Spacecraft Assembly and Laboratory Work

Images of workers wearing protective suits engaged in spacecraft assembly and laboratory tasks, showcasing a sterile environment with advanced technology.

Researcher wearing safety helmet working in laboratory

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. - Inside the Astrotech Payload Processing Facility on Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, workers make adjustments on the tilt dolly before attempting to raise the Cloud-Aerosol Lidar and Infrared Pathfinder Satellite Observation (CALIPSO) spacecraft to vertical. CALIPSO will be moved to a workstand. It will undergo state-of-health checks, and electrical ground-support equipment testing. CALIPSO will fly in combination with the CloudSat satellite to provide never-before-seen 3-D perspectives of how clouds and aerosols form, evolve, and affect weather and climate. CALIPSO and CloudSat will join three other satellites in orbit to enhance understanding of climate systems. The launch date for CALIPSO_CloudSat is no earlier than Aug. 22.

Researcher wearing safety helmet working in laboratory

VANDENBERG AFB, Calif. - Engineers install a radial retraction system on NASA's IRIS spacecraft after its connection to the nose of an Orbital Sciences Pegasus XL rocket that will lift the solar observatory into orbit in June. The work is taking place in a hangar at Vandenberg Air Force Base where IRIS, short for Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph, is being prepared for launch on a Pegasus XL rocket. Scheduled for launch from Vandenberg June 26, IRIS will open a new window of discovery by tracing the flow of energy and plasma through the chromospheres and transition region into the suns corona using spectrometry and imaging. IRIS fills a crucial gap in our ability to advance studies of the sun-to-Earth connection by tracing the flow of energy and plasma through the foundation of the corona and the region around the sun known as the heliosphere.

Tissue engineering laboratory

In the Spacecraft Assembly and Encapsulation Facility -2, workers help guide the solar array from the 2001 Mars Odyssey Orbiter onto a workstand. This will give workers access to other components of the spacecraft and allow inspection of the array. The Mars Odyssey carries three science instruments the Thermal Emission Imaging System (THEMIS), the Gamma Ray Spectrometer (GRS), and the Mars Radiation Environment Experiment (MARIE). THEMIS will map the mineralogy and morphology of the Martian surface using a high-resolution camera and a thermal infrared imaging spectrometer. The GRS will achieve global mapping of the elemental composition of the surface and determine the abundance of hydrogen in the shallow subsurface. The GRS is a rebuild of the instrument lost with the Mars Observer mission. The MARIE will characterize aspects of the near-space radiation environment as related to the radiation-related risk to human explorers. The Mars Odyssey Orbiter is scheduled for launch on April 7,

Tissue engineering laboratory

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - Inside the Payload Hazardous Servicing Facility at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, a technician inspects a cell from one of the electricity-producing solar arrays for the Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution, or MAVEN, spacecraft. MAVEN is being prepared for its scheduled launch in November from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Fla. atop a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket. Positioned in an orbit above the Red Planet, MAVEN will study the upper atmosphere of Mars in unprecedented detail.

Laboratory technicians working on a device in laboratory of science center

Technicians with Orbital ATK install the first set of micro satellites on the deployment module for NASAs Cyclone Global Navigation Satellite System (CYGNSS) in Building 1555 at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. CYGNSS is being prepared at Vandenberg, and then will be transported to NASAs Kennedy Space Center in Florida aboard the Orbital ATK Pegasus XL rocket which will be attached to the Orbital ATK L-1011 carrier aircraft. 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.

Stardust sample analysis @ UC Berkeley clean room with Dr Scott Sandford, NASA Ames Astrophysicist - mission samples provided to UC Berkeley for analysis by NASA Berkeley researchers Zack Gainsforth (seated) and Chris Snead working with sample encased in aerogel Note Eric Land of NASA/AMES video crew in lower left corner providing sound support for event

Inside a laboratory in the Space Station Processing Facility at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, a quality technician checks the hardware for the Advanced Plant Habitat flight unit. The flight unit is an exact replica of the APH that was delivered to the International Space Station. Validation tests and post-delivery checkout was performed to prepare for space station in-orbit APH activities. The flight unit will be moved to the International Space Station Environmental Simulator to begin an experiment verification test for the science that will fly on the first mission, PH-01. Developed by NASA and ORBITEC of Madison, Wisconsin, the APH is the largest plant chamber built for the agency. It is a fully automated plant growth facility that will be used to conduct bioscience research on the space station.

Two scientists providing research with scales in laboratory.

