Kevin Grossman, project lead for the Gaseous Lunar Oxygen from Regolith Electrolysis (GaLORE) project at NASA Kennedy Space Center’s Swamp Works, checks the hardware for GaLORE on July 21, 2020, inside a laboratory at the center’s Neil Armstrong Operations and Checkout Building. Grossman is leading an Early Career Initiative project that is investing in turning lunar regolith into oxygen that could be used for life support for sustainable human lunar exploration on long-duration missions to Mars. GaLORE was selected as an Early Career Initiative project by NASA’s Space Technology Mission directorate.
NASA astronaut Reid Wiseman, Artemis II commander, undergoes spacesuit checks inside the crew quarters suit-up room in the Neil A. Armstrong Operations and Checkout Building part of the Artemis II Countdown Demonstration Test at the agency’s Kennedy Space Center on Saturday, Dec. 20, 2025. For this operation, the Artemis II crew and launch team are simulating the launch day timeline including suit-up, walkout, and climbing in and out of the spacecraft. Through the Artemis campaign, NASA will send astronauts to explore the Moon for scientific discovery, economic benefits, and to build the foundation for the first crewed missions to Mars, for the benefit of all.
Ye Zhang, a project scientist at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, makes adjustments to a Gravite 3d clinostat in the Microgravity Simulation Support Facility (MSSF) inside the Neil Armstrong Operations and Checkout on Feb. 11, 2020. The facility was developed to provide ground simulation capability to the U.S. research community in order to supplement the limited opportunities to access the International Space Station and other platforms for microgravity research. The MSSF is designed to support biological research on microorganisms, cells, tissues, small plants and small animals. The simulator provides NASA with an alternative platform for microgravity research and creates the opportunity to conduct experiments on the space station in parallel with conditions of simulated microgravity on the ground.
A flatbed truck with the shipping container carrying the heat shield for Orion’s Artemis 2 mission, NASA’s first crewed mission, moves into the Neil Armstrong Operations and Checkout Building high bay at the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on July 9, 2019. The heat shield, measuring roughly 16 feet in diameter, will protect astronauts upon re-entry on the second mission of Artemis. The heat shield arrived from Lockheed Martin’s manufacturing facility near Denver aboard NASA’s Super Guppy Aircraft. The heat shield is a base titanium truss structure. Over the next several months, technicians will apply Avcoat, an ablative material that will provide the thermal protection. Artemis 2 will confirm all of the spacecraft’s systems operate as designed in the actual environment of deep space with astronauts aboard.
NASA’s SpaceX Crew-6 astronauts walk out of the Neil Armstrong Operations and Checkout Building at the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on March 1, 2023. In front, from left are NASA astronaut Warren “Woody” Hoburg, pilot; and NASA astronaut Stephen Bowen, spacecraft commander. Behind them, from left are Andrey Fedyaev, Roscosmos cosmonaut and mission specialist; and Sultan Alneyadi, UAE (United Arab Emirates) astronaut and mission specialist. They will board two Tesla vehicles for the trip to Kennedy’s Launch Complex 39A, where they will launch to the International Space Station aboard SpaceX’s Dragon Endeavour spacecraft. SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket is scheduled to launch at 12:34 a.m. EST on March 2 from Launch Complex 39A. Crew-6 is the sixth crew rotation mission with SpaceX to the station, and the seventh flight of Dragon with people as part of the agency’s Commercial Crew Program.
Inside the Neil Armstrong Operations and Checkout Building high bay at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, Lockheed Martin technicians are preparing the Orion crew module adapter (CMA) for Exploration Mission 1 (EM-1) for the move into a clean room. The CMA will undergo propellant and environmental control and life support system tube installation and welding. The adapter will connect the Orion crew module to the European Space Agency-provided service module. The Orion spacecraft will launch atop NASA’s Space Launch System rocket on EM-1, its first deep space mission, in late 2018.
A team from Honeybee Robotics in Altadena, California participates in simulation training for the Polar Resources Ice Mining Experiment-1 (PRIME-1) on Thursday, Nov. 2, 2023, inside the Neil Armstrong Operations and Checkout Building at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The purpose of the training is to get the integrated PRIME-1 team – engineers with PRIME-1’s MSOLO (Mass Spectrometer Observing Lunar Operations) and Honeybee Robotics’ TRIDENT (The Regolith and Ice Drill for Exploring New Terrain) drill – prepared to operate the instrument on the lunar surface. The team commanded the PRIME-1 hardware, located at Intuitive Machines in Houston, to operate MSOLO and TRIDENT. PRIME-1 is scheduled to launch through NASA’s CLPS (Commercial Lunar Payload Delivery Service) initiative and will be the first in-situ resource utilization demonstration on the Moon, with MSOLO and TRIDENT making up its two primary components. Through Artemis missions, CLPS deliveries will be used to perform science experiments, test technologies, and demonstrate capabilities to help NASA explore the Moon and prepare for human deep space exploration missions.
A prototype of Organic Processor Assembly (OPA) – technology capable of treating mixed organic wastes – arrives at the Neil Armstrong Operations and Checkout Building at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Aug. 19, 2020. At the heart of the OPA is an anaerobic membrane bioreactor – a hybrid technology that couples anaerobic digestion with membrane filtration. Developed through a collaboration between Kennedy’s Dr. Luke Roberson and the University of South Florida’s Dr. Daniel Yeh, the OPA was designed for an early planetary base scenario to help close the resource recovery loop, decreasing the agency’s dependence on resupply missions.
Technicians with NASA and Lockheed Martin operate a 30-ton crane to move NASA’s Artemis II Orion spacecraft out of the Final Assembly and System Testing cell inside the Neil A. Operations and Checkout Building at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Saturday, Feb. 22, 2025. The move prepares for the upcoming installation of four solar array wings and spacecraft adapter jettison fairings for the agency’s first crewed flight test under the Artemis campaign.
NASA’s SpaceX Crew-10 crew members prepare to enter the convoy carrying that will take them from the Neil A. Armstrong Operations and Checkout Building at the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida to nearby Launch Complex 39A ahead of launch on Friday, March 14, 2025. NASA astronauts Anne McClain and Nichole Ayers, along with JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) astronaut Takuya Onishi and Roscosmos cosmonaut Kirill Peskov are scheduled to lift off aboard SpaceX’s Dragon spacecraft and Falcon 9 rocket at 7:03 p.m. EDT. Crew-10 is the 10th crew rotation mission with SpaceX to the space station as part of the agency’s Commercial Crew Program.
Florida Lt. Governor Jeanette Nunez is given a tour of the Neil Armstrong Operations and Checkout (O&C) Building high bay by Kennedy Space Center Director Bob Cabana on April 5, 2019. During the tour, Nunez was shown NASA’s Orion spacecraft, which will be flown on the agency’s Exploration Mission-1 (EM-1). Orion will launch atop the Space Launch System rocket from Kennedy’s Launch Complex 39B. This uncrewed mission will provide the foundation for human deep space exploration and pave the way for the crewed EM-2 mission.
Orion is revealed for one of the final times on Jan. 14, as it is readied atop its transport pallet from the Neil Armstrong Operations and Checkout Building at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, along its path to the pad ahead of the Artemis I launch. Orion was officially transferred from the Orion Program to Exploration Ground Systems (EGS) during a handover ceremony. NASA astronaut Randy Bresnik speaks with Kennedy Center Director Bob Cabana inside the high bay. Teams across the globe have worked tirelessly to assemble the spacecraft, which will receive a protective covering prior to departing for the Multi-Payload Processing Facility to begin ground processing by the EGS and Jacobs teams.
