of minus 250° F to about 3,000° F.

The Artemis I Orion aft bulkhead is welded to the barrel of the Orion pressure vessel at the Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans, Louisiana on Oct. 12, 2015. Part of Batch image transfer from Flickr.

Aviation Machinist's Mate 3rd Class Revera Dario, from Los Angeles, assigned to the "Gray Wolves" of Electronic Attack Squadron (VAQ) 142, conducts routine maintenance on the engine of an E/A-18G Growler in USS Gerald R. Fords (CVN 78) hangar bay, April 12, 2022. Ford is underway in the Atlantic Ocean conducting carrier qualifications and strike group integration as part of the ships tailored basic phase prior to operational deployment.

Pegasus/Nustar, Arival for the Aft Skirt & Fins, Installation of the Aft Skirt to the Aft End of Stage 1

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - In the Orbiter Processing Facility bay 3, space shuttle Discovery's robotic arm is moved into place for installation in the payload bay. Scheduled to launch on the STS-119 mission, Discovery will carry the S6 truss segment to complete the 361-foot-long backbone of the International Space Station. The truss includes the fourth pair of solar array wings and electronics that convert sunlight to power for the orbiting laboratory. A launch date has not yet been determined.

An Orion cone panel for Artemis I is prepared for welding at the Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans, Louisiana on Oct. 9, 2015. Part of Batch image transfer from Flickr.

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

Orion EM2 PV1 Weld

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. - United Space Alliance employees Jeremy Schwarz (left) and Chris Keeling install new tiles on the heat shield of main engine 1 for the orbiter Discovery. A heat shield is a protective layer on a spacecraft designed to protect it from the high temperatures, usually those that result from aerobraking during reentry into the Earths atmosphere.

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. -- On a tour of the Orbiter Processing Facility, Florida Gov. Jeb Bush (back to camera in white shirt) learns about work being done on the orbiter Endeavour (background). Accompanying him is U.S. Mint Director Henrietta Holsman Fore (at right of Bush). The tour followed the launching ceremony at the KSC Visitor Complex for the new Florida quarter issued by the U.S. Mint. The ceremony was emceed by Center Director Jim Kennedy and included remarks by NASA Administrator Sean OKeefe, Bush, Fore and Deputy Secretary of the Treasury Samuel W. Bodman.

The fully assembled backbone for Artemis I Orion, shown here at NASA's Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans on Nov. 15, 2015, will be installed in the barrel section of the pressure vessel ahead of the closeout weld. Part of Batch image transfer from Flickr.

Lockheed Martin Photography By Garry Tice1011 Lockheed Way, Palmdale, Ca. 93599Event: SEG 410 Main Wing, COBRA Drillng Machine, Drilling Lower Wing SkinsDate: 1/07/20Additional Info:

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - Inside Orbiter Processing Facility-2 at NASAs Kennedy Space Center in Florida, United Space Alliance technicians monitor the progress of space shuttle Endeavours payload bay doors as they are closed for the final time.The work is part of Transition and Retirement of the remaining space shuttles, Endeavour and Atlantis. Endeavour is being prepared for public display at the California Science Center in Los Angeles. Its ferry flight to California is targeted for mid-September. Endeavour was the last space shuttle added to NASAs orbiter fleet. Over the course of its 19-year career, Endeavour spent 299 days in space during 25 missions.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - Inside Orbiter Processing Facility-2 at Kennedy Space Center in Florida, technicians detach the Orbiter Boom Sensor System, or OBSS, from the payload bay of space shuttle Endeavour. The OBSS will be transported to the Vehicle Assembly Building for refurbishment. After refurbishment, the boom will be reinstalled in Endeavour for use during the STS-134 mission, currently targeted for launch in July.

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

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. -- Technicians and workers observe preparations to join the Pressurized Mating Adapter (PMA)-2, seen here in its yellow workstand at right, to Node 1 (the International Space Stations [ISS structural building block) in KSCs Space Station Processing Facility. This PMA is a cone-shaped connector to Node 1, which will have two PMAs attached once PMA-2 is mated with the node. The node (surrounded here by scaffolding) and PMAs, which together will make up the first element of the ISS, are scheduled to be launched aboard the Space Shuttle Endeavour on STS-88

Inside the Vehicle Assembly Building at NASAs Kennedy Space Center in Florida, a construction worker assist with the installation of the first half of the C-level work platforms, C south, for NASAs Space Launch System (SLS) rocket. The large bolts that hold the platform in place on the south wall are being secured. The C platforms are the eighth of 10 levels of work platforms that will surround and provide access to the SLS rocket and Orion spacecraft for Exploration Mission 1. The Ground Systems Development and Operations Program is overseeing upgrades and modifications to VAB High Bay 3, including installation of the new work platforms, to prepare for NASAs Journey to Mars.

