Space Shuttle Launch Pad

Dramatic images of space shuttles on launch pads during sunset and various launch preparations at the Kennedy Space Center.

Sun Setting Behind Space Shuttle Columbia
Sun Setting Behind Space Shuttle Columbia
244 assets in this story
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The space shuttle orbiter Challenger (STS-8) and its launch vehicle arrive at Pad 39A after a 3 1/2-mile trip from the Vehicle Assembly Building. the Challenger is scheduled for launch on August 30, 1983. Base: Kennedy Space Center State: Florida (FL) Country: United States Of America (USA)
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A dragonfly is seen at the edge of the lagoon near pad 39a and the space shuttle Atlantis on Wednesday, July 6, 2011 at the NASA Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Fla. Space shuttle Atlantis is set to liftoff Friday, July 8, on the final flight of the shuttle program, STS-135, a 12-day mission to the International Space Station.
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A United Launch Alliance Delta IV Heavy rocket with NASAs Orion spacecraft mounted atop for Exploration Flight Test-1 (EFT-1) is seen illuminated in the distance in this long exposure photograph taken early on Dec. 4, 2014, at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station's Space Launch Complex 37, Florida. Part of Batch image transfer from Flickr.
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KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. - Shuttle Orbiter Columbia lift and mate to external tank in the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB).
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North America, USA, Florida, Cape Canaveral. A rocket launch at the John F. Kennedy Space Center on Cape Canaveral.
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CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - Workers pose with space shuttle Atlantis as it is prepped for its move from Orbiter Processing Facility-2 to the Vehicle Assembly Building at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Atlantis will be moved to the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex in November where it will be put on public display.
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KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. - Space Shuttle Atlantis sits on the hardstand of Launch Pad 39B after its nearly 8-hour rollout from the Vehicle Assembly Building. At left of the shuttle are the rotating service structure and fixed service structure. The slow speed of the crawler results in a 6- to 8-hour trek to the pad approximately 4 miles away. Atlantis' launch window begins Aug. 27 for an 11-day mission to the International Space Station. The STS-115 crew of six astronauts will continue construction of the station and install their cargo, the Port 3/4 truss segment with its two large solar arrays.
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Coast Guard boat on the Bosphorus in front of the Yavuz Sultan Selim Bridge in the fog near Istanbul, Türkiye
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Expedition 70 Preflight. Expedition 70 crew members Oleg Kononenko and Nikolai Chub of Roscosmos and NASA astronaut Loral O'Hara board the Soyuz MS-24 spacecraft for launch, Friday, Sept. 15, 2023 at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. Launch of the Soyuz rocket will send the trio on a mission to the International Space Station.
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The Soyuz TMA-11M rocket is rolled out to the launch pad by train on Tuesday, Nov. 5, 2013, at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. Launch of the Soyuz rocket is scheduled for November 7 and will send Expedition 38 Soyuz Commander Mikhail Tyurin of Roscosmos, Flight Engineer Rick Mastracchio of NASA and Flight Engineer Koichi Wakata of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency on a six-month mission aboard the International Space Station.
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Soyuz rocket on launch pad at Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan
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S72-48730 (28 Aug. 1972) --- A ground-level view of the huge Apollo 17 (Spacecraft 114/Lunar Module 12/Saturn 512) space vehicle leaving the Vehicle Assembly Building on its way to Pad A, Launch Complex 39, Kennedy Space Center. The Saturn V stack and its mobile launch tower are atop a mammoth crawler-transporter. The prime crew for the Apollo 17 lunar landing mission will be astronauts Eugene A. Cernan, commander; Ronald E. Evans, command module pilot; and scientist-astronaut Harrison H. Schmitt, lunar module pilot.
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STS-132 ATLANTIS ROLLOUT FROM VAB TO PAD 39A
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The aft portion of the Space Shuttle Endeavour
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STS-133 ET-137 OFFLOAD FROM BARGE AND XFER TO VAB
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The Soyuz TMA-21 spacecraft is lifted into position on the launch pad at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, Saturday, April 2, 2011. The Soyuz, which has been dubbed Gagarin”, is launching one week shy of the 50th anniversary of the launch of Yuri Gagarin from the same launch pad in Baikonur on April 12, 1961 to become the first human to fly in space. The first stage of the Soyuz booster is emblazoned with the name Gagarin” and the likeness of the first person to fly in space.
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CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- At NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, the STS-133 payload canister leaves the Canister Rotation Facility on a transport vehicle headed for Launch Pad 39A where it will be lifted into the rotating service structure.The payload then will be moved into space shuttle Discovery's payload bay. Discovery and its STS-133 crew will deliver the Permanent Multipurpose Module, packed with supplies and critical spare parts, as well as Robonaut 2, the dexterous humanoid astronaut helper, to the International Space Station. Launch is targeted for 4:40 p.m. EDT, Nov. 1.
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a rocket start at the traditonal rocket festival or Bun Bang Fai in Ban Si Than in the Provinz Amnat Charoen in the northwest of Ubon Ratchathani in the Region of Isan in Northeast Thailand in Thailand.