NASA astronaut, Christina Koch, Artemis II mission specialist, undergoes spacesuit checks inside the crew quarters suit-up room in the Neil A. Armstrong Operations and Checkout Building part of the Artemis II Countdown Demonstration Test at the agency’s Kennedy Space Center on Saturday, Dec. 20, 2025. For this operation, the Artemis II crew and launch team are simulating the launch day timeline including suit-up, walkout, and climbing in and out of the spacecraft. Through the Artemis campaign, NASA will send astronauts to explore the Moon for scientific discovery, economic benefits, and to build the foundation for the first crewed missions to Mars, for the benefit of all.
NASA’s SpaceX Crew-10 crew members pose for a photo after walking out of the Neil A. Armstrong Operations and Checkout Building at the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida ahead of launch of the Crew-10 mission on Friday, March 14, 2025. From left to right, Roscosmos cosmonaut Kirill Peskov, NASA astronauts Anne McClain and Nichole Ayers, along with JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) astronaut Takuya Onishi are scheduled to lift off aboard SpaceX’s Dragon spacecraft and Falcon 9 rocket at 7:03 p.m. EDT, from Launch Complex 39A at NASA Kennedy. Crew-10 is the 10th crew rotation mission with SpaceX to the space station as part of the agency’s Commercial Crew Program.
Kennedy Space Center employee Jonathan Gleeson (right) and Kennedy intern Patrick Follis assemble the flight hardware of NASA’s Orbital Syngas Commodity Augmentation Reactor, or OSCAR. OSCAR is an Early Career Initiative project at the Florida spaceport that studies technology to convert trash and human waste into useful gasses such as methane, hydrogen and carbon dioxide. By processing small pieces of trash in a high-temperature reactor, OSCAR is advancing new and innovative technology for managing waste in space. OSCAR would reduce the amount of space needed for waste storage within a spacecraft, turn some waste into gasses that have energy storage and life support applications, and ensure waste is no longer biologically active. A prototype has been developed, and a team of Kennedy employees are in the process of constructing a new rig for suborbital flight testing.
Jakebia Keith, program and contract analyst for the IT Resources Management Office and secretary for the Black Employee Strategy Team (BEST), one of the center’s employee resource groups, stands during recognition at the Black History Month celebration on Feb. 18, 2020, at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The program was organized by BEST. This year’s theme was “African Americans and the Vote.” James Jennings, former NASA associate administrator for Institutions and Management and former Kennedy Space Center deputy director, was keynote speaker at the event.
On April 10, 2024, the Artemis II Orion spacecraft is seen inside the west altitude chamber in the Operations and Checkout Building at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, where it will undergo electromagnetic interference and compatibility testing.
Christina Khodada, a research scientist working with the Exploration Research and Technology Programs, prepares containers Feb. 11, 2021, at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida for a Materials International Space Station Experiment (MISSE). The containers, carrying sets of seeds, will fly aboard Northrop Grumman’s Cygnus spacecraft as part of NG-15, a NASA commercial resupply mission to the orbiting laboratory targeted for Feb. 20, 2021. They will be placed in the MISSE testing facility, located near the space station’s solar arrays, where they will be exposed to the extreme environment of space for six months before returning to Earth for further study.
James Jennings, former NASA associate administrator for Institutions and Management and former Kennedy Space Center deputy director, was the keynote speaker at the center’s Black History Month celebration on Feb. 18, 2020. The program was organized by the Black Employee Strategy Team (BEST), one of the center’s employee resource groups. This year’s theme was “African Americans and the Vote.” Jennings shared advice with workers and managers.
NASA’s SpaceX Crew-6 crewmembers participate in final fit checks of their SpaceX spacesuits in the crew suit-up room inside the Neil Armstrong Operations and Checkout Building at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on March 1, 2023. In view is Sultan Alneyadi, UAE (United Arab Emirates) astronaut and mission specialist. Alneyadi and his crewmates are preparing for launch to the International Space Station aboard SpaceX’s Dragon spacecraft Endeavour atop the Falcon 9 rocket. Launch is target for 12:34 a.m. EST on March 2 from Launch Complex 39A. Crew-6 is the sixth crew rotation mission with SpaceX to the station, and the seventh flight of Dragon with people as part of the agency’s Commercial Crew Program.
Pictured inside the Neil Armstrong Operations and Checkout Building high bay at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Aug. 6, 2020, are the three Spacecraft Adapter Jettison fairing panels that will protect Orion's service module from the environment around it, whether it's heat, wind or acoustics during the ascent. Unlike conventional rocket fairings, Orion's are designed to support half of the weight of the crew module and launch abort system during launch and ascent, which will maximize the size and capability of the spacecraft that can be delivered to orbit. Orion will fly on the agency’s Artemis I mission – the first in a series of increasingly complex missions to the Moon that will ultimately lead to the exploration of Mars.
Inside the Neil Armstrong Operations and Checkout Building high bay at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, Orion's crew module adapter is mated to the European Service Module on Nov. 16, 2018. For the first time, NASA will use a European-built system as a critical element to power an American spacecraft, extending the international cooperation of the International Space Station into deep space. The European Service Module is a unique collaboration across space agencies and industry including ESA's prime contractor, Airbus, and 10 European countries. The completion of service module work in Europe and shipment to Kennedy signifies a major milestone toward NASA's deep space exploration missions to the Moon and beyond.
Members of the European Service Module processing team from the European Space Agency and Airbus inspect the insulation on the underside of the Orion service module for Artemis I inside the Neil Armstrong Operations and Checkout Building high bay at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Sept. 23, 2020. Work is also underway to attach protective covers over the solar arrays wings that were installed on the service module. Each solar array panel will generate 11 kilowatts of power and span about 63 feet. The array is a component of Orion’s service module, which is provided by the European Space Agency and built by Airbus Defence and Space to supply Orion’s power, propulsion, air and water. The first in a series of increasingly complex missions, Artemis I will test the Orion spacecraft and Space Launch System as an integrated system ahead of crewed flights to the Moon. Under the Artemis program, NASA will land the first woman and the next man on the Moon in 2024.
Inside the Microbiology Lab at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Oct. 6, 2021, Microbiologist Jennifer Gooden works with frozen lettuce samples that recently returned from the International Space Station as part of NASA’s SpaceX 23rd commercial resupply services mission. The experiment, titled VEG-03J, involved “Outredgeous” red romaine lettuce grown in the Veggie Production System (Veggie) on the space station and demonstrated a new way of storing, handling, and planting seeds in space. NASA is studying how to effectively grow crops in space so plants can provide supplemental nutrients to astronaut crews on long-duration missions, such as a mission to Mars.
Inside the Neil Armstrong Operations and Checkout Building high bay at Kennedy Space Center, NASA’s iconic “worm” logo and European Space Agency (ESA) logo have been added to the aft wall of Orion’s crew module adapter ahead of NASA’s Artemis I mission. Originally created by the firm of Danne & Blackburn, the “worm” logo’s bold, sleek design was officially introduced in 1975 and was incorporated into many of the agency’s next-generation programs. It was retired in 1992, but has made a comeback in 2020 as the agency ushers in a new, modern era of human spaceflight. The Orion spacecraft is being prepared for installation of the solar array wings on Sept. 23, 2020. The first in a series of increasingly complex missions, Artemis I will test the Orion spacecraft and Space Launch System as an integrated system ahead of crewed flights to the Moon. Under the Artemis program, NASA will land the first woman and the next man on the Moon by 2024.