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. - In the Space Station Processing Facility, STS-115 Mission Specialists Heidemarie Stefanyshyn-Piper (left) and Joseph Tanner (center) get ready to check out the Japanese Experiment Module (JEM) Pressurized Module. Known as Kibo, the JEM consists of six components: two research facilities -- the Pressurized Module and Exposed Facility; a Logistics Module attached to each of them; a Remote Manipulator System; and an Inter-Orbit Communication System unit. Kibo also has a scientific airlock through which experiments are transferred and exposed to the external environment of space. The various components of JEM will be assembled in space over the course of three Space Shuttle missions. The STS-115 mission will deliver the second port truss segment, the P3/P4 Truss, to attach to the first port truss segment, the P1 Truss, as well as deploy solar array sets 2A and 4A.. The crew is scheduled to activate and check out the Solar Alpha Rotary Joint (SARJ) and deplo

Scientists working in laboratory of science center

BALL ENGINEERS DISMANTLE ARRAY OF SIX GOLD-PLATED JAMES WEBB SPACE TELESCOPE MIRRORS FOR TRANSPORT TO BALL AEROSPACE AFTER CRYOGENIC TESTING AT MARSHALL'S X-RAY AND CRYOGENIC FACILITY.

Near InfraRed Volatiles Spectrometer System (NIRVSS) engineering build in Ames N-213 Laboratory with Amanda Cook.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- In Orbiter Processing Facility-2 at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, the STS-134 crew and technicians check space shuttle Endeavour's payload bay for sharp edges that could affect the astronauts' work in space. Seen here, from left, are two technicians and Mission Specialist Michael Finke. The six STS-134 astronauts are participating in the Crew Equipment Interface Test (CEIT), which gives them an opportunity for hands-on training with the tools and equipment they'll use in space and familiarization of the payload they'll be delivering to the International Space Station. Endeavour is targeted to launch on the STS-134 mission Feb. 27, 2011.

Laboratory assistant researching a vaccine, CureVac GmbH in the Tuebingen-Reutlingen Technology Park, Biotechnology Start-up Centre, Stuttgart, Germany, Europe

Lab technician in sterile environment

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - In the Space Station Processing Facility at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, STS-130 Mission Specialist Stephen Robinson participates in a bench review, standard familiarization training on the hardware and equipment that will fly on his mission, during the crew equipment interface test.Tranquility, the payload for the STS-130 mission, is a pressurized module that will provide room for many of the International Space Station's life support systems. The module was built for the European Space Agency by Thales Alenia Space in Turin, Italy. The cupola, a unique work station with six windows on its sides and one on top, is attached to the end of Tranquility. It resembles a circular bay window and will provide a vastly improved view of the station's exterior. Just under 10 feet in diameter, the module will accommodate two crew members and portable workstations that can control station and robotic activities. The multi-directional view will allow the crew to m

Inside the Space Station Processing Facility at NASAs Kennedy Space Center in Florida, an engineer installs the Mass Spectrometer observing lunar operations (MSolo) onto its radiator bracket on June 14, 2022. Having successfully completed its thermal vacuum testing, the unit will undergo vibration testing later this month. This spectrometer is part of the PRIME-1 (Polar Resources Ice Mining Experiment-1) payload suite, slated to launch to the Moon in 2023 with Intuitive Machines. MSolo is a commercial off-the-shelf mass spectrometer modified to work in space and it will help analyze the chemical makeup of landing sites on the Moon, as well as study water on the lunar surface. MSolo is manifested to fly on four of the agencys Commercial Lunar Payload Delivery Service missions where under Artemis, commercial deliveries beginning in 2023 will perform science experiments, test technologies, and demonstrate capabilities to help NASA explore the Moon and prepare for human missions.

Cape Canaveral, Fla. -- At the Payload Hazardous Servicing Facility at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, Dr. Charles Elachi, Director of Advanced Planning at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (center), is shown the medallions that will be affixed to NASA's Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) rover known as Curiosity during processing for flight.A United Launch Alliance Atlas V-541 configuration will be used to loft MSL into space. Curiositys 10 science instruments are designed to search for evidence on whether Mars has had environments favorable to microbial life, including chemical ingredients for life. The unique rover will use a laser to look inside rocks and release its gasses so that the rovers spectrometer can analyze and send the data back to Earth. MSL is scheduled to launch from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida Nov. 25 with a window extending to Dec. 18 and arrival at Mars Aug. 2012.

