Space Shuttle Engineering

Images of technicians working on space shuttle assembly and maintenance, showcasing intricate machinery in aerospace environments at NASA facilities.

Caucasian man working in airplane hangar

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - Inside Orbiter Processing Facility-2 at NASAs Kennedy Space Center in Florida, a United Space Alliance technician on a Hyster forklift guides replica shuttle main engine 2, or RSME 2, closer for installation on space shuttle Endeavour. The orbiter is surrounded by work platforms allowing access to all areas of the spacecraft.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.

STS-133 DISCOVERY ENGINE-1 TURBO PUMP REMOVAL

Caucasian man working in airplane hangar

License construction of the General Dynamics F-16 at the Breeder Factories Schiphol.

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. -- In Orbiter Processing Facility bay 3 at NASA's Kennedy Space Center, technicians on a Hyster forklift maneuver space shuttle main engine no. 1 into place on Endeavour. Each space shuttle main engine is 14 feet long, weighs about 6,700 pounds, and is 7.5 feet in diameter at the end of the nozzle. The orbiter is targeted for launch on Feb. 14 for mission STS-123 to the International Space Station.

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. - In the Space Shuttle Main Engine (SSME) Processing Facility, Boeing-Rocketdyne quality inspector Nick Grimm (center) monitors the work of technicians on his team as they lower SSME 2058, the first SSME fully assembled at KSC, onto an engine stand. The engine is being placed into a horizontal position in preparation for shipment to NASAs Stennis Space Center in Mississippi to undergo a hot fire acceptance test. It is the first of five engines to be fully assembled on site to reach the desired number of 15 engines ready for launch at any given time in the Space Shuttle program. A Space Shuttle has three reusable main engines. Each is 14 feet long, weighs about 7,800 pounds, is seven-and-a-half feet in diameter at the end of its nozzle, and generates almost 400,000 pounds of thrust. Historically, SSMEs were assembled in Canoga Park, Calif., with post-flight inspections performed at KSC. Both functions were consolidated in February 2002. The Rocketdyne Propul

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. - In NASA Kennedy Space Centers Orbiter Processing Facility, bay 3, workers clean the inside of the bell on a space shuttle main engine removed from the orbiter Discovery. The orbiter will be processed for the second Return to Flight mission, STS-121.

Staff Sgt. Michael Griggs checks his work on a strut safety wire in an A-10C Thunderbolt II at Moody Air Force Base, Ga., Aug.12, 2014. Griggs is an aerospace propulsion craftsman with the 23rd Component Maintenance Squadron. Aircraft are sent to the phase hangar every 500 and 1,000 hours for in-depth inspections.

VANDENBERG AFB, Calif. - A technician moves the second stage of an Orbital Sciences Pegasus rocket into the first stage before a separation test is conducted. The Pegasus is being processed to launch NASA's Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph mission, known as IRIS.

Jacobs TOSC Launch Vehicle Technical Operations technicians begin offloading of the 212-foot-long Space Launch System (SLS) rocket core stage pathfinder from NASA's Pegasus Barge at Kennedy Space Centers Launch Complex 39 turn basin wharf on Oct. 1, 2019. From left, are James Erdman, observer, and Katherine River, operator. The Pegasus Barge made its first delivery to Kennedy in support of the agency's Artemis missions. The upgraded 310-foot-long barge arrived Sept. 27, 2019, ferrying the SLS core stage pathfinder, a full-scale mock-up of the rocket's core stage. It will be used by Exploration Ground Systems and its contractor, Jacobs, to practice offloading, moving and stacking maneuvers, using 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.

John C. Stennis Space Center employees remove space shuttle main engine run ducts from the A-2 Test Stand engine deck Oct. 25, 2010. Testing of space shuttle main engines concluded in July 2009. Stennis is preparing the A-2 Test Stand for testing the next-generation J-2X rocket engine being developed. Testing of the new engine is scheduled to begin in 2011.

Depot aircraft equipment (DVM). Maintenance and overhaul to Bölkow BO-105C helicopters.