NASA’s KAMAG transporter carries the agency’s Artemis II Orion spacecraft from the Neil A. Armstrong Operations and Checkout Building to the Multi-Payload Processing Facility at Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Saturday, May 3, 2025. The Orion spacecraft will undergo fueling and processing operations at the Multi-Function Facility. The Artemis II test flight is the first crewed flight under NASA’s Artemis campaign and is another step toward missions on the lunar surface and helping the agency prepare for future human missions to Mars.
Kathy Lueders, second from right, associate administrator of the Human Exploration and Operations Mission Directorate, tours the Neil Armstrong Operations and Checkout Building high bay at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Jan. 14, 2021. In the background is the Orion crew module for the Artemis II mission. From left are Tony Antonelli, Lockheed Martin Orion Program director and Artemis II Mission director; Cathy Koerner, Orion Program manager; and Scott Wilson, Orion Production Operations manager. The group also viewed the Orion spacecraft for Artemis I as it was lowered onto a transporter for the move to the Multi-Payload Processing Facility to begin ground processing by the Exploration Ground Systems and Jacobs teams.
Technicians with NASA and Lockheed Martin operate a 30-ton crane to move NASA’s Artemis II Orion spacecraft out of the Final Assembly and System Testing cell inside the Neil A. Operations and Checkout Building at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Saturday, Feb. 22, 2025. The move prepares for the upcoming installation of four solar array wings and spacecraft adapter jettison fairings for the agency’s first crewed flight test under the Artemis campaign.
Kathy Lueders, third from left, associate administrator of the Human Exploration and Operations Mission Directorate, tours the Neil Armstrong Operations and Checkout Building high bay at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Jan. 14, 2021. In the background is the Orion crew module for the Artemis II mission. From left are NASA astronaut Randy Bresnik; Tony Antonelli, Lockheed Martin Orion Program director and Artemis II Mission director; Howard Hu, Orion deputy program manager; Cathy Koerner, Orion Program manager; Scott Wilson, Orion Production Operations manager; Jules Schneider, Lockheed Martin director of Orion Assembly, Test and Launch Operations at Kennedy; and Nathan Varn, Lockheed Martin Production Control director. The group also viewed the Orion spacecraft for Artemis I as it was lowered onto a transporter for the move to the Multi-Payload Processing Facility to begin ground processing by the Exploration Ground Systems and Jacobs teams.
Ray Pitts, co-principal investigator for the Orbital Syngas Commodity Augmentation Reactor (OSCAR), performs ground testing at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The tests are in preparation for a scheduled suborbital flight test later this year, facilitated by NASA’s Flight Opportunities program. Begun as an Early Career Initiative project, OSCAR evaluates technology to make use of trash and human waste generated during long-duration spaceflight.
Technicians wearing protective equipment perform work for a future mission on flight hardware for NASA’s Orbital Syngas Commodity Augmentation Reactor, or OSCAR, at the Neil Armstrong Operations and Checkout Facility at the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Aug. 10, 2020. OSCAR began as an Early Career Initiative project at the spaceport that studies technology to convert trash and human waste into useful gasses such as methane, hydrogen, and carbon dioxide. By processing small pieces of trash in a high-temperature reactor, OSCAR is advancing new and innovative technology for managing waste in space.
Kennedy Space Center Associate Director Kelvin Manning speaks to guests at NASA's "Powering Exploration Mission-1" ceremony in the high bay of the Neil Armstrong Operations and Checkout Building at the center on Nov. 16, 2018. The event was held to mark a major milestone, the arrival of the European Service Module (ESM) for Orion's Exploration Mission-1. The service module, built by the European Space Agency, will supply the main propulsion system and power to the Orion spacecraft during EM-1, a mission to the Moon. The ESM also will house air and water for astronauts on future missions. EM-1 will be an uncrewed flight test that will provide a foundation for human deep space exploration to destinations beyond Earth orbit. EM-1 will be the first integrated test of NASA's Space Launch System, Orion and the ground systems at Kennedy.
Kathy Lueders, third from right, associate administrator of the Human Exploration and Operations Mission Directorate, tours the Neil Armstrong Operations and Checkout Building high bay at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Jan. 14, 2021. In the background is the heat shield for the Orion crew module for the Artemis II mission. From left are Cathy Koerner, Orion Program manager; Tony Antonelli, Lockheed Martin Orion Program director and Artemis II Mission director; NASA astronaut Randy Bresnik; and Scott Wilson, Orion Production Operations manager. The group also viewed the Orion spacecraft for Artemis I as it was lowered onto a transporter for the move to the Multi-Payload Processing Facility to begin ground processing by the Exploration Ground Systems and Jacobs teams.
JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) astronaut Takuya Onishi signs his name inside the Astronaut Crew Quarters in the Neil A. Armstrong Operations and Checkout Building at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Friday, March 7, 2025, ahead of NASA’s SpaceX Crew-10 mission. Crew-10 is the 10th crew rotation mission of the SpaceX Dragon spacecraft and Falcon 9 rocket that will send NASA astronauts Anne McClain and Nichole Ayers, along with Onishi and Roscosmos cosmonaut Kirill Peskov to the International Space Station as part of the agency’s Commercial Crew Program. The mission is scheduled to launch no earlier than 7:48 p.m. EDT on Wednesday, March 12, 2025, from NASA Kennedy’s Launch Complex 39A.
Family members of NASA SpaceX’s Crew-1 astronauts say goodbye as the astronauts are secured inside two Tesla vehicles for the trip to Launch Complex 39A after emerging from the Neil Armstrong Operations and Checkout Building at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Nov. 15, 2020. NASA astronauts Shannon Walker, mission specialist; Michael Hopkins, spacecraft commander; and Victor Glover, pilot; along with JAXA astronaut Soichi Noguchi, mission specialist, will board the Crew Dragon at the launch pad. Crew-1 is the first regular crew mission of a U.S. commercial spacecraft with astronauts to the International Space Station as part of NASA’s Commercial Crew Program. The SpaceX Crew Dragon Resilience capsule will launch atop the company’s Falcon 9 rocket from Pad 39A to the space station for a six-month science mission.
The Orion spacecraft for NASA’s Artemis I mission is in view inside the Neil Armstrong Operations and Checkout Building high bay on Oct. 28, 2020, at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The NASA insignia, also called the “meatball,” and the American Flag have been applied to the Orion crew module back shell. Attached below Orion are the crew module adapter and the European Service Module (ESM) with spacecraft adapter jettison fairings installed. Recently, teams from across the globe installed the four solar array wings, which are housed inside the protective covering of the fairings. The fairing panels will encapsulate the ESM to protect it from harsh environments such as heat, wind, and acoustics as the spacecraft is propelled out of Earth’s atmosphere atop the Space Launch System rocket during NASA’s Artemis I mission.
The heat shield for Orion’s Artemis 2 mission, NASA’s first crewed mission, is uncrated in the Neil Armstrong Operations and Checkout Building high bay at the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on July 9, 2019. The heat shield, measuring roughly 16 feet in diameter, will protect astronauts upon re-entry on the second mission of Artemis. The heat shield arrived from Lockheed Martin’s manufacturing facility near Denver aboard NASA’s Super Guppy Aircraft. The heat shield is a base titanium truss structure. Over the next several months, technicians will apply Avcoat, an ablative material that will provide the thermal protection. Artemis 2 will confirm all of the spacecraft’s systems operate as designed in the actual environment of deep space with astronauts aboard.