Interior View of Orbiter Processing Facility 3

Manufactured of mahindra cars Nasik Maharashtra India 9-January-2009 Copyright: xManoejxPaateel/DinodiaxPhotox

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - In Orbiter Processing Facility-1 at NASAs Kennedy Space Center in Florida, operations to open the payload bay doors of space shuttle Atlantis are well under way.The work is part of the Space Shuttle Programs transition and retirement processing of shuttle Atlantis. A groundbreaking was held Jan. 18 for Atlantis' future home -- a 65,000-square-foot exhibit hall in Shuttle Plaza at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex.

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. - Members of the Columbia Reconstruction Project Team place debris on the mounting fixture for RCC pieces of the leading edge of Columbia's left wing. The final shipment of debris arrived on this date - recovery efforts have been concluded in East Texas. Prior to this final shipment, the total number of items at KSC is 82,567, weighing 84,800 pounds or 38 percent of the total dry weight of Columbia. Of those items, 78,760 have been identified, with 753 placed on the left wing grid in the RLV Hangar.

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. -- The P3 Integrated Truss Structure is lowered onto a workstand in the Space Station Processing Facility. The port-side P3 truss is scheduled to be added to the International Space Station on mission STS-115 in 2002 aboard Space Shuttle Atlantis. The P3 will be attached to the first port truss segment, P1, being installed in an earlier mission

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

The Artemis I Orion aft bulkhead is welded to the barrel of the Orion pressure vessel at the Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans, Louisiana on Oct. 12, 2015. Part of Batch image transfer from Flickr.

Viper Egress Test. Viper Egress Test

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

In the Space Station Processing Facility, an overhead crane lowers the Integrated Truss Structure Z1 onto a workstand to check its weight and balance. The Z1 truss is the first of 10 trusses that will become the backbone of the International Space Station, eventually stretching the length of a football field. Along with its companion payload, the third Pressurized Mating Adapter, the Z1 is scheduled to be launched aboard Space Shuttle Discovery Oct. 5 at 9:38 p.m. EDT. The launch will be the 100th in the Shuttle program

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- In the Vehicle Assembly Building at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, workers disconnect the transporter from shuttle Atlantis. An overhead crane then will lift the spacecraft into a high bay where it will be attached to its external fuel tank and solid rocket boosters already on the mobile launcher platform.Commander Chris Ferguson, Pilot Doug Hurley and Mission Specialists Sandra Magnus and Rex Walheim are expected to launch in mid-July, taking with them the Raffaello multi-purpose 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 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 Shuttle Pro

Engine Test Fit Install. Lockheed Martin Photography By Garry Tice1011 Lockheed Way, Palmdale, Ca. 93599Event: Engine Test Fit InstallDate: 10/28/2022Additional Info:

Interior View of Orbiter Processing Facility 3

Space Launch System Corestage-2 Forward Skirt is prepped to recieve spray-on foam insulation(SOFI) at NASA's Michoud Assembly Facility.

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. -- A new block 2 engine, situated on a giant forklift, is moved toward the aft of Atlantis where it will be installed. The work is being done in the Orbiter Processing Facility bay 3. The engine will have its first flight on mission STS-104, scheduled for launch June 14. The Block II Main Engine configuration is manufactured by Boeing Rocketdyne in Canoga Park, Calif., and includes a new Pratt & Whitney high-pressure fuel turbo pump. Engine improvements are managed by NASAs Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala. Each Space Shuttle Main Engine is 14 feet (4.3 meters) long, weighs about 7,000 pounds (3,175 kilograms), and is 7.5 feet (2.3 meters) in diameter at the end of the nozzle

Technicians begin welding the Exploration Flight Test-1 (EFT-1) Orion pressure vessel at NASAs Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans on Sept. 9, 2011. Orions pressure vessel is underlying frame of the crew module that will provide an air-tight, habitable space for astronauts on future missions to the Moon. Part of Batch image transfer from Flickr.

JAMES NEWTON, LEFT, PHILLIP THOMPSON, CENTER, AND DAVID LAWRENCE, RIGHT PREPARE COMPOSITE TOOL FOR CURE IN 18' X 20' AUTOCLAVE IN BUILDING 4707

MTU Aero Engines GmbH: production of Eurofighter engines (EJ200), MUNICH, GERMANY.

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. - Workers on ladders (left and right) check installation of the body flap onto the orbiter Discovery. The body flap is an aluminum structure consisting of ribs, spars, skin panels and a trailing edge assembly. It thermally shields the three main engines during entry and provides pitch control trim during landing approach. Discovery is being processed for launch on the first Return to Flight mission, STS-114.