Stardust sample analysis @ UC Berkeley clean room with Dr Scott Sandford, NASA Ames Astrophysicist - mission samples provided to UC Berkeley for analysis by NASA Berkeley researcher Zack Gainsforth working with sample encased in aerogel

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - In the clean room of the Payload Hazardous Processing Facility at NASA's Kennedy Space Center, an overhead crane lifts the Cosmic Origins Spectrograph, or COS. The COS is being lifted and moved to a protective enclosure on the Orbital Replacement Unit Carrier, part of the payload for the fifth and final Hubble servicing mission, STS-125. Other payloads include the Flight Support System, the Super Lightweight Interchangeable Carrier and the Multi-Use Lightweight Equipment, or MULE, carrier. COS will be the most sensitive ultraviolet spectrograph ever flown on Hubble and will probe the "cosmic web" - the large-scale structure of the universe whose form is determined by the gravity of dark matter and is traced by galaxies and intergalactic gas. The COS far-ultraviolet channel has a sensitivity 30 times greater than that of previous spectroscopic instruments for the detection of extremely low light levels. Launch of Atlantis on the STS-125 mission is targeted for

Inside a laboratory in the Space Station Processing Facility at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, quality technicians check components of the hardware for the Advanced Plant Habitat flight unit. The flight unit is an exact replica of the APH that was delivered to the International Space Station. Validation tests and post-delivery checkout was performed to prepare for space station in-orbit APH activities. The flight unit will be moved to the International Space Station Environmental Simulator to begin an experiment verification test for the science that will fly on the first mission, PH-01. Developed by NASA and ORBITEC of Madison, Wisconsin, the APH is the largest plant chamber built for the agency. It is a fully automated plant growth facility that will be used to conduct bioscience research on the space station.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - In the Space Station Processing Facility at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, workers check data sheets associated with stowing supply packages in the Multi-Purpose Logistics Module Leonardo for the STS-126 mission to the International Space Station. The 15-day flight will deliver equipment and supplies to the International Space Station in preparation for expansion from a three- to six-person resident crew aboard the complex. The mission also will include four spacewalks to service the station Solar Alpha Rotary Joints. Leonardo holds supplies and equipment, including equipment for the regenerative life support system, additional crew quarters and exercise equipment and spare hardware.

STS-132 ICC TO CANISTER

Scientist or apothecary extract CBD hemp oil for medical and healthcare purposes. Healthcare pharmacy from cannabis products. Cannabis oil extraction machine with glass tubes and equipmetns.. Scientist or apothecary in lab extract CBD hemp oil for medical purpose.

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. - At Astrotech Space Operations in Titusville, Fla., a worker checks wiring on the Mercury Surface, Space Environment, Geochemistry and Ranging (MESSENGER) spacecraft. Two solar arrays will be installed June 24-25, followed by a deployment testLaunch is scheduled for July 30, 2004 from Pad 17-B at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. The spacecraft will fly past Earth once, Venus twice and Mercury three times before starting a year-long orbital study of Mercury in March 2011. MESSENGER was built for NASA by the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory in Laurel, Md.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - Mission specialist Kathryn "Kay" Hire, at left, assigned to the crew of space shuttle Endeavour's STS-130 mission, becomes familiar with the configuration of the Tranquility Node 3 module in the Space Station Processing Facility at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Assisting her, at right, is Chris Hardcastle, an STS-130 flight crew representative with United Space Alliance.Tranquility is a pressurized module that will provide room for many of the International Space Station's life support systems. Attached to the node is a cupola, a unique work station with six windows on its sides and one on top. Tranquility is the payload for the STS-130 mission. The module was built for the European Space Agency by Alenia Spazio in Turin, Italy. Cupola resembles a circular bay window that will provide a vastly improved view of the station's exterior. Just under 10 feet in diameter, the module will accommodate two crew members and portable workstations that can control

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. -- In Astrotech's Hazardous Processing Facility, technicians check data during the loading of xenon for the ion propulsion system in the Dawn spacecraft. Dawn's mission is to explore two of the asteroid belt's most intriguing and dissimilar occupants: asteroid Vesta and the dwarf planet Ceres. The Dawn spacecraft uses ion propulsion to get the additional velocity needed to reach Vesta once it leaves the Delta rocket. It also uses ion propulsion to spiral to lower altitudes on Vesta, to leave Vesta and cruise to Ceres and to spiral to a low-altitude orbit at Ceres. Ion propulsion makes efficient use of the onboard fuel by accelerating it to a velocity 10 times that of chemical rockets. Dawn is scheduled to launch July 7aboard a Delta II rocket from Launch Complex 17-B at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station.

group of scientists working at the laboratory

John "JC" Carver, a payload integration engineer with NASA Kennedy Space Center's Test and Operations Support Contract, harvests half the Arabidopsis thaliana plants inside the growth chamber of the Advanced Plant Habitat (APH) Flight Unit No. 1. The harvest is part of an ongoing verification test of the APH unit, which is located inside the International Space Station Environmental Simulator in Kennedy's Space Station Processing Facility. The APH undergoing testing at Kennedy is identical to one on the station and uses red, green and broad-spectrum white LED lights to grow plants in an environmentally controlled chamber. The seeds grown during the verification test will be grown on the station to help scientists understand how these plants adapt to spaceflight.