Jaime Toro, a mechanical engineer supporting the Gaseous Lunar Oxygen from Regolith Electrolysis (GaLORE) project at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, checks the hardware that will be used to melt lunar regolith – dirt and dust on the Moon made from crushed rock – simulants during a test inside a laboratory at Kennedy’s Neil Armstrong Operations and Checkout Building on Oct. 29, 2020. GaLORE was selected as an Early Career Initiative project by the agency’s Space Technology Mission directorate, and the team was tasked with developing a device that could melt lunar regolith and turn it into oxygen. As NASA prepares to land the first woman and the next man on the Moon in 2024 as part of the Artemis program, technology such as this can assist with sustainable human lunar exploration and long-duration missions to Mars.
NASA’s SpaceX Crew-6 crewmembers participate in final fit checks of their SpaceX spacesuits in the crew suit-up room inside the Neil Armstrong Operations and Checkout Building at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on March 1, 2023. In view is Andrey Fedyaev, Roscosmos cosmonaut and mission specialist. Fedyaev and his crewmates are preparing for launch to the International Space Station aboard SpaceX’s Dragon spacecraft Endeavour atop the Falcon 9 rocket. Launch is target for 12:34 a.m. EST on March 2 from Launch Complex 39A. Crew-6 is the sixth crew rotation mission with SpaceX to the station, and the seventh flight of Dragon with people as part of the agency’s Commercial Crew Program.
Inside the airlock in the Neil Armstrong Operations and Checkout Building high bay on Nov. 6, 2018, European Space Agency (ESA) and Airbus engineers check the ESA European Service Module (ESM) after it is uncrated at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The ESM will supply the main propulsion system and power to the Orion spacecraft for Exploration Mission-1 (EM-1), a mission to the Moon. The ESM also will house air and water for astronauts on future missions. EM-1 will be an uncrewed flight test that will provide a foundation for human deep space exploration to destinations beyond Earth orbit. EM-1 will be the first integrated test of NASA's Space Launch System, Orion and the ground systems at Kennedy.
In view, protective covers have been placed over two solar array wings after they were installed on the Orion spacecraft for Artemis I inside the Neil Armstrong Operations and Checkout Building high bay at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Sept. 25, 2020. Standing in front of the spacecraft are technicians with ASRC. The solar arrays were extended, inspected, and then retracted before installation on the spacecraft. Each of the four solar array panels will generate 11 kilowatts of power and span about 63 feet. The array is a component of Orion’s service module, which is provided by the European Space Agency and built by Airbus Defence and Space to supply Orion’s power, propulsion, air, and water. The first in a series of increasingly complex missions, Artemis I will test the Orion spacecraft and Space Launch System as an integrated system ahead of crewed flights to the Moon. Under the Artemis program, NASA will land the first woman and the next man on the Moon in 2024.
NASA’s SpaceX Crew-6 astronauts walk out of the Neil Armstrong Operations and Checkout Building at the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Feb. 26, 2023. In front, from left are NASA astronaut Warren “Woody” Hoburg, pilot; and NASA astronaut Stephen Bowen, spacecraft commander. Behind them, from left are Andrey Fedyaev, Roscosmos cosmonaut and mission specialist; and Sultan Alneyadi, UAE (United Arab Emirates) astronaut and mission specialist. They will board two Tesla vehicles for the trip to Kennedy’s Launch Complex 39A, where they will launch to the International Space Station aboard SpaceX’s Dragon Endeavour spacecraft. SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket was scheduled to launch at 1:45 a.m. EST on Feb. 27 from Launch Complex 39A, but launch was scrubbed for the day. Crew-6 is the sixth crew rotation mission with SpaceX to the station, and the seventh flight of Dragon with people as part of the agency’s Commercial Crew Program.
From top left to right, NASA astronauts Victor Glover, Artemis II pilot; Reid Wiseman, Artemis II commander; CSA (Canadian Space Agency) astronaut Jeremy Hansen, Artemis II mission specialist, and NASA astronaut Christina Koch, Artemis II mission specialist, suit up and walk out of the Neil A. Armstrong Operations and Checkout Building at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Monday, Aug. 11, 2025. During a two-day operation, the Artemis II team practiced night-run demonstrations of different launch day scenarios for the Artemis II test flight. Through the Artemis campaign, NASA will send astronauts to explore the Moon for scientific discovery, economic benefits, and to build the foundation for the first crewed missions to Mars – for the benefit of all.
Florida Lt. Governor Jeanette Nunez and Kennedy Space Center Director Bob Cabana are photographed inside the Florida spaceport’s Neil Armstrong Operations and Checkout (O&C) Building high bay on April 5, 2019. During her tour of the O&C, Nunez was shown NASA’s Orion spacecraft, which will be flown on the agency’s Exploration Mission-1 (EM-1). Orion will launch atop the Space Launch System rocket from Kennedy’s Launch Complex 39B. This uncrewed mission will provide the foundation for human deep space exploration and pave the way for the crewed EM-2 mission.
The Artemis I Orion spacecraft with its spacecraft adapter cone attached, is moved by crane along the high bay inside the Neil Armstrong Operations and Checkout Building at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Aug. 20, 2020. This is one of the final major hardware operations the spacecraft will undergo during closeout processing prior to being integrated with the Space Launch System (SLS) rocket in preparation for the first Artemis mission. The spacecraft adapter cone connects the bottom portion of Orion’s service module to the top part of the rocket known as the interim cryogenic propulsion stage (ICPS). Orion will fly on the agency’s Artemis I mission – the first in a series of increasingly complex missions to the Moon that will ultimately lead to the exploration of Mars.
NASA’s SpaceX Crew-3 astronauts participate in a countdown dress rehearsal at the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Oct. 28, 2021, to prepare for the upcoming Crew-3 launch. Raja Chari, commander, runs through checkouts of his SpaceX spacesuit inside the crew suitup room in the Neil A. Armstrong Operations and Checkout Building. Chari, along with NASA astronauts Tom Marshburn, pilot, Kayla Barron, mission specialist, and European Space Agency astronaut Matthias Maurer, also a mission specialist, will launch aboard the Crew Dragon atop the Falcon 9 to the International Space Station. Launch is targeted for no earlier than Nov. 6 at 11:36 p.m. EDT from Launch Complex 39A. Crew-3 is the third crew rotation flight to the space station for NASA’s Commercial Crew Program, and the first flight of a new Crew Dragon spacecraft.
Inside the Neil Armstrong Operations and Checkout Building high bay at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, the protective covering was removed from the Orion crew module structural test article (STA). It remains secured on the bottom of its transport container. The STA arrived aboard NASA's Super Guppy aircraft at the Shuttle Landing Facility operated by Space Florida. The test article was moved inside the facility's high bay for further testing. The Orion spacecraft will launch atop NASA’s Space Launch System rocket on EM-1, its first deep space mission, in late 2018.
Srujana Neelam, a researcher working at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, dissects Arabidopsis thaliana plants from petri plates used in microgravity simulation devices in the Microgravity Simulation Support Facility (MSSF) inside the Neil Armstrong Operations and Checkout building on Feb. 11, 2020. The facility was developed to provide ground simulation capability to the U.S. research community in order to supplement the limited opportunities to access the International Space Station and other platforms for microgravity research. The MSSF is designed to support biological research on microorganisms, cells, tissues, small plants and small animals. The simulator provides NASA with an alternative platform for microgravity research and creates the opportunity to conduct experiments on the space station in parallel with conditions of simulated microgravity on the ground.