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. - In the Orbiter Processing Facility at NASAs Kennedy Space Center, United Space Alliance technicians Terry Williams (left) and Ron Delaney examine Space Shuttle Atlantis before retracting the nose landing gear. Compression measurements will be taken of the newly installed nose landing gear thermal barrier seal with the gear in position in its wheel well and the landing gear doors closed. Atlantis is being processed for launch on the second Return to Flight mission, STS-121, which is scheduled to fly in July.

VANDENBERG AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. - At Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, a transporter is moved underneath the Orbital Sciences Pegasus XL inside Orbitals hanger. The rocket is mated to NASAs encapsulated Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array, or NuSTAR, out of sight inside the hangar. The transporter will move them to the runway ramp where they will be attached to the underside of Orbitals L-1011 carrier aircraft.The aircraft will fly the pair from Vandenberg to the Ronald Reagan Ballistic Missile Defense Test Site on the Pacific Oceans Kwajalein Atoll for launch. A revised launch date is expected to be set at the Flight Readiness Review. The high-energy X-ray telescope will conduct a census of black holes, map radioactive material in young supernovae remnants, and study the origins of cosmic rays and the extreme physics around collapsed stars.

Worker examining a large industrial sized pully and motor

England, Shropshire, Royal Airforce Cosford Museum, Volunteer Maintenence Personnel at Work

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. - Workers on Launch Complex 17-B, Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, start dismantling the Space Infrared Telescope Facility (SIRTF) observatory from atop the Delta II rocket. It will be taken back to NASA Spacecraft Hangar AE. SIRTF will remain in the clean room at Hangar AE until it returns to the pad in early August.

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A fuel pumping station is mounted on a pallet in the cargo bay of a C-130 Hercules aircraft during Refueling and Armament Team operations. Base: Nellis Air Force Base State: Nevada (NV) Country: United States Of America (USA)

STS-133 ENDEAVOUR TIRES AND BRAKES REMOVAL

Airmen with the 166th Airlift Wing, 166th Maintenence Squadron, jet propulsion section, tighten a mounting bolt on a new engine at the Delaware Air National Guard Base, New Castle, Del, May 14, 2022. The original engine was removed from the aircraft as part of routine maintenance operations. Four bolts connect the engine to the wing, ensuring that the torque is correct is a critical part of the installation process.

110407-N-DM338-101PACIFIC OCEAN (April 7, 2011) Aviation MachinistÕs Mate 3rd Class Luis Perez, from West Palm Beach, Fla., hoists an engine from an F/A-18 Hornet in the jet shop aboard the aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan (CVN 76). Ronald Reagan is operating in the Pacific Ocean.

040325-F-4563N-001. Base: Rickenbacker Ang Base State: Ohio (OH) Country: United States Of America (USA)

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- Preparations are underway to install new bearings on crawler-transporter 2 in the Vehicle Assembly Building High Bay 2 at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida.Modifications underway on the crawler are designed to ensure its ability to transport launch vehicles currently under development, such as the agencys Space Launch System, to the launch pad. Present modifications represent a redesign and upgrade to the roller bearings and assemblies originally installed on the crawler. The Ground Systems Development and Operations Program office at Kennedy is overseeing the upgrades. For more than 45 years the crawler-transporters were used to transport the mobile launcher platform carrying the Apollo-Saturn V rockets and space shuttles to Launch Pads 39A and 39B.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- On Launch Pad 39A at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, technicians reattach the vent line to the ground umbilical carrier plate (GUCP) on space shuttle Discovery's external fuel tank. A hydrogen gas leak at that location during tanking for Discovery's STS-133 mission to the International Space Station caused the launch attempt to be scrubbed Nov. 5. The GUCP is the overboard vent to the pad and the flame stack where the excess hydrogen is burned off. Discovery's next launch attempt is no earlier than Nov. 30 at 4:02 a.m. EST.

A technician with Orbital ATK, prime contractor for the Space Launch System (SLS) Booster, preps a section of the right hand aft skirt for primer and paint in a support building at the Hangar AF facility at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. The space shuttle-era aft skirt will be used on the right hand booster of NASA's SLS rocket for Exploration Mission 1 (EM-1). NASA is preparing for EM-1, deep space missions, and the Journey to Mars.