Laboratory technician working on a device in laboratory of science center

Fraunhofer Institute for Cell Therapy and Immunology IZI

Stardust sample analysis @ UC Berkeley clean room with Dr Scott Sandford, NASA Ames Astrophysicist - mission samples provided to UC Berkeley for analysis by NASA Berkeley researchers Zack Gainsforth working with sample encased in aerogel

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - In the Space Station Processing Facility at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, members of the STS-130 crew participate in a bench review, standard familiarization training on the hardware and equipment that will fly on their mission, during the crew equipment interface test. From left are Mission Specialists Stephen Robinson and Kathryn "Kay" Hire, Commander George Zamka and Pilot Terry Virts Jr.Tranquility, the payload for the STS-130 mission, is a pressurized module that will provide room for many of the International Space Station's life support systems. The module was built for the European Space Agency by Thales Alenia Space in Turin, Italy. The cupola, a unique work station with six windows on its sides and one on top, is attached to the end of Tranquility. It resembles a circular bay window and will provide a vastly improved view of the station's exterior. Just under 10 feet in diameter, the module will accommodate two crew members and portable wor

SOFIA (Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy) primary mirror being coated in the Ames N-211 Vacuum Chamber.

NaMLab GmbH

. Magnetospheric Multiscale (MMS)

Flow Boiling and Condensation Experiment (FBCE) hardware. Project personnel perform engineering checks on the Fluid Module 1 prior to final hardware assembly.

Engineers and technicians at NASAs Kennedy Space Center in Florida install the radiator for the Mass Spectrometer Observing Lunar Operations (MSolo) instrument inside the Space Station Processing Facility on Sept. 25, 2020. MSolo will help analyze the chemical makeup of landing sites on the Moon, as well as study water on the lunar surface. The radiator will help keep the instruments temperature stable in the extreme heat and cold it will encounter. MSolo instruments are scheduled to launch on multiple robotic missions as part of NASAs Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS), with the first of these missions exploring Lacus Mortis, a large crater on the near side of the Moon, beginning in 2021. MSolo also will be one of three instruments on the agencys water-hunting Volatiles Investigating Polar Exploration Rover, VIPER, scheduled to launch to the Moons South Pole in late 2023.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - Using flashlights, technicians closely inspect one of NASA's twin Radiation Belt Storm Probes in the Astrotech payload processing facility near Kennedy Space Center in Florida.The Radiation Belt Storm Probes, or RBSP, mission will help us understand the suns influence on Earth and near-Earth space by studying the Earths radiation belts on various scales of space and time. RBSP will begin its mission of exploration of Earth's Van Allen radiation belts and the extremes of space weather after its launch aboard a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket.

From left, Charlie Friedericks and Giovanni Minelli with the NASA's Ames Research Center; inspect the Ames-managed O/OREOS nana satellite at Kodiak Launch Complex on Kodiak Island, Alaska. in advance of the satellite's planned launch into orbit.

Engineers and technicians at NASAs Kennedy Space Center in Florida work with instruments for Mass Spectrometer observing lunar operations (MSolo) inside the Space Station Processing on Sept. 25, 2020. MSolo is a commercial off-the-shelf mass spectrometer modified to work in space and it will help analyze the chemical makeup of landing sites on the Moon, as well as study water on the lunar surface. This work is preparing MSolo hardware for a robotic mission as part of the Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) launching to exploring Lacus Mortis, a large crater on the near side of the Moon in 2021. A future mission will send a mobile robot named the Volatiles Investigating Polar Exploration Rover (VIPER) to the Moon to prospect for water. VIPER will have several instruments that will allow it to detect and sample water including MSolo, the Neutron Spectrometer System, the Near Infrared Volatiles Spectrometer System and The Regolith and Ice Drill for Exploring New Terrain (TRIDENT).

Laser centre, research scientists in protective clothing, laboratory, Hanover, Lower Saxony, Germany

Nanoracks technicians work on the NanoRacks Bishop Airlock inside the Space Station Processing Facility at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Sept. 29, 2020. The next-generation Nanoracks payload facility is being prepared for its flight to the International Space Station on SpaceXs 21st commercial resupply services mission (CRS-21) to the International Space Station. The Bishop Airlock is the first commercially funded airlock for the space station. It will provide payload hosting, robotics testing, satellite deployment, serve as an outside toolbox for station crew spacewalks, and more. CRS-21 is scheduled to launch on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket no earlier than November from Launch Complex 39A at Kennedy Space Center.