Orion is revealed for one of the final times on Jan. 14, as it is lowered by crane onto its transport pallet inside the Neil Armstrong Operations and Checkout Building at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, along its path to the pad ahead of the Artemis I launch. Teams across the globe have worked tirelessly to assemble the spacecraft which will receive a protective covering prior to departing for the Multi-Payload Processing Facility to begin ground processing by the Exploration Ground Systems and Jacobs teams.
Work for Artemis II continues inside the Operations and Checkout building at NASA's Kennedy Space Center on Thursday, Feb. 1, 2024. Teams with Lockheed Martin and NASA are preparing the Orion spacecraft for vacuum testing this spring. Four astronauts will venture around the Moon in the Orion spacecraft on Artemis II, the first crewed mission on NASA's path to establishing a long-term presence at the Moon for science and exploration through the Artemis campaign.
The Orion spacecraft for NASA’s Artemis II mission received its latest makeover. Teams adhered the agency’s iconic “worm” logo and ESA (European Space Agency) insignia on the spacecraft’s crew module adapter on Sunday, Jan. 28, inside the Neil Armstrong Operations and Checkout Building at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
Inside the Neil Armstrong Operations and Checkout Building high bay at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, the Orion crew module adapter (CMA) for Exploration Mission 1 (EM-1) is in a clean room with protective walls secured around it. The adapter will undergo propellant and environmental control and life support system tube installation and welding. The adapter will connect the Orion crew module to the European Space Agency-provided service module. The Orion spacecraft will launch atop NASA’s Space Launch System rocket on EM-1, its first deep space mission, in late 2018.
Kevin Grossman, project lead for the Gaseous Lunar Oxygen from Regolith Electrolysis (GaLORE) project at NASA Kennedy Space Center’s Swamp Works, inspects a piece of hardware for GaLORE on July 21, 2020, inside a laboratory at the center’s Neil Armstrong Operations and Checkout Building. Grossman is leading an Early Career Initiative project that is investing in turning lunar regolith into oxygen that could be used for life support for sustainable human lunar exploration on long-duration missions to Mars. GaLORE was selected as an Early Career Initiative project by NASA’s Space Technology Mission directorate.
From right to left, NASA astronauts Mike Fincke and Zena Cardman, along with Roscosmos cosmonaut Oleg Platonov and JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) astronaut Kimiya Yui, pose next to their mission patch logo inside the Astronaut Crew Quarters in the Neil A. Armstrong Operations and Checkout Building at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Monday, July 28, 2025. NASA’s SpaceX Crew-11 crew members will launch aboard a SpaceX Dragon spacecraft and Falcon 9 to the International Space Station no earlier than 12:09 p.m. EDT on Thursday, July 31, 2025, from NASA Kennedy’s Launch Complex 39A.
NASA’s SpaceX Crew-10 crew members walk out of the Neil A. Armstrong Operations and Checkout Building at the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida ahead of launch on Wednesday, March 12, 2025. NASA astronauts Nichole Ayers (front, left) and Anne McClain (front, right), along with Roscosmos cosmonaut Kirill Peskov (second row, left), and JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) astronaut Takuya Onishi (second row, right) are scheduled to lift off aboard SpaceX’s Dragon spacecraft and Falcon 9 rocket at 7:48 p.m. EDT, from Launch Complex 39A at NASA Kennedy. Crew-10 is the tenth crew rotation mission with SpaceX to the space station as part of the agency’s Commercial Crew Program.
The Artemis I Orion spacecraft with its spacecraft adapter cone attached, is moved by crane along the high bay inside the Neil Armstrong Operations and Checkout Building at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Aug. 20, 2020. This is one of the final major hardware operations the spacecraft will undergo during closeout processing prior to being integrated with the Space Launch System (SLS) rocket in preparation for the first Artemis mission. The spacecraft adapter cone connects the bottom portion of Orion’s service module to the top part of the rocket known as the interim cryogenic propulsion stage (ICPS). Orion will fly on the agency’s Artemis I mission – the first in a series of increasingly complex missions to the Moon that will ultimately lead to the exploration of Mars.
Mary Lakaszcyck, a technician with ASRC Federal Data Solutions, demonstrates a pair of augmented reality (AR) goggles inside the high bay of the Neil Armstrong Operations and Checkout Building at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Jan. 16, 2020. Orion manufacturer Lockheed Martin provided the goggles to technicians to help place tapes where components will be installed on the Orion crew module adapter for NASA’s Artemis II mission, the first crewed mission aboard the spacecraft. Using the AR goggles saves significant labor and time to complete tasks. Manufactured by Microsoft, the goggles, called HoloLens2, are the second version used by Lockheed.
NASA’s SpaceX Crew-10 crew members walk out of the Astronaut Crew Quarters inside the Neil A. Armstrong Operations and Checkout Building at the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida ahead of launch on Friday, March 14, 2025. NASA astronauts Nichole Ayers and Anne McClain, along with JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) astronaut Takuya Onishi and Roscosmos cosmonaut Kirill Peskov are scheduled to lift off aboard SpaceX’s Dragon spacecraft and Falcon 9 rocket at 7:03 p.m. EDT, from Launch Complex 39A at NASA Kennedy. Crew-10 is the tenth crew rotation mission with SpaceX to the space station as part of the agency’s Commercial Crew Program.
Technicians with European Service Module processing teams from the European Space Agency, Airbus, and Airbus Netherlands assist with securing a protective cover as a crane prepares to lift the panel during installation of one of four solar array wings inside the Neil Armstrong Operations and Checkout Building high bay at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Sept. 23, 2020. The Orion spacecraft for Artemis I is shown in the background. The solar arrays were extended, inspected, and then retracted, before installation on the spacecraft. Each solar array panel will generate 11 kilowatts of power and span about 63 feet. The array is a component of Orion’s service module, which is provided by the European Space Agency and built by Airbus Defence and Space to supply Orion’s power, propulsion, air and water. The first in a series of increasingly complex missions, Artemis I will test the Orion spacecraft and Space Launch System as an integrated system ahead of crewed flights to the Moon. Under the Artemis program, NASA will land the first woman and the next man on the Moon in 2024.
Ye Zhang, a project scientist at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, makes adjustments to a Gravite 3d clinostat in the Microgravity Simulation Support Facility (MSSF) inside the Neil Armstrong Operations and Checkout building at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Feb. 11, 2020. The facility was developed to provide ground simulation capability to the U.S. research community in order to supplement the limited opportunities to access the International Space Station and other platforms for microgravity research. The MSSF is designed to support biological research on microorganisms, cells, tissues, small plants and small animals. The simulator provides NASA with an alternative platform for microgravity research and creates the opportunity to conduct experiments on the space station in parallel with conditions of simulated microgravity on the ground.
The Artemis I Orion spacecraft with its spacecraft adapter cone attached, is moved by crane into the FAST cell inside the Neil Armstrong Operations and Checkout Building at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Aug. 20, 2020. This is one of the final major hardware operations the spacecraft will undergo during closeout processing prior to being integrated with the Space Launch System (SLS) rocket in preparation for the first Artemis mission. The spacecraft adapter cone connects the bottom portion of Orion’s service module to the top part of the rocket known as the interim cryogenic propulsion stage (ICPS). Orion will fly on the agency’s Artemis I mission – the first in a series of increasingly complex missions to the Moon that will ultimately lead to the exploration of Mars.
The Orion spacecraft, secured atop a transporter in its shipping container, arrives at the Neil Armstrong Operations and Checkout Building at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on March 25, 2020, for final testing and assembly. The spacecraft was transported to Kennedy in NASA’s Super Guppy aircraft from the agency’s Plum Brook Station in Ohio, where it underwent two phase of environmental testing. Following these final preparations, Orion will be integrated with the Space Launch System rocket for the Artemis I launch – the first in a series of increasingly complex missions to the Moon that will ultimately lead to the exploration of Mars.