AN employee of Grumman Riverhead Plant, Grumman Aerospace Corporation, rewires the tail section of an F-111 aircraft. The F-111 is being converted into an EF-111A model aircraft. Base: Long Island State: New York (NY) Country: United States Of America (USA)

Coast Guard Structures - Air Stations - Operations - 26-HK-96-16. 050904-C-3721C-155. Hurricane Katrina

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. -- In the Orbiter Processing Facility bay 2, technicians work around the attach point for the external tank near Endeavour's landing gear. The orbiter is scheduled to fly on mission STS-118 to the International Space Station in the summer of 2007.

At Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, technicians inspect a solid rocket motor at Space Launch Complex 2 as it is attached to a United Launch Alliance Delta II rocket. Preparations are continuing for launch of the Joint Polar Satellite System (JPSS-1) spacecraft on March 27, 2017. JPSS-1 is part of the next-generation environmental satellite system, a collaborative program between the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and NASA.

VANDENBERG AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. -- At Vandenberg AFB, workers stabilize the third stage of the Taurus rocket on the assembly integration trailer. The segment will be moved onto the stationary rails in Building 1555's west bay. The Taurus will launch the Orbiting Carbon Observatory, or OCO, in 2009. The OCO is a new Earth-orbiting mission sponsored by NASA's Earth System Science Pathfinder Program.

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. -- In NASA Kennedy Space Centers Orbiter Processing Facility Bay 1, technicians check details for the installation of the forward reaction control system on Atlantis (behind them). The control system fits just behind the nose cone and provides the thrust for attitude (rotational) maneuvers (pitch, yaw and roll) and for small velocity changes along the orbiter axis (translation maneuvers). Processing of Atlantis is under way for mission STS-115, the 19th flight to the International Space Station.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - In Orbiter Processing Facility-1 at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, shuttle Atlantis' landing gear is being pressure tested for weight-bearing loads in preparation of it move, or "rollover," to the Vehicle Assembly Building where it will be joined with the external fuel tank and solid rocket boosters on the mobile launcher platform. Atlantis is being prepared for the STS-135 mission, which will deliver the Raffaello multipurpose logistics module packed with supplies, logistics and spare parts to the International Space Station. STS-135 is targeted to launch June 28, and will be the last spaceflight for the Space Shuttle Program.

Mechanic in hangar repairing light aircraft

The Oklahoma City Air Logistics Complex at Tinker Air Force Base, Oklahoma,is the largest depot repair complex in the Air Force. The Complex's depotArtisans perform award-winning program depot maintenance and modificationson B-1 Lancer aircraft, supporting the sustainment of combat-readyairpower. (U.S. Air Force photo/Gina Anderson)

Caucasian man working in airplane hangar

STS-133 DISCOBVERY ENGINE-3 REMOVAL IN OPF-3 AND XFERRED TO ENGINE SHOP

220726-N-CH260-1008 PACIFIC OCEAN (July 26, 2022) Aviation Machinists Mate Airman Jonah Brooks, from Hattiesburg, Miss., installs an accessory gear box on a jet engine in the jet shop of the Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN 72). The Abraham Lincoln Carrier Strike Group is underway conducting routine operations in the U.S. 3rd Fleet.

View of the Horizontal Processing Area, SSMEPF, August 17, 1998

Engineers at the Baikonur Cosmodrome prepare to mate the Soyuz TMA-4 capsule with its booster rocket in preparation for a launch on April 19 of the Expedition 9 crew and a European astronaut to the International Space Station, Friday, April 16, 2004 in Baikonur, Kazakhstan.

Industrial worker inspecting repairing large pully and motor

The tail and rudder of a C-130H Hercules transport plane lies on the hangar floor while the tail section is being removed April 25, 2022 at Niagara Falls Air Reserve Station, New York. Other main parts such as the tail and wings will be removed in order, so the plane may be transported to its static display location on base.