Workers with safety uniform. Workers with safety uniform at industrial factory

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - A technician watches the main landing gear on space shuttle Atlantis during a landing gear functional test in Orbiter Processing Facility-2, where the shuttle is undergoing transition and retirement processing.

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. - In the Orbiter Processing Facility, the aft of Discovery is shown after the third Space Shuttle Main Engine (SSME) was installed. Discovery is designated as the Return to Flight vehicle for mission STS-114. Recent improvements to the SSME include the introduction of redesigned high-pressure turbopumps into the SSME fleet. The new pumps are designed and built by Pratt and Whitney at West Palm Beach, Fla. SSMEs and the Pratt and Whitney turbopumps are tested at Stennis Space Center in Mississippi. Engines and engine components are delivered to Kennedy Space Center to be prepared for flight.

Elbe Aircraft Works

Lockheed Martin Photography By Garry Tice1011 Lockheed Way, Palmdale, Ca. 93599Event: NASA Payload Pallet XVS Mock-UpDate: 7/01/2020Additional Info:

First weld of Orion Exploration Mission 1 crew module

Lockheed Martin Photography By Garry Tice1011 Lockheed Way, Palmdale, Ca. 93599Event: SEG 410 Main Wing, COBRA Drillng Machine, Drilling Lower Wing SkinsDate: 12/23/19Additional Info:

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - In Orbiter Processing Facility-3 at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, the orbiter boom sensor system, or OBSS, removed from space shuttle Discovery's payload bay, is lowered toward a transporter. The workers are dressed in clean-room attire, known as 'bunny suits.' The 50-foot-long OBSS attaches to the end of the shuttles robotic arm and supports the cameras and laser systems used to inspect the shuttles thermal protection system while in space. The OBSS' inspection boom assembly, or IBA, is removed from the arm every other processing flow for a detailed inspection. After five consecutive flights, all IBA internal components are submitted to a thorough electrical checkout in Kennedy's Remote Manipulator System Lab. Discovery next will deliver the first Permanent Multi-purpose Module, or PMM; the Express Logistics Carrier 4; and critical spare parts to the International Space Station on the STS-133 mission. Launch is targeted for Sept. 16.

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

MAF Orion MGMT Visit

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. - International Space Station elements being processed for launch on upcoming Space Shuttle flights line the walls of the high bay in the Space Station Processing Facility. NASA's Node 2, built by the European Space Agency (ESA) in Italy, arrived at KSC on June 1. It will be the next pressurized module installed on the Station. The pressurized module of the Japanese Experiment Module (JEM), named "Kibo" (Hope), arrived at KSC on June 4. It is Japan's primary contribution to the Station.

First weld of Orion Exploration Mission 1 crew module

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - Inside the Engine Shop at NASAs Kennedy Space Center in Florida, a technician performs a boroscope test on a high pressure oxidizer pump on one of the Pratt Whitney Rocketdyne space shuttle main engines (SSMEs) positioned in a test cell. For the first time, all 15 main engines are in the Engine Shop at the same time. They are being prepared for shipment to NASA's Stennis Space Center in Mississippi for storage following the completion of the Space Shuttle Program. The engines are being repurposed for use on NASAs Space Launch System heavy lift rocket.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- On Launch Pad 39A at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, workers begin to remove the vent line attached to the ground umbilical carrier plate (GUCP) on the bright-orange external fuel tank. Next, the GUCP's 7-inch quick disconnect will be removed. A hydrogen gas leak at that location during tanking for space shuttle Discovery's STS-133 mission to the International Space Station caused the launch attempt to be scrubbed Nov. 5. The GUCP will be examined to determine the cause of the hydrogen leak and then repaired. The GUCP is the overboard vent to the pad and the flame stack where the vented hydrogen is burned off. Discovery's next launch attempt is no earlier than Nov. 30 at 4:02 a.m. EST.

Jet engine being set up for testing

The Delta IV Heavy launch vehicle used to launch Orion on Exploration Flight Test-1 (EFT-1) is assembled at the United Launch Alliance facility in Decatur, AL on Nov. 1, 2013. Part of Batch image transfer from Flickr.

Technicians prepare to install one of the fins on the Orbital ATK Pegasus XL rocket inside Building 1555 at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. The fins will provide aerodynamic stability during flight. The rocket is being prepared at Vandenberg, and then will be transported to NASAs Kennedy Space Center in Florida, attached to the Orbital ATK L-1011 carrier aircraft with NASAs Cyclone Global Navigation Satellite System (CYGNSS) in its payload fairing. CYGNSS will launch on the Pegasus XL rocket from the Skid Strip at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. CYGNSS will make frequent and accurate measurements of ocean surface winds throughout the life cycle of tropical storms and hurricanes. The data that CYGNSS provides will enable scientists to probe key air-sea interaction processes that take place near the core of storms, which are rapidly changing and play a critical role in the beginning and intensification of hurricanes.