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. - At Astrotech Space Operations in Titusville, Fla., the Mercury Surface, Space Environment, Geochemistry and Ranging (MESSENGER) spacecrafts two solar arrays are undergoing cleaning inspections and voltage checks in preparation for installation on June 24 -25. One array will be installed each day, followed by a deployment test. The spacecraft will fly past Earth once, Venus twice and Mercury three times before starting a year-long orbital study of Mercury in March 2011. Launch is scheduled for July 30, 2004, from Pad 17-B at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. MESSENGER was built for NASA by the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory in Laurel, Md.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - Jim Smodell, a technician with SGT, removes an outredgeous red lettuce leaf from a plant pillow inside the Payload Development Laboratory at the Space Station Processing Facility, or SSPF, at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The plant pillows were removed from the Veggie plant growth system inside a control chamber at the SSPF. The growth chamber was used as a control unit for Veggie and procedures were followed identical to those being performed on Veggie and the Veg-01 experiment on the International Space Station. The lettuce leaves will be wrapped and placed in a minus eighty-degree freezer, along with the plant pillows and samples swabbed from the plants, plant pillows and Veggie bellows. The chamber mimicked the temperature, relative humidity and carbon dioxide concentration of those in the Veggie unit on the space station. Veggie and Veg-01 were delivered to the space station aboard the SpaceX-3 mission. Veggie is the first fresh food production s

Dressed in protective clothing, STS-100 Mission Specialist Chris Hadfield looks at equipment in the payload bay of orbiter Endeavour during a Crew Equipment Interface Test (CEIT). Other crew members at KSC for the CEIT are Commander Kent V. Rominger, Pilot Jeffrey S. Ashby and Mission Specialists Scott Parazynski, John L. Phillips, Umberto Guidoni, who is with the European Space Agency, and Yuri Lonchakov, who is with the Russian Aviation and Space Agency. Hadfield is with the Canadian Space Agency. Endeavour is also carrying the Multi-Purpose Logistics Module Raffaello to the International Space Station. Raffaello carries six system racks and two storage racks for the U.S. Lab. Launch of mission STS-100 is scheduled for April 19 at 2:41 p.m. EDT from Launch Pad 39A

Preparation of a skin donation in a cleanroom before preservation, cell and Tissue Unit of CTSA in Clamart, France.

Scientists working meticulously in a hightech laboratory

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. - An employee at the Space Station Processing Facility performs engineering certification testing of the Alpha Magnetic spectrometer (AMS). The AMS is a superconducting magnet that will be used in an experiment from the International Space Station (ISS) to search for antimatter and dark matter in space. The testing is being performed to ensure that data flow from the external payload AMS and the internal AMS crew operation post can be successfully routed through the ISS systems.

STS-131 CREW CEIT - MPLM INSPECTION

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - Inside the Payload Hazardous Servicing Facility at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, a technician inspects a cell from one of the electricity-producing solar arrays for the Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution, or MAVEN, spacecraft. MAVEN is being prepared for its scheduled launch in November from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Fla. atop a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket. Positioned in an orbit above the Red Planet, MAVEN will study the upper atmosphere of Mars in unprecedented detail.

Biobank: isolation of stem cells from umbilical cord blood, with automatic devices for separating blood components.

Germany, Female technician working in optical cleanroom unit, on the phone

Production of penicillin in an aseptic production hall

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - Inside the Operations and Checkout Building high bay at NASAs Kennedy Space Center in Florida, technicians use a special handling device to move the first of three fairings for installation on the service module for the Orion spacecraft. The Orion spacecraft is being prepared for its first unpiloted flight test, Exploration Flight Test-1, or EFT-1, scheduled for launch atop a Delta IV rocket in September 2014. The Orion spacecraft is designed to carry astronauts to destinations not yet explored by humans. It will have emergency abort capability, sustain the crew during space travel and provide safe re-entry from deep space return velocities. Orion is scheduled to launch atop NASAs Space Launch System rocket in 2017.

Study on opportunistic infections with Burkholderia cepacia complex using Zebra Fish embryos.

Inside the Astrotech payload processing facility on Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, engineers and technicians prepare a component of NASA's Soil Moisture Active Passive, or SMAP, spacecraft for a lift by a crane. SMAP will launch on a Delta II 7320 configuration vehicle featuring a United Launch Alliance first stage booster powered by an Aerojet Rocketdyne RS-27A main engine and three Alliant Techsystems, or ATK, strap-on solid rocket motors. Once on station in Earth orbit, SMAP will provide global measurements of soil moisture and its freeze/thaw state. These measurements will be used to enhance understanding of processes that link the water, energy and carbon cycles, and to extend the capabilities of weather and climate prediction models. SMAP data also will be used to quantify net carbon flux in boreal landscapes and to develop improved flood prediction and drought monitoring capabilities. Launch from Space Launch Complex 2 is targeted for Jan. 29, 2015.