A new Block 2A engine awaits processing in the low bay of the Space Shuttle Main Engine Processing Facility (SSMEPF). Officially opened on July 6, the new facility replaces the Shuttle Main Engine Shop. The SSMEPF is an addition to the existing Orbiter Processing Facility Bay 3. The engine is scheduled to fly on the Space Shuttle Endeavour during the STS-88 mission in December 1998

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VANDENBERG AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. -- At Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, the third stage of the Pegasus XL rocket that will launch the Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array (NuSTAR) to orbit is offloaded for processing in Building 1555. After the rocket and spacecraft are processed at Vandenberg, they will be shipped to the Ronald Reagan Ballistic Missile Defense Test Site located at the Pacific Oceans Kwajalein Atoll for launch.The high-energy X-ray telescope will conduct a census for black holes, map radioactive material in young supernovae remnants, and study the origins of cosmic rays and the extreme physics around collapsed stars.

Airmen of the 18th Component Maintenance Squadron Propulsion Flight perform their duties, Oct. 14. Airmen of the propulsion flight perform tasks that enable Kadena Air Base F-15's to fly for three years before needing an engine overhaul. More than 200 engines are maintained by this unit, providing support for F-15's as well as A-10's from Osan Air Base, Korea.

A member of the 43rd Bombardment Wing Corrosion Control Branch works on an aircraft component. Base: Andersen Air Base State: Guam (GU) Country: United States Of America (USA)

Caucasian man working in airplane hangar

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - In the Vehicle Assembly Building at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, an upper rail removed from high bay 3 is lowered onto the floor. The removal is part of the modifications for the Constellation Program's Ares vehicles. The Ares I and Ares V rockets will be 325 feet and 360 feet tall, respectively, considerably taller than the space shuttle atop its mobile launcher platform.

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230315_Engine Open Nozzle Fit Check and General Work. Lockheed Martin Photography By Garry Tice1011 Lockheed Way, Palmdale, Ca. 93599Event: 230315_Engine Open Nozzle Fit Check and General WorkDate: 3/15/23Additional Info:

Photograph taken within the assembly plant at Boeing in Wichita. A Trent 800 development engine is mounted to its Boeing 777 strut before being flight cycle and endurance testing at Rolls-Royce. Dated 20th Century

U.S. Coast Guard Petty Officer 3rd Class Andrew Shumake, an aviation maintenance technician assigned to Air Station Savannah, Georgia, conducts maintenance on an MH-65D dolphin helicopter Nov. 8, 2022. Air Station Savannah is responsible for over 450,000 square miles of water from the border between North and South Carolina south to Melbourne, Florida and out to sea approximately 100 nautical miles.

Photographs from 100m high Wind Turbines in Germany.

An aviation engineman works on an F-14 engine in the aircraft engine repair shop on board the aircraft carrier USS Saratoga (CV-60) during a 1992 Mediterranean deployment. Country: Mediterranean Sea (MED)

Airman 1st Class Jeffery Eason, 18th Component Maintenance Squadron Propulsion Flight, re-assembles a jet-fuel starter for an F-15 engine, Oct. 15. Airmen of the propulsion flight perform tasks that enable Kadena Air Base F-15's to fly for three years before needing an engine overhaul. More than 200 engines are maintained by this unit, providing support for F-15's as well as A-10's from Osan Air Base, Korea.

France, Saint Aignan Grandlieu, Nantes, people working in the Factory Daher Socata, aircraft structures

Members of the 147th Attack Wing test a vertical pallet stacking system at Ellington Field JRB, Houston, Texas January 5, 2022. The Wing is partnering with Air Force Research Laboratories, USTRANSOM and the University of Ohio at Dayton to test the innovative technology that allows for cargo pallets to be stacked on top of each other, enabling cargo aircraft to carry more.

The Oklahoma City Air Logistics Complex at Tinker Air Force Base, Oklahoma,is the largest depot repair complex in the Air Force. The Complex's depotArtisans perform award-winning program depot maintenance and modificationson B-1 Lancer aircraft, supporting the sustainment of combat-readyairpower. (U.S. Air Force photo/Gina Anderson)

Workers prepare to raise the Soyuz rocket 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.