Inside the Neil Armstrong Operations and Checkout Building at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, Lockheed Martin technicians monitor the progress as a crane lowers the Orion crew module structural test article (STA) toward a test tool called the birdcage. The STA arrived aboard NASA's Super Guppy aircraft at the Shuttle Landing Facility operated by Space Florida. The test article will be secured on the birdcage for further testing. The Orion spacecraft will launch atop NASA’s Space Launch System rocket on EM-1, its first deep space mission, in late 2018.
Inside the Neil Armstrong Operations and Checkout Building high bay at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, Lockheed Martin technicians secure a protective cover around the Orion crew module adapter (CMA) for Exploration Mission 1 (EM-1) for its move to a clean room. The CMA will undergo propellant and environmental control and life support system tube installation and welding. The adapter will connect the Orion crew module to the European Space Agency-provided service module. The Orion spacecraft will launch atop NASA’s Space Launch System rocket on EM-1, its first deep space mission, in late 2018.
NASA’s SpaceX Crew-3 astronauts participate in a countdown dress rehearsal at the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Oct. 28, 2021, to prepare for the upcoming Crew-3 launch. Tom Marshburn, pilot, runs through checkouts of his SpaceX spacesuit inside the crew suitup room in the Neil A. Armstrong Operations and Checkout Building. Marshburn, along with Raja Chari, pilot, Kayla Barron, mission specialist, and Matthias Maurer, with the European Space Agency, and also a mission specialist, will launch aboard the Crew Dragon atop the Falcon 9 to the International Space Station. Launch is targeted for no earlier than Nov. 6 at 11:36 p.m. EDT from Launch Complex 39A. Crew-3 is the third crew rotation flight to the space station for NASA’s Commercial Crew Program, and the first flight of a new Crew Dragon spacecraft.
Catherine Koerner, at right, NASA Orion Program manager, along with senior managers from Orion and Lockheed Martin, tours the Neil Armstrong Operations and Checkout Building at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Oct. 6, 2020. Accompanying her, at left is Mike Hawes, Lockheed Martin vice president and Orion Program manager. Koerner viewed Orion spacecraft for the Artemis I and II missions. The first in a series of increasingly complex missions, Artemis I will test the Orion spacecraft and Space Launch System as an integrated system ahead of crewed flights to the Moon. Under the Artemis program, NASA will land the first woman and the next man on the Moon in 2024.
Modifications and upgrades are underway inside the Astronaut Crew Quarters in the Neil Armstrong Operations and Checkout Building at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The walls inside the meeting room are being painted. New carpeting has been installed. The crew quarters are being prepared for the next generation of space explorers. The historic facility housed Apollo and space shuttle astronauts before and after their missions into space.
NASA astronaut Nichole Ayers is photographed in her SpaceX spacesuit inside the crew suit-up room in the Neil A. Armstrong Operations and Checkout Building at the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida ahead of launch of NASA’s SpaceX Crew-10 mission on Friday, March 14, 2025. Ayers and fellow NASA astronaut Anne McClain, along with JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) astronaut Takuya Onishi and Roscosmos cosmonaut Kirill Peskov are scheduled to lift off aboard SpaceX’s Dragon spacecraft and Falcon 9 rocket at 7:03 p.m. EDT, from Launch Complex 39A at NASA Kennedy. Crew-10 is the 10th crew rotation mission with SpaceX to the space station as part of the agency’s Commercial Crew Program.
During a mission dress rehearsal, NASA’s Boeing Crew Flight Test astronaut Butch Wilmore is photographed in his Boeing spacesuit inside the crew suit-up room inside the Neil A. Armstrong Operations and Checkout Building at the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Friday, April 26, 2024. As part of the agency’s Commercial Crew Program, Wilmore and Williams are the first to launch to the International Space Station aboard Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft. Liftoff atop a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket from Space Launch Complex-41 at nearby Cape Canaveral Space Force Station is scheduled for 10:34 p.m. ET Monday, May 6.
Members of the STS-88 crew tour Kennedy Space Center’s Neil Armstrong Operations & Checkout building on Dec. 10, 2018. Earlier in the day, STS-88 commander Bob Cabana, along with mission specialists Jerry Ross, Nancy Currie-Gregg and Jim Newman, held a panel discussion in recognition of the 20th anniversary of the first International Space Station assembly mission.
NASA Administrator Bill Nelson, right, tours the Neil Armstrong Operations and Checkout Building during a visit to the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on July 27, 2021. In this photo, Jules Schneider, Lockheed Martin director of Orion Assembly, Test, and Launch Operations at Kennedy, is showing Nelson the thermal protection tiles on the forward bay cover for the Artemis II crew module. Behind Schneider is Kennedy Deputy Director Kelvin Manning. Artemis II is the first crewed mission in a series of missions to the Moon and Mars. The mission will test the Space Launch System rocket and Orion spacecraft as an integrated system with astronauts on board. Through Artemis, NASA will land the first woman and first person of color on the lunar surface, as well as establish a sustainable presence on and around the Moon.
Inside the Neil Armstrong Operations and Checkout Building high bay at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, Lockheed Martin technicians secure a protective cover around the Orion crew module adapter (CMA) for Exploration Mission 1 (EM-1) for its move to a clean room. The CMA will undergo propellant and environmental control and life support system tube installation and welding. The adapter will connect the Orion crew module to the European Space Agency-provided service module. The Orion spacecraft will launch atop NASA’s Space Launch System rocket on EM-1, its first deep space mission, in late 2018.
NASA’s SpaceX Crew-10 crew members walk out of the Neil A. Armstrong Operations and Checkout Building at the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida ahead of launch on Friday, March 14, 2025. NASA astronauts Nichole Ayers (front, left) and Anne McClain (front, right), along with Roscosmos cosmonaut Kirill Peskov (second row, left), and JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) astronaut Takuya Onishi (second row, right) are scheduled to lift off aboard SpaceX’s Dragon spacecraft and Falcon 9 rocket at 7:03 p.m. EDT, from Launch Complex 39A at NASA Kennedy. Crew-10 is the tenth crew rotation mission with SpaceX to the space station as part of the agency’s Commercial Crew Program.
Inside the Neil Armstrong Operations and Checkout Building high bay at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, Lockheed Martin and ASRC workers monitor the progress as a crane is attached to the top of the Orion crew module from Exploration Flight Test 1. The crew module will be moved to the nearby Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex and delivered to the IMAX Theater where it will be prepared for display in the NASA Now exhibit. The Orion spacecraft launched atop a United Launch Alliance Delta IV rocket Dec. 5, 2014, from Space Launch Complex 37 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. The spacecraft built for humans traveled 3,604 miles above Earth and splashed down about 4.5 hours later in the Pacific Ocean.
Guest speaker John Sherwin shares a presentation featuring residential solar and home energy-saving methods during a “lunch and learn” held Tuesday, Oct. 23, 2018, for employees at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Sherwin is the director of the Photovoltaic System Certification and Testing Program at the Florida Solar Energy Center in Cocoa. The event was one of two held during October in conjunction with Energy Awareness Month, which aims to recognize the importance of energy management for our national prosperity, security and environmental sustainability.
