The Orion pressure vessel for NASA’s Artemis III mission is lowered onto a work stand in the high bay of the Neil A. Armstrong Operations and Checkout Building at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Oct. 20, 2021. Lockheed Matin technicians will begin the work to prepare the spacecraft for its launch atop a Space Launch System rocket. Artemis III will send astronauts, including the first woman and first person of color, on a mission to the surface of the Moon by 2024.

Rachid Amekrane, Airbus Defence and Space Integration test director, assists 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 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.

The Artemis II Orion spacecraft sits in the transfer aisle in the Neil A. Armstrong Operations and Checkout Building at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida following successful installation of three spacecraft adapter jettison fairings on Wednesday, March 19, 2025. The fairings encapsulate the service module and protect the solar array wings, shielding them from the heat, wind, and acoustics of launch and ascent, as well as help redistribute the load between Orion and the massive thrust of the SLS (Space Launch System) rocket during liftoff and ascent. Once the spacecraft is above the atmosphere, the three fairing panels will separate from the service module reducing the mass of the spacecraft.

Inside the Neil Armstrong Operations and Checkout Building high bay at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, assembly continues on Orion’s Artemis II crew module on Feb. 5, 2021. The capsule will house astronauts during its mission around the Moon. Recently, teams removed the spacecraft from its clean room environment, where they have been performing the buildup of the Environmental Control and Propulsion System (ECPS) prior to their installation into the crew module. It will return to the clean room to complete ECPS final welds and assemblies. Artemis II will confirm all of the Orion spacecraft’s systems operate as designed in the actual environment of deep space with astronauts aboard. As part of the Artemis Program, NASA will send the first woman and next man to the Moon.

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.

A Gravite 3d clinostat is 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.

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.

The signatures of NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams are photographed alongside NASA’s Boeing Crew Flight Test mission insignia inside the Astronaut Crew Quarters in the Neil A. Armstrong Operations and Checkout Building at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Friday, April 26, 2024. Wilmore and Williams are the first to launch aboard Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft atop a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket from Space Launch Complex-41 at nearby Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. Liftoff is scheduled for 10:34 p.m. ET on Monday, May 6.

Inside the Neil Armstrong Operations and Checkout Building high bay at Kennedy Space Center, NASA’s iconic “worm” logo has 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.

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.

The Trash to Gas team members prepare 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.

The European-built Service Module (ESM) for NASA’s Artemis II mission shown in a work stand inside the high bay of the Neil A. Armstrong Operations and Checkout Building at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Oct. 15, 2021. Teams from NASA, Lockheed Martin, the European Space Agency and Airbus prepare the service module to be integrated with the Orion crew module adapter and crew module, already housed in the facility. The powerhouse that will fuel and propel Orion in space, the ESM for Artemis II will be the first Artemis mission flying crew aboard Orion.

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.

A Black History Month celebration was held on Feb. 18, 2020 at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. 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.” From left are Kim Carter, associate program manager, Exploration Ground Systems; James Jennings, keynote speaker, former NASA associate administrator for Institutions and Management and Kennedy’s former deputy director; and Hortense Diggs, director of Communication and Public Engagement.

The heat shield for Orion’s Artemis 2 mission, NASA’s first crewed mission, is uncrated from its shipping container inside the Neil Armstrong Operations and Checkout Building high bay at the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on July 10, 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.

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.

Installation of the spacecraft adapter (SA) cone to the Artemis I Orion spacecraft is in progress 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.

Inside the Microbiology Lab at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Oct. 6, 2021, a microbiologist 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.

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 JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) astronaut Takuya Onishi (second row, right) and Roscosmos cosmonaut Kirill Peskov (second row, left) 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.

Installation of the spacecraft adapter (SA) cone to the Artemis I Orion spacecraft shown in progress inside the Neil Armstrong Operations and Checkout Building 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.