Airman 1st Class Jordan Newberry, 4th Component Maintenance Squadron aerospace propulsion apprentice, maintains the engine of an F-15E Strike Eagle at Seymour Johnson Air Force Base, North Carolina, April 7, 2022. Aerospace propulsion Airmen diagnose engine problems within the fuel, oil, electrical and engine airflow systems to ensure all components of the engine are in operational conditions.

. NASA Armstrongs ER-2 aircraft is uploaded with instruments for its ALOFT mission. The ER-2 will fly at high altitudes above the Floridian coastline to collect data about the energetic characteristics and behavior of lightning and thunderclouds. Scientists from the University of Bergen, Norway will interpret that data from the ground and collaborate with NASA pilots to safely collect the most accurate data for this project about the power of lightning.

U. S. Navy personnel at the Deep Submergence Unit stabilize the deep submergence vehicle Turtle (DSV-3) with cables as it is readied for transport to a launch site. Base: San Diego State: California(CA) Country: United States Of America (USA)

Unwrapping of Orion STA

man spray painting hood of ship grey in dock

Elements for the Exploration Flight Test-1 (EFT-1) Orion pressure vessel are prepared for welding at NASAs Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans on Sept. 7, 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.

Technicians work on the second production model B-1B aircraft in a hangar at the Rockwell International Corp. Base: Palmdale State: California (CA) Country: United States Of America (USA)

Members of the 23rd Component Maintenance Squadron Propulsion Flight perform maintenance on a TF-34 engine July 27, 2015, at Moody Air Force Base, Ga. The 23rd CMS supplies the 74th and 75th Fighter Squadrons with TF-34s in support of Moody AFBs A-10C Thunderbolt IIs.

Man looking at aircraft engine

NASA engineers install test hardware for the agency's new heavy lift rocket, the Space Launch System, into a newly constructed 50-foot structural test stand at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center. In the stand, hydraulic cylinders will be electronically controlled to push, pull, twist and bend the test article with millions of pounds of force. Engineers will record and analyze over 3,000 channels of data for each test case to verify the capabilities of the engine section and validate that the design and analysis models accurately predict the amount of loads the core stage can withstand during launch and ascent. The engine section, recently delivered via NASA's barge Pegasus from NASA's Michoud Assembly Facility, is the first of four core stage structural test articles scheduled to be delivered to Marshall for testing. The engine section, located at the bottom of SLS's massive core stage, will house the rocket's four RS-25 engines and be an attachment point for the two solid rocket boos

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - Inside the Vehicle Assembly Building at NASAs Kennedy Space Center in Florida, technicians prepare to install new roller shaft bearings in crawler-transporter 2, or CT-2.Work continues in high bay 2 to upgrade CT-2. The modifications are designed to ensure CT-2s ability to transport launch vehicles currently in development, such as the agencys Space Launch System, to the launch pad. The Ground Systems Development and Operations Program office at Kennedy is overseeing the upgrades. For more than 45 years the crawler-transporters were used to transport the mobile launcher platform and the Apollo-Saturn V rockets and, later, space shuttles to Launch Pads 39A and B.

MOJAVE DESERT, Calif. - In the Mojave Desert in California, students and engineers load the Garvey Spacecraft Corporation's Prospector P-18D rocket onto a truck for transportation to the launch site. The rocket is scheduled for launch June 15 with the RUBICS-1 payload on a high-altitude, suborbital flight. The rocket will carry four satellites made from four-inch cube sections.Collectively known as CubeSats, the satellites will record shock, vibrations and heat inside the rocket. They will not be released during the test flight, but the results will be used to prove or strengthen their designs before they are carried into orbit in 2014 on a much larger rocket. A new, lightweight carrier is also being tested for use on future missions to deploy the small spacecraft. The flight also is being watched closely as a model for trying out new or off-the-shelf technologies quickly before putting them in the pipeline for use on NASA's largest launchers. Built by several different organizatio