Inside the Neil Armstrong Operations and Checkout Building at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, Lockheed Martin technicians monitor the progress as a crane lifts the Orion crew module structural test article (STA) away from the base of its transport container. The STA arrived aboard NASA's Super Guppy aircraft at the Shuttle Landing Facility operated by Space Florida. The test article will be moved to a test tool called the birdcage for further testing. The Orion spacecraft will launch atop NASA’s Space Launch System rocket on EM-1, its first deep space mission, in late 2018.
NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman, Artemis II commander, Victor Glover, Artemis II pilot, Christina Koch, Artemis II mission specialist and CSA (Canadian Space Agency) astronaut Jeremy Hansen, Artemis II mission specialist, depart the Neil A. Armstrong Operations and Checkout Building to travel to the Vehicle Assembly Building to board their Orion spacecraft atop NASA’s SLS (Space Launch System) rocket as part of the Artemis II Countdown Demonstration Test on Saturday, Dec. 20, 2025 at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. For this operation, the Artemis II crew and launch team are simulating the launch day timeline including suit-up, walkout, and climbing in and out of the spacecraft. Through the Artemis campaign, NASA will send astronauts to explore the Moon for scientific discovery, economic benefits, and to build the foundation for the first crewed missions to Mars, for the benefit of all.
Angie Huerta, a first-year Ph.D. student studying particle physics at the University of Notre Dame, recently completed a GEM Fellowship program at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. At Kennedy, Huerta worked closely on a project testing hydrogen plasma on lunar regolith simulant, which is similar to returned lunar soil samples, to explore the plasma’s reliability and efficiency potential for Artemis, NASA’s lunar exploration program.
ASRC technicians Dustin Swickert, to the left. and John Nesbitt, to the right, work to attach the crane that lifts the Artemis I Orion spacecraft in preparation for installation of the spacecraft adapter (SA) cone inside the Neil Armstrong Operations and Checkout Building at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Aug. 6, 2020. This is one of the final major hardware operations the spacecraft will undergo during closeout processing prior to being integrated with the Space Launch System (SLS) rocket in preparation for the first Artemis mission. The spacecraft adapter cone connects the bottom portion of Orion’s service module to the top part of the rocket known as the interim cryogenic propulsion stage (ICPS). Orion will fly on the agency’s Artemis I mission – the first in a series of increasingly complex missions to the Moon that will ultimately lead to the exploration of Mars.
Catherine Koerner, in the center, NASA Orion Program manager, along with senior managers from Orion and Lockheed Martin, tours the Neil Armstrong Operations and Checkout Building at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Oct. 6, 2020. Accompanying her, from left are Annette Hasbrook, Orion Program assistant manager; Scott Wilson, NASA Kennedy Orion Production Operations manager, Mike Hawes, Lockheed Martin vice president and Orion Program manager; and Jules Schneider, Lockheed Martin Assembly, Test and Launch Operations director with Lockheed Martin. Koerner viewed the Orion spacecraft for the Artemis I and II missions. They are shown with the crew module adapter for the Orion Artemis II mission. The first in a series of increasingly complex missions, Artemis I will test the Orion spacecraft and Space Launch System as an integrated system ahead of crewed flights to the Moon. Under the Artemis program, NASA will land the first woman and the next man on the Moon in 2024.
NASA astronaut, Christina Koch, Artemis II mission specialist, undergoes spacesuit checks inside the crew quarters suit-up room in the Neil A. Armstrong Operations and Checkout Building part of the Artemis II Countdown Demonstration Test at the agency’s Kennedy Space Center on Saturday, Dec. 20, 2025. For this operation, the Artemis II crew and launch team are simulating the launch day timeline including suit-up, walkout, and climbing in and out of the spacecraft. Through the Artemis campaign, NASA will send astronauts to explore the Moon for scientific discovery, economic benefits, and to build the foundation for the first crewed missions to Mars, for the benefit of all.
Martha Williams, who leads the team inventing the Flexible Damage Detection System, stands in a laboratory with a prototype at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The system uses circuits printed on thin thermal film and specialized software. The system is designed to show where damage to a surface occurs and how severe it may be. It could offer astronauts a real-time update on their spacecraft's condition during a mission without requiring a spacewalk.
Frank Pelkey, ASRC technician, adheres NASA’s iconic “worm” logo decal on the aft wall of Orion’s crew module adapter ahead of NASA’s Artemis I mission. The work is complete inside the Neil Armstrong Operations and Checkout Building high bay at Kennedy Space Center on Sept. 20, 2020. Originally created by the firm of Danne & Blackburn, the “worm” logo’s bold, sleek design was officially introduced in 1975 and was incorporated into many of the agency’s next-generation programs. It was retired in 1992, but has made a comeback in 2020 as the agency ushers in a new, modern era of human spaceflight. The first in a series of increasingly complex missions, Artemis I will test the Orion spacecraft and Space Launch System as an integrated system ahead of crewed flights to the Moon. Under the Artemis program, NASA will land the first woman and the next man on the Moon by 2024.
From left, NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman, Artemis II commander, Victor Glover, Artemis II pilot, Christina Koch, Artemis II mission specialist and CSA (Canadian Space Agency) astronaut Jeremy Hansen, Artemis II mission specialist, depart the Neil A. Armstrong Operations and Checkout Building to travel to the Vehicle Assembly Building to board their Orion spacecraft atop NASA’s SLS (Space Launch System) rocket as part of the Artemis II Countdown Demonstration Test on Saturday, Dec. 20, 2025 at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. For this operation, the Artemis II crew and launch team are simulating the launch day timeline including suit-up, walkout, and climbing in and out of the spacecraft. Through the Artemis campaign, NASA will send astronauts to explore the Moon for scientific discovery, economic benefits, and to build the foundation for the first crewed missions to Mars, for the benefit of all.
During a "Powering Exploration Mission-1" ceremony in the Neil Armstrong Operations and Checkout Building high bay at NASA's Kennedy Space Center on Nov. 16, 2018, Amy Marasia, Orion Crew Module assembly lead for Exploration Mission-1 (EM-1), explains the next steps in processing Orion and the European Service Module (ESM). The event was held to mark a major milestone, the arrival of the European Service Module for Orion's Exploration Mission-1. The service module, built by the European Space Agency, will supply the main propulsion system and power to the Orion spacecraft during EM-1, a mission to the Moon. The ESM also will house air and water for astronauts on future missions. EM-1 will be an uncrewed flight test that will provide a foundation for human deep space exploration to destinations beyond Earth orbit. EM-1 will be the first integrated test of NASA's Space Launch System, Orion and the ground systems at Kennedy.
From left, Michelle Clontz and Sharon Prisco, with Lockheed Martin security operations, and Newt Allen, ASRC operations, assist with the installation of the spacecraft adapter (SA) cone to the Artemis I Orion spacecraft inside the Neil Armstrong Operations and Checkout Building at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center on Aug. 10, 2020. This is one of the final major hardware operations the spacecraft will undergo during closeout processing prior to being integrated with the Space Launch System (SLS) rocket in preparation for the first Artemis mission. The spacecraft adapter cone connects the bottom portion of Orion’s service module to the top part of the rocket known as the interim cryogenic propulsion stage (ICPS). Orion will fly on the agency’s Artemis I mission – the first in a series of increasingly complex missions to the Moon that will ultimately lead to the exploration of Mars.