Kepler project; technicians from Ball Aerospace work on and in the test chamber assembled at Nasa Ames Research center testing components

Engineers at NASAs Kennedy Space Center in Florida remove the vibration fixture on the Mass Spectrometer observing lunar operations (MSolo) instrument on Aug. 4, 2022. The activity followed a vibration test in preparation for the Polar Resources Ice Mining Experiment-1 (PRIME-1) mission, which will be the first in-situ resource utilization demonstration on the Moon. MSolo is a commercial off-the-shelf mass spectrometer modified to work in space and will help analyze the chemical makeup of landing sites on the Moon, as well as study water on the lunar surface. Researchers and engineers are preparing MSolo instruments to launch on four robotic missions as part of NASAs Commercial Lunar Payload Services - commercial deliveries beginning in 2023 that will perform science experiments, test technologies, and demonstrate capabilities to help NASA explore the Moon and prepare for crewed missions to the lunar surface.

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. -- In Astrotech's Hazardous Processing Facility, a technician monitors the loading of xenon for the ion propulsion system in the Dawn spacecraft. Dawn's mission is to explore two of the asteroid belt's most intriguing and dissimilar occupants: asteroid Vesta and the dwarf planet Ceres. The Dawn spacecraft uses ion propulsion to get the additional velocity needed to reach Vesta once it leaves the Delta rocket. It also uses ion propulsion to spiral to lower altitudes on Vesta, to leave Vesta and cruise to Ceres and to spiral to a low-altitude orbit at Ceres. Ion propulsion makes efficient use of the onboard fuel by accelerating it to a velocity 10 times that of chemical rockets. Dawn is scheduled to launch July 7aboard a Delta II rocket from Launch Complex 17-B at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station.

Technicians with Orbital ATK continue to install micro satellites on the deployment module for NASAs Cyclone Global Navigation Satellite System (CYGNSS) in Building 1555 at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. CYGNSS is being prepared at Vandenberg, and then will be transported to NASAs Kennedy Space Center in Florida aboard the Orbital ATK Pegasus XL rocket which will be attached to the Orbital ATK L-1011 carrier aircraft. 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.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - In the tile shop at NASA's Kennedy Space Center, a worker places a Boeing Replacement Insulation 18, or BRI-18, tile in the oven. The tile will be baked at 2,200 degrees Fahrenheit to cure the ceramic coating, part of the process to prepare the tiles for installation on space shuttles. BRI-18 is the strongest material used for thermal insulation on the orbiters and, when coated to produce toughened unipiece fibrous insulation, provides a tile with extremely high-impact resistance. It is replacing other tiles on areas of the vehicle where impact risk is high, such as the landing gear doors, the wing leading edge and the external tank doors.

iss056e097517 (July 20, 2018) --- NASA astronaut Ricky Arnold swabbed surfaces in the International Space Station to collect microbe samples. He then processed the microbial DNA using the Biomolecule Sequencer, a device that enables DNA sequencing in microgravity, to identify microbes able to survive in microgravity.

Advanced X-Ray Astrophysics Facility-S (AXAF-S) nickel prototype mirror optical test setup.

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. - In the Space Station Processing Facility, STS-118 Pilot Charles Hobaugh (left) and Mission Specialist Barbara Morgan look over part of the mission payload. At right is a technician. Morgan was selected by NASA in January 1998 as the first Educator Astronaut. The mission will be delivering the third starboard truss segment, the ITS S5, to the International Space Station, and a SPACEHAB Single Cargo Module with supplies and equipment. Launch aboard Space Shuttle Columbia is scheduled for Nov. 13, 2003.

PRIME-1 MSolo MLI Install. Engineers prepare the Mass Spectrometer Observing Lunar Operations (MSolo) instrument for the multilayer insulation installation inside Kennedy Space Centers Space Station Processing Facility on Oct. 19, 2022. The activity is in preparation for the Polar Resources Ice Mining Experiment-1 (PRIME-1) mission, which will be the first in-situ resource utilization demonstration on the Moon. MSolo is a commercial off-the-shelf mass spectrometer modified to work in space and will help analyze the chemical makeup of landing sites on the Moon, as well as study water on the lunar surface. Researchers and engineers are preparing MSolo instruments to launch on four robotic missions as part of NASAs Commercial Lunar Payload Services - commercial deliveries beginning in 2023 that will perform science experiments, test technologies, and demonstrate capabilities to help NASA explore the Moon and prepare for crewed missions to the lunar surface.