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- In the Vehicle Assembly Building at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, workers attach an overhead crane to shuttle Endeavour. The crane will lift the spacecraft into a high bay where it will be attached to the waiting external fuel tank and solid rocket boosters.Endeavour and its STS-134 crew will deliver the Express Logistics Carrier-3, Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer, a high-pressure gas tank, additional spare parts for Dextre and micrometeoroid debris shields to the International Space Station. Endeavour's final launch is targeted for April 19 at 7:48 p.m. EDT.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - In the Assembly and Refurbishment Facility, or ARF, at NASA's Kennedy Space Center, an overhead crane lowers the frustum for the Ares I-X test rocket onto supports on the floor. The frustum is the last manufactured section of the Ares I-X. Resembling a giant funnel, the frustum's function is to transition the primary flight loads from the rocket's upper stage to the first stage. The frustum is located between the forward skirt extension and the upper stage of the Ares I-X. The frustum will be integrated with the forward skirt and forward skirt extension, which already are in the ARF. That will complete the forward assembly. The assembly then will be moved to the Vehicle Assembly Building for stacking operations, which are scheduled to begin in April.

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, Fla. - A transporter (right) is moved into place to remove a S0 (S Zero) truss segment (left) from inside the "Super Guppy" aircraft that brought it to KSC from Boeing in Huntington Beach, Calif. The truss segment, which will become the backbone of the orbiting International Space Station (ISS), is a 44- by 15-foot structure weighing 30,800 pounds when fully outfitted and ready for launch. It will be at the center of the ISS 10-truss, girderlike structure that will ultimately extend the length of a football field. Eventually the S0 truss will be attached to the U.S. Lab, "Destiny," which is scheduled to be added to the ISS in April 2000. Later, other trusses will be attached to the S0 on-orbit. During processing at KSC, the S0 truss will have installed the Canadian Mobile Transporter, power distribution system modules, a heat pipe radiator for cooling, computers, and a pair of rate gyroscopes. Four Global Positioning System antennas are already installed.

000924-N-1523C-008. Subject Operation/Series: PACIFIC REACH 2000 Base: Naval Air Station, North Island State: California (CA) Country: United States Of America (USA)

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - In Orbiter Processing Bay 2 at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, a technician maneuvers a Hyster forklift into main engine no. 2 on space shuttle Endeavour to remove it. Engine removal is part of the post-landing processing. Endeavour returned from the STS-127 mission July 31. Endeavour's next mission is STS-130 targeted for February 2010. Endeavour will deliver to the International Space Station the Tranquility pressurized module that will provide room for many of the station's life support systems.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- In the Rotation, Processing and Surge Facility, or RSPF, at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, workers perform the propellant grain inspection of the final solid rocket booster segments, which is a required safety analysis. The booster segments were manufactured at the ATK solid rocket booster plant in Promontory, Utah, and traveled to Kennedy along the Florida East Coast Railway. The booster segments will be stacked and then mated to space shuttle Atlantis and its external fuel tank in the Vehicle Assembly Building. The segments will be used for what currently is planned as the 'launch on need,' or potential rescue mission for the final shuttle flight, Endeavour's STS-134 mission.

Employee repairing industrial robot in production hall

Aeronautic engineer standing in front of an airplane engine

Avionics Technician

At NASA's Building 836, the Spacecraft Labs Telemetry Station at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, a United Launch Alliance Delta II booster is removed from its shipping container. After it is offloaded, preliminary checkouts and preflight processing will begin leading to launch of the agency's Ice, Cloud and land Elevation Satellite-2, or ICESat-2. Liftoff from Space Launch Complex-2 at Vandenberg is scheduled for Sept. 12, 2018, and will be the last for the venerable Delta II rocket. Once in orbit, the satellite is designed to measure the height of a changing Earth, one laser pulse at a time, 10,000 laser pulses a second. The satellite will carry a single instrument, the Advanced Topographic Laser Altimeter System. ICESat-2 will help scientists investigate why, and how much, Earth's frozen and icy areas are changing. These area make up Earth's the cryosphere.

Boeing Subsonic Ultra Green Aircraft Research (SUGAR) Subsonic Fixed Wing in the (TDT) 16 Foot Transonic Dynamics Tunnel facility 648

MORRO BAY, Calif. - A crew member preps an Erickson Sky Crane helicopter for a test of the SpaceX Dragon test article. The test enables SpaceX engineers to evaluate the spacecraft's parachute deployment system as part of a milestone under its Commercial Crew Integrated Capability agreement with NASA's Commercial Crew Program. The parachute test took place at Morro Bay, Calif.