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Sea rescue station, beach, Jeffreys Bay near Port Elizabeth, Garden Route, Eastern Cape, South Africa, Africa
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The NASA Vehicle Assembly Building is seen through a rain covered windshield at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Friday, July 10, 2009. NASA is set to launch the space shuttle Endeavour with the crew of STS-127 on Saturday.
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STS-134 Payload Canister Returns back to the CRF from Pad 39A
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KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. - At the Turn Basin in the Launch Complex 39 Area, tug boats maneuver the barge carrying a new External Tank (ET) toward the dock. At left is the Vehicle Assembly Building, which will receive the tank after it is offloaded. The barge was towed on a 900-mile journey at sea from the Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans by one of NASAs Solid Rocket Booster Retrieval Ships.
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Turbo-prop semi-span model test-435 in 14ft w.t. with Ron Smith
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The Northrop Grumman Antares rocket, with Cygnus spacecraft onboard, is seen on Pad-0A, Tuesday, Nov. 13, 2018 at NASA's Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia. Northrop Grumman's 10th contracted cargo resupply mission for NASA to the International Space Station will deliver about 7,500 pounds of science and research, crew supplies and vehicle hardware to the orbital laboratory and its crew. Launch is scheduled for Nov. 15 at 4:49 a.m. EST.
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KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. - With employees walking alongside, the external tank atop its transporter turns the corner from the Vehicle Assembly Building toward the Turn Basin and the Banana River. The tank will be loaded onto the waiting barge and transferred to the Michoud Space Systems Assembly Facility near New Orleans where redesign of the external tank is underway for Return to Flight.
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The flags of Russia, United Arab Emirates, United States of America, Kazakhstan and Roscosmos fly at the launch pad as the Soyuz rocket is raised into vertical position on the launch pad, Monday, Sept. 23, 2019 at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. Expedition 61 crewmembers Jessica Meir of NASA, Oleg Skripochka of Roscosmos, and spaceflight participant Hazzaa Ali Almansoori of the United Arab Emirates will launch September 25th on the Soyuz MS-15 spacecraft from the Baikonur Cosmodrome to the International Space Station.
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CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- Viewed from inside the Vehicle Assembly Building at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, External Tank-138 is being towed toward the massive door of the building. The external fuel tank arrived in Florida on July 13, from NASA's Michoud Assembly Facility near New Orleans. ET-138, the last newly manufactured tank, was originally designated to fly on Endeavour's STS-134 mission to the International Space Station, but later reassigned to fly on space shuttle Atlantis' final mission, STS-135.
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jsc2018e067954 (Aug. 2, 2018) --- NASA astronauts (from left) Bob Behnken, Doug Hurley, Mike Hopkins and Victor Glover pose for a portrait in front of the SpaceX Dragon Commercial Crew vehicle mock up at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas.
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Cruise ship in the ocean near Cabo San Lucas, Baja California
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Antenna mast on the summit plateau, Brocken Mountain, Harz National Park, Saxony-Anhalt, Germany, Europe, PublicGround, Europe
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KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. - A new Convoy Command Vehicle, used for Shuttle landings, is displayed. It will replace a 15-year-old vehicle. The new one is not expected to be used before mid-June, the scheduled landing of Endeavour following mission STS-111.
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The Soyuz rocket is seen as it is raised into a vertical position on the launch pad, Thursday, July 18, 2019 at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. Expedition 60 Soyuz Commander Alexander Skvortsov of Roscosmos, flight engineer Andrew Morgan of NASA, and flight engineer Luca Parmitano of ESA (European Space Agency) are scheduled to launch aboard their Soyuz MS-13 spacecraft at 12:28 p.m. Eastern time (9:28 p.m. Baikonur time) , on Saturday, July 20.
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View of the Shuttle Landing Facility
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A Japanese H-IIA rocket carrying the NASA-Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) Core Observatory is seen as it rolls out to launch pad 1 of the Tanegashima Space Center, Thursday, Feb. 27, 2014, Tanegashima, Japan. Once launched, the GPM spacecraft will collect information that unifies data from an international network of existing and future satellites to map global rainfall and snowfall every three hours.
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Visit of Secretary Gale Norton to Kill Devil Hills and Outer Banks environs in North Carolina for tours, events marking the centennial of the first powered flight, Wright Brothers National Memorial
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The Soyuz rocket is raised into a vertical position on the launch pad, Monday, June 4, 2018 at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. Expedition 56 Soyuz Commander Sergey Prokopyev of Roscosmos, flight engineer Serena Auñón-Chancellor of NASA, and flight engineer Alexander Gerst of ESA (European Space Agency) are scheduled to launch aboard their Soyuz MS-09 spacecraft at 7:12 a.m. Eastern time (5:12 p.m. Baikonur time), on Wednesday, June 6.
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The space shuttle Endeavour, prepared for launch on pad 39A, glows behind a sign counting down the hours until liftoff.
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S68-37978 (1968) --- Madrid track station.
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Dr. von Braun pauses in front of the Saturn V vehicle being readied for the historic Apollo 11 lunar landing mission at the Kennedy Space Center (KSC). The Saturn V vehicle was developed by the Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC) under the direction of Dr. von Braun.
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France, Normandy, Eure, Vernon, Roundabout with a rocket decoration. Model of the Ariane rocket
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KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. -- Many former astronauts gather at the opening of the newest attraction at Kennedy Space Center's Visitor Complex, the Shuttle Launch Experience. In front are John Young (left) and Bob Crippen. The attraction includes a simulated launch with the sights, sounds and sensations of launching into space. Find out more about the Visitor Complex and the Shuttle Launch Experience at http://www.kennedyspacecenter.com/visitKSC/attractions/index.asp.
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