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. -- At SPACEHAB, STS-102 Mission Specialist Andrew S.W. Thomas practices using a tool on the Early Ammonia Servicer while Mission Specialist Paul W. Richards (left) looks on. Thomas, Richards and other crew members are at SPACEHAB to get acquainted with tools and equipment they will be using on their mission to the International Space Station. The second spacewalk of the mission will require the crew to transfer the Early Ammonia Servicer to the P6 truss. STS-102 is the 8th construction flight to the International Space Station and will carry the Multi-Purpose Logistics Module Leonardo. On that flight, Leonardo will be filled with equipment and supplies to outfit the U.S. laboratory module Destiny. The mission will also be carrying the Expedition Two crew to the Space Station, replacing the Expedition One crew who will return on Shuttle Discovery. STS-102 is scheduled for launch March 8, 2001

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - In the Space Station Processing Facility at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, this worker helps prepare the hatch on the Multi-Purpose Logistics Module Leonardo for closure. Leonardo is the payload for space shuttle Endeavour's STS-126 mission to the International Space Station. The 15-day mission will deliver equipment and supplies to the space station in preparation for expansion from a three- to six-person resident crew aboard the complex. Leonardo holds supplies and equipment, including additional crew quarters, equipment for the regenerative life support system and spare hardware. Endeavour is targeted for launch Nov. 14.

Workers in protective masks and suits in laboratory

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. - Inside Astrotech Space Operations in Titusville, Fla., mission STS-116 crew members look over the Integrated Cargo Carrier during the Crew Equipment Interface Test. The ICC will be carried in Space Shuttle Discoverys payload cargo bay during the mission to the International Space Station. From left are Mission Specialists Christer Fuglesang, who is representing the European Space Agency, Robert Curbeam and Sunita Williams. Mission crews make frequent trips to the Space Coast to become familiar with the equipment and payloads they will be using. STS-116 will be mission No. 20 to the International Space Station and construction flight 12A.1. The mission payload is the SPACEHAB module, the P5 integrated truss structure and other key components. Launch is scheduled for no earlier than Dec. 7.

Jeffrey Richards, a project science coordinator with URS Federal Services, uses a fixative to secure Arabidopsis seeds, commonly known as thale cress, in the science carrier, or base, of the Advanced Plant Habitat (APH) inside a laboratory in the Space Station Processing Facility at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Wednesday, May 9. The APH base will be delivered to the International Space Station aboard Orbital ATK's Cygnus spacecraft on the company's ninth Commercial Resupply Services mission for NASA. The APH is the largest plant chamber built for the agency. It is a fully automated plant growth facility that is being used to conduct bioscience research on the space station. Cygnus will launch on Orbital ATK's Antares rocket from Wallops Flight Facility in Wallops Island, Virginia. Launch is targeted for May 20, 2018.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - Researchers have activated the red, blue and green LED lights on the Veggie plant growth system inside a control chamber at the Space Station Processing Facility at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Jim Smodell, a technician with SGT, is securing the plant pillows containing outredgeous red romaine lettuce seeds onto the root mat inside Veggie. To his left, is George Guerra, a quality control engineer with QinetiQ North America. The growth chamber will be used as a control unit and procedures will be followed identical to those being performed on Veggie and the Veg-01 experiment on the International Space Station by Expedition 39 flight engineer and NASA astronaut Steve Swanson.Veggie and Veg-01 were delivered to the space station aboard the SpaceX-3 mission. Veggie is the first fresh food production system delivered to the station. Six plant pillows, each containing outredgeous red romaine lettuce seeds and a root mat were inserted into Veggie. The plant

Apothecary scientist using laptop to record information from a CBD oil extractor and a scientific machine used to create medicinal cannabis products.. Apothecary scientist recording data from CBD oil extractor in laboratory.

SOFIA (Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astromony) primary mirror coating completed at the Ames Vacuum Chamber in N-211.

inspecting computer micro chip, Amdahl Co., CA

Kepler project; technicians from Ball Aerospace work on and in the test chamber assembled at Nasa Ames Research center testing components

LCROSS flight hardware in clean room at Ames N-240. EEL personnel fabricating testing components with Jerry Wang of Ames, Engineering Evaluation lab

Astronaut Scott Kelly initiated VEG-01 B, the second crop of lettuce, on July, 8, 2015, and both Kelly and Astronaut Kjell Lindgren cared for the plants. The crop grew for 33 days. VEG-01 B included one set of six plant pillows planted with red romaine lettuce seeds. On Aug. 10, 2015, the crew harvested and consumed leaves from each plant. This was the first crop grown and consumed in NASA hardware. They harvested the rest of the plant tissue and froze it in the stations Minus Eighty-Degree Laboratory Freezer for ISS (MELFI) for return to Earth for further study including microbial analysis, antioxidant capacity, mineral analysis and anthocyanin concentration.