Hispanic mechanic working on helicopter in hangar

A Cochran elevator loader operator prepares to load a trailer aboard a 747 cargo aircraft during Operation Ocean Venture '82. Subject Operation/Series: OCEAN VENTURE '82 Base: Fort Campbell State: Kentucky (KY) Country: United States Of America (USA)

. Lockheed Martin Photography By Garry Tice1011 Lockheed Way, Palmdale, Ca. 93599Event: Date: Additional Info:

Airmen from the 455th Expeditionary Aerial Port Squadron work side by side with loadmasters to load a C-17 Globemaster III with cargo here Aug.1, 2011. The 455 EAPS's mission is moving passengers and cargo all throughout Afghanistan. More than 80 percent of all people and supplies traveling through the country come through 455 EAPS.

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. -- Mike Cosgrove (front) and Bob Petrie (behind), both with Boeing/Rocketdyne, look over the upgraded Space Shuttle main engine (block 2 engine) as it sits in the Space Shuttle Main Engine Processing Facility. The new engine will be installed for its first flight on the orbiter Atlantis, on mission STS-104. 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

Steven Grantham (NIST) and John Woodward (NIST) contemplate cable management forair-LUSI’s Irradiance Instrument Subsystem telescope at NASA’s Armstrong Flight Research Center in Palmdale, CA.It is critical that the delicate fiber optic cables movesmoothly with the telescope.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - In the Vehicle Assembly Building at NASA's Kennedy Space Center, a worker keeps watch as external fuel tank 129 is lifted out of the checkout cell to high bay 1 where it will be mated with the solid rocket boosters. The external tank-SRB stack will be mated in two weeks to space shuttle Endeavour for the STS-126 mission. The STS-126 mission will deliver a Multi-Purpose Logistics Module to the International Space Station. Launch is targeted for Nov. 10.

Aircraft maintenance, Melbourne, Australia

An engineer checks a valve on the steam generator of the rapid-response vehicle cargo ship USNR REGULUS (T-AKR-292). The REGULUS is transporting equipment to Saudi Arabia during Operation Desert Shield in response to Iraq's invasion of Kuwait. Subject Operation/Series: DESERT SHIELD Country: Unknown

The wing of a C-130H Hercules transport plane being removed by crane May 2, 2022 at Niagara Falls Air Reserve Station, New York. Other main parts such as the tail and rudder were removed to prepare it for transportation to its static display location on base.

Crewmen use an aircraft spotting dolly to move a Marine Medium Helicopter Squadron 161 (HMM-161) CH-46 Sea Knight helicopter in the hangar bay of the amphibious assault ship USS BELLEAU WOOD (LHA-3) during flight operations off the coast of San Diego. Country: Pacific Ocean (POC)

Truck Mounted Turbofan Engine in Aero Acoustic Propulsion Laboratory, AAPL, Facility

Mechanic in hangar pushing propellor of light aircraft

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. -- Workers perform post-polishing inspection on Atlantis' flow liners. Following an extensive investigation into the cause of tiny cracks inside fuel lines of the four space shuttle orbiters, a welding and polishing process is being implemented that will restore flow-liner integrity to design condition. These liners are inside the space shuttle Main Propulsion System fuel lines to preclude liquid hydrogen and oxygen turbulent flow into the engines during launch and climb to orbit. The technique calls for welds of three very small cracks on Atlantis and two on Endeavour. Additionally, the microscopic rough edges of the liner holes are being smoothed by polishing to reduce the chance of more cracks developing in the future. Atlantis is scheduled on mission STS-112, an assembly flight to the International Space Station, no earlier than Sept. 28, 2002.

Loadmasters assigned to the 758th Airlift Squadron, move a pallet toward a forklift while conducting upgrade training at the Pittsburgh International Airport Air Reserve Station, Pennsylvania, July 29, 2022. Loadmasters are responsible for the accounting of all equipment, aircrew and passengers loaded onto an aircraft.

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