NASA joined the Space Launch System rockets core stage forward assembly with the 130-foot liquid hydrogen tank for the Artemis II mission on March 18. This completes assembly of four of the five large structures that make up the core stage that will help send the first astronauts to lunar orbit on Artemis II.The 66-foot forward assembly consists of the forward skirt, liquid oxygen tank and the intertank, which were mated earlier. Engineers inserted 360 bolts to connect the forward assembly to the liquid hydrogen tank to make up the bulk of the stage. Only the engine section, which is currently being outfitted and includes the main propulsion systems that connect to the four RS-25 engines, remains to be added to form the final core stage.All parts of the core stage are manufactured by NASA and Boeing, the core stage lead contractor at the agencys Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans. Currently, the team is building core stages for three Artemis missions. The first core stage is

Interior view, Neckarwestheim nuclear power station, Neckarwestheim, Baden-Wuerttemberg, Germany, Europe

. The engine that will power NASAs quiet supersonic X-59 in flight is installed, marking a major milestone in the experimental aircrafts journey toward first flight. The installation of the F414-GE-100 engine at Lockheed Martins Skunk Works facility brings the vehicle close to the completion of its assembly.

Shown is the installation of O-rings in the aft nozzle section in support of the Ares/CLV First Stage at ATK in Utah. This image is extracted from a high definition video file and is the highest resolution available

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. - An overhead crane lowers the multi-purpose logistics module Raffaello into a payload canister in the Space Station Processing Facility at NASA's Kennedy Space Center. The module is being moved to the Operations and Checkout Building to make room in the SSPF for the arrival of elements from other ISS partners for future flights .

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - In the Orbiter Processing Facility bay 3, space shuttle Discovery's robotic arm (top of photo) is being moved for installation in the shuttle's payload bay. Scheduled to launch on the STS-119 mission, Discovery will carry the S6 truss segment to complete the 361-foot-long backbone of the International Space Station. The truss includes the fourth pair of solar array wings and electronics that convert sunlight to power for the orbiting laboratory. A launch date has not yet been determined.

Electronics recycler in Gardner, Massachusetts

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. - Space Shuttle main engines #1 and #3 being installed in Orbiter Columbia.

GPM is a joint mission between NASA and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA). The Core Observatory will link data from a constellation of current and planned satellites to produce next-generation global measurements of rainfall and snowfall from space.On Feb. 11, the Core Observatory was moved into the spacecraft fairing assembly building and into the Encapsulation Hall. Final inspections and preparations were completed for the installation into the fairing, which began on Feb 13. The fairing is the part of the rocket that will contain the spacecraft at the top of the H-IIA rocket.The encapsulation process for the H-IIA is very different than for most U.S. rockets. For U.S. rockets, the fairing is usually in two pieces that close around the payload like a clamshell. To install the GPM Core Observatory into the fairing of the H-IIA rocket, first the Core Observatory and the Payload Attach Fitting (PAF) are set up in scaffolding in the Encapsulation Hall. Then, the fairing i

machinist at work

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

Interior View of Orbiter Processing Facility 3

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - At NASAs Kennedy Space Center in Florida, three Pratt Whitney Rocketdyne space shuttle main engines (SSMEs) sit on stands inside the Engine Shop, with six more engines lined up behind them. For the first time, all 15 main engines are in the Engine Shop at the same time. They are being prepared for shipment to NASA's Stennis Space Center in Mississippi for storage following the completion of the Space Shuttle Program. The engines are being repurposed for use on NASAs Space Launch System heavy lift rocket.

EM-2 Pressure Vessel in Bird Cage in the O&C

Elbe Aircraft Works

Surrounded by work platforms, NASA's first full-scale Orion abort flight test (AFT) crew module (center) is undergoing preparations at the NASA Dryden Flight Research Center in California for the first flight test of Orion's launch abort system. To the left is a space shuttle orbiter purge vehicle sharing the hangar.

Engineers Paul Lundstrom and Larry Reardon monitor forces applied by structural loads equipment during tests on a Navy E-2C in NASA Dryden's flight loads lab.

220411-N-XK462-1009 NAVAL BASE KITSAP-Bremerton, Wash., (Apr. 11, 2022) Sailors use a cherry picker to paint a hangar bay door in the hangar bay of the aircraft carrier USS Nimitz (CVN 68). Nimitz is in port preparing for future operations.

The X-59, NASAs quiet supersonic technology experimental aircraft, is suspended in the air at Lockheed Martins Skunk Works facility in Palmdale, California, following several months of critical ground testing in Ft. Worth, Texas

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