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. -- At Astrotech Space Operations in Titusville, Fla., a worker prepares one of the THEMIS probes for electrical system checkout. THEMIS consists of five identical probes, the largest number of scientific satellites ever launched into orbit aboard a single rocket. This unique constellation of satellites will resolve the tantalizing mystery of what causes the spectacular sudden brightening of the aurora borealis and aurora australis - the fiery skies over the Earth's northern and southern polar regions. THEMIS is scheduled to launch Feb. 15 from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station.

Reportage in the French National Police's Criminal Research Institute in Rosny-sous-Bois, France. Fire and Explosives Department (chemical analysis of fire and explosives residue). Checking sealed evidence.

Laboratory assistant researching a vaccine, CureVac GmbH in the Tuebingen-Reutlingen Technology Park, Biotechnology Start-up Centre, Stuttgart, Germany, Europe

Engineers lower MOXIE (the Mars Oxygen ISRU Experiment) into the belly of NASA's Perseverance rover. MOXIE is a technology demonstration designed to convert carbon dioxide in the Martian atmosphere into oxygen. In the distant future, astronauts could use technology like MOXIE for breathing and to generate industrial quantities of rocket propellant in order to launch themselves back to Earth. Movie available at

At Space Launch Complex 2 at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, technicians prepare three poly picosatellite orbital deployers, or P-POD containers, with tiny satellites, called CubeSats inside, for installation on the direct mate adapter of the United Launch Alliance Delta II rocket, on Aug. 31, 2018. NASA's Ice, Cloud and land Elevation Satellite-2 (ICESat-2) is ready for launch aboard the final Delta II rocket. Launch is scheduled for Sept. 15, 2018. ICESat-2 will measure the height of a changing Earth, one laser pulse at a time, 10,000 laser pulses a second. The satellite will carry the Advanced Topographic Laser Altimeter System (ATLAS). ICESat-2 will help scientists investigate why, and how much our planet's frozen and icy areas, called the cryosphere, are changing in a warming climate.

Inside the Space Station Processing Facility high bay at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, technicians prepare the Neutron star Interior Composition Explorer, or NICER, payload for final packaging. NICER will be delivered to the International Space Station aboard the SpaceX Dragon cargo carrier on the companys 11th commercial resupply services mission to the space station. NICER will study neutron stars through soft X-ray timing. NICER will enable rotation-resolved spectroscopy of the thermal and non-thermal emissions of neutron stars in the soft X-ray band with unprecedented sensitivity, probing interior structure, the origins of dynamic phenomena and the mechanisms that underlie the most powerful cosmic particle accelerators known.

VANDENBERG AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. -- In Bldg. 1610 at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, workers guide an upper segment of the transportation canister toward the NOAA-N Prime spacecraft. NOAA-N Prime is the latest polar-orbiting operational environmental weather satellite developed by NASA for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. The satellite is scheduled to launch Feb. 4 aboard a Delta II rocket from Vandenberg Air Force Base.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - In the tile shop at NASA's Kennedy Space Center, a worker removes a Boeing Replacement Insulation 18, or BRI-18, tile from a 2,200-degree oven. The baking is part of the process to prepare the tiles for installation on space shuttles. BRI-18 is the strongest material used for thermal insulation on the orbiters and, when coated to produce toughened unipiece fibrous insulation, provides a tile with extremely high-impact resistance. It is replacing other tiles on areas of the vehicle where impact risk is high, such as the landing gear doors, the wing leading edge and the external tank doors.

ISS025-E-007780 (18 Oct. 2010) --- NASA astronaut Shannon Walker, Expedition 25 flight engineer, works with the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) experiment HydroTropi (Hydrotropism & Auxin-Inducible Gene Expression in Roots Grown under Microgravity Conditions) in the Kibo laboratory of the International Space Station.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - Inside the Astrotech payload processing facility near NASAs Kennedy Space Center in Florida, from left, Kennedy Space Center Director Bob Cabana and NASA Administrator Charlie Bolden listen as a technician talks about the Radiation Belt Storm Probes, or RBSP, spacecraft.NASAs RBSP mission will help us understand the suns influence on Earth and near-Earth space by studying the Earths radiation belts on various scales of space and time. As the spacecraft orbits Earth, the four solar panels will continuously face the sun to provide constant power to its instruments. The boom will provide data of the electric fields that energize radiation particles and modify the structure of the inner magnetosphere. RBSP will begin its mission of exploration of Earths Van Allen radiation belts and the extremes of space weather after its launch aboard a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket. Launch is targeted for Aug. 23.

Kepler project; technicians from Ball Aerospace work on and in the test chamber assembled at Nasa Ames Research center testing components

of 2