Catherine Koerner, in front at left, NASA Orion Program manager, along with senior managers from Orion and Lockheed Martin, tour the Neil Armstrong Operations and Checkout Building at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Oct. 6, 2020. Accompanying her, in front at right is Mike Hawes, Lockheed Martin vice president and Orion Program manager. In view behind Koerner is Annette Hasbrook, Orion Program assistant manager. In view behind Hawes is Scott Wilson, NASA Kennedy Orion Production Operations manager. Koerner viewed Orion spacecraft for the Artemis I, shown in the background, and II missions. The first in a series of increasingly complex missions, Artemis I will test the Orion spacecraft and Space Launch System as an integrated system ahead of crewed flights to the Moon. Under the Artemis program, NASA will land the first woman and the next man on the Moon in 2024.
NASA Administrator Bill Nelson, center, tours the Neil Armstrong Operations and Checkout (O&C) Building high bay during a visit to the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on July 27, 2021. While at the O&C, Nelson had the opportunity to view some of the flight hardware for Artemis II – the first test flight of the Space Launch System rocket and Orion spacecraft with crew on board. Through Artemis, NASA will land the first woman and first person of color on the lunar surface, as well as establish a sustainable presence on and around the Moon.
Inside the Neil Armstrong Operations and Checkout Building high bay at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, Lockheed Martin technicians remove the protective covering from the Orion crew module structural test article (STA). The STA arrived aboard NASA's Super Guppy aircraft at the Shuttle Landing Facility operated by Space Florida. The test article was moved inside the facility's high bay for further testing. The Orion spacecraft will launch atop NASA’s Space Launch System rocket on EM-1, its first deep space mission, in late 2018.
The European Service Module (ESM) for NASA’s Artemis II mission is lifted by crane and moved along the center aisle of the high bay inside the Neil A. Armstrong Operations and Checkout Building at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on May 22, 2023. Teams from NASA and Lockheed Martin are preparing the service module for transfer to the FAST (final assembly and system testing) cell for final checkouts before it is stacked with the Orion crew module.. The powerhouse that will fuel and propel Orion in space, the ESM will be used for Artemis II, the first Artemis mission flying crew aboard Orion.
Technicians at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida work to safely return the Artemis I Orion spacecraft to the FAST cell after completing the installation of the spacecraft adapter (SA) cone inside the Neil Armstrong Operations and Checkout Building on Aug. 20, 2020. This is one of the final major hardware operations the spacecraft will undergo during closeout processing prior to being integrated with the Space Launch System (SLS) rocket in preparation for the first Artemis mission. The spacecraft adapter cone connects the bottom portion of Orion’s service module to the top part of the rocket known as the interim cryogenic propulsion stage (ICPS). Orion will fly on the agency’s Artemis I mission – the first in a series of increasingly complex missions to the Moon that will ultimately lead to the exploration of Mars.
From left to right, NASA astronauts Victor Glover, Artemis II pilot and Reid Wiseman, Artemis II commander, conduct suit-up operations inside the Neil A. Armstrong Operations and Checkout Building at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Monday, Aug. 11, 2025. During a two-day operation, the Artemis II team practiced night-run demonstrations of different launch day scenarios like suit-up operations, walk-out, and arriving at the launch pad for the Artemis II test flight. Through the Artemis campaign, NASA will send astronauts to explore the Moon for scientific discovery, economic benefits, and to build the foundation for the first crewed missions to Mars – for the benefit of all.
Technicians with NASA and Lockheed Martin operate a 30-ton crane to move NASA’s Artemis II Orion spacecraft out of the Final Assembly and System Testing cell inside the Neil A. Operations and Checkout Building at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Saturday, Feb. 22, 2025. The move prepares for the upcoming installation of four solar array wings and spacecraft adapter jettison fairings for the agency’s first crewed flight test under the Artemis campaign.
Jeffrey Richards, a project science coordinator working with the Exploration Research and Technology programs at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, prepares containers Feb. 11, 2021, for a Materials International Space Station Experiment (MISSE). The containers, carrying sets of seeds, will fly aboard Northrop Grumman’s Cygnus spacecraft as part of NG-15, a NASA commercial resupply mission to the orbiting laboratory targeted for Feb. 20, 2021. They will be placed in the MISSE testing facility, located near the space station’s solar arrays, where they will be exposed to the extreme environment of space for six months before returning to Earth for further study.
Technicians wearing protective equipment perform work for a future mission on flight hardware for NASA’s Orbital Syngas Commodity Augmentation Reactor, or OSCAR, at the Neil Armstrong Operations and Checkout Facility at the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Aug. 10, 2020. OSCAR began as an Early Career Initiative project at the spaceport that studies technology to convert trash and human waste into useful gasses such as methane, hydrogen, and carbon dioxide. By processing small pieces of trash in a high-temperature reactor, OSCAR is advancing new and innovative technology for managing waste in space.
Frank Pelkey, ASRC technician, adheres removable tape around NASA’s iconic “worm” logo decal on the aft wall of Orion’s crew module adapter ahead of NASA’s Artemis I mission. The work is complete inside the Neil Armstrong Operations and Checkout Building high bay at Kennedy Space Center on Sept. 20, 2020. Originally created by the firm of Danne & Blackburn, the “worm” logo’s bold, sleek design was officially introduced in 1975 and was incorporated into many of the agency’s next-generation programs. It was retired in 1992, but has made a comeback in 2020 as the agency ushers in a new, modern era of human spaceflight. The first in a series of increasingly complex missions, Artemis I will test the Orion spacecraft and Space Launch System as an integrated system ahead of crewed flights to the Moon. Under the Artemis program, NASA will land the first woman and the next man on the Moon by 2024.
The complete prototype Flexible Damage Detection System stands in a laboratory at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The system uses circuits printed on thin thermal film and specialized software. The system is designed to show where damage to a surface occurs and how severe it may be. It could offer astronauts a real-time update on their spacecraft's condition during a mission without requiring a spacewalk. Photo credit: NASA/Dimitri Gerondidakis
The Trash to Gas team members gather around the flight hardware for NASA’s Orbital Syngas Commodity Augmentation Reactor, or OSCAR, inside the Applied Physics Lab in the Neil Armstrong Operations and Checkout Facility at the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on July 21, 2022. OSCAR began as an Early Career Initiative project at the spaceport that studies technology to convert trash and human waste into useful gasses such as methane, hydrogen, and carbon dioxide. By processing small pieces of trash in a high-temperature reactor, OSCAR is advancing new and innovative technology for managing waste in space.
Inside the lobby of the Neil Armstrong Operations and Checkout Building at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, Snoopy, the zero-gravity indicator that flew aboard Orion during the Artemis I mission, is shown on Jan. 5, 2023, after being unpacked from his transport case. Snoopy was secured inside Orion during the Artemis I mission, a journey beyond the Moon and back to prepare for crewed missions to the Moon. Artemis I launched atop the Space Launch System rocket on Nov. 16, 2022 from Kennedy’s Launch Complex 39B. Orion returned to Earth for a splashdown in the Pacific Ocean on Dec. 11, 2022 after traveling more than 1.4 million miles. NASA has held an association with Snoopy since the Apollo Era – the character has contributed to the excitement for NASA human spaceflight missions, helping inspire generations to dream big, and is a symbol of NASA’s safety culture and mission success.
Ye Zhang, a project scientist at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida runs a test on a Gravite 3d clinostat device in the Microgravity Simulation Support Facility (MSSF) inside the Neil Armstrong Operations and Checkout building on Feb. 11, 2020. The facility was developed to provide ground simulation capability to the U.S. research community in order to supplement the limited opportunities to access the International Space Station and other platforms for microgravity research. The MSSF is designed to support biological research on microorganisms, cells, tissues, small plants and small animals. The simulator provides NASA with an alternative platform for microgravity research and creates the opportunity to conduct experiments on the space station in parallel with conditions of simulated microgravity on the ground.