The European-built Service Module (ESM) for NASA’s Artemis II mission shown in a work stand inside the high bay of the Neil A. Armstrong Operations and Checkout Building at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Oct. 15, 2021. Teams from NASA, Lockheed Martin, the European Space Agency and Airbus prepare the service module to be integrated with the Orion crew module adapter and crew module, already housed in the facility. The powerhouse that will fuel and propel Orion in space, the ESM for Artemis II will be the first Artemis mission flying crew aboard Orion. Teams with the European Space Agency and Airbus built the service module.

The signatures of NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams are photographed alongside NASA’s Boeing Crew Flight Test mission insignia inside the Astronaut Crew Quarters in the Neil A. Armstrong Operations and Checkout Building at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Friday, April 26, 2024. Wilmore and Williams are the first to launch aboard Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft atop a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket from Space Launch Complex-41 at nearby Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. Liftoff is scheduled for 10:34 p.m. ET on Monday, May 6.

Thomas Cauvel, an intern assisting with software/electrical engineering on NASA’s Orbital Syngas Commodity Augmentation Reactor, or OSCAR, at Kennedy Space Center assembles the flight hardware. 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.

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.

Technicians at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida work to safely lower the Artemis I Orion spacecraft into 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.

Jonathan Gleeson, Kennedy Space Center employee providing support for NASA’s Orbital Syngas Commodity Augmentation Reactor (OSCAR) under the center’s Laboratory Support Services and Operations contract, installs OSCAR to the flight hardware that will carry it on its suborbital flight test. 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 have worked on constructing a new rig for suborbital flight testing.

Inside the Neil Armstrong Operations and Checkout Building at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, the Orion crew module structural test article (STA) is secured on 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 undergo further testing in the high bay. The Orion spacecraft will launch atop NASA’s Space Launch System rocket on EM-1, its first deep space mission, in late 2018.

Jeffrey Richards, a payload research and science coordinator on the LASSO contract at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, prepares an experiment for a test in an Airbus Random Positioning Machine 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.

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. 

Mary Lakaszcyck, a technician with ASRC Federal Data Solutions, wears 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.

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.

Dr. Luz M. Calle, a principal investigator for corrosion research at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center, shows a dish of crystals left over from an experiment to separate salt from water Dec. 12, 2018. Astronauts traveling on long-duration missions in space will need to recycle water, which means having to remove salt and other chemicals from wastewater to turn it back into drinking water.

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.

In view outside the Neil Armstrong Operations and Checkout Building at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on March 1, 2023, SpaceX Crew-6 astronauts board the first of two Tesla vehicles that will transport NASA’s them to Launch Complex 39A for launch to the International Space Station. Launch of the Dragon spacecraft Endeavour atop the Falcon 9 rocket is targeted 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.

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. 

A crane moves the European Service Module (ESM) for NASA’s Artemis II mission 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 transferring the service module 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.

The European Service Module for the Artemis II mission is photographed inside the Neil Armstrong Operations and Checkout Building at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Feb. 21, 2023. Artemis II will be the first crewed flight test of the Space Launch System rocket and Orion spacecraft. The service module will provide the power necessary to propel Orion on a trip around the Moon, including the in-space maneuvering capability and other commodities necessary to sustain crew for the duration of the mission.

A Black History Month celebration was held on Feb. 18, 2020 at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. 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.” From left are Kelvin Manning, Kennedy’s associate director, technical; Daren Etienne, BEST marketing director; James Jennings, keynote speaker, former NASA associate administrator for Institutions and Management and Kennedy’s former deputy director; Martin Hayes, BEST chairperson; Jakebia Keith, program and contract analyst for the IT Resources Management Office and BEST secretary; and Phillip Hargrove, BEST co-chairperson.

Jakebia Keith, program and contract analyst for the IT Resources Management Office, welcomes NASA and contractor workers to the Black History Month celebration at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida 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.” Keynote speaker was James Jennings, former NASA associate administrator for Institutions and Management and Kennedy’s former deputy director. Jennings shared advice with workers and managers.

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.

The European Service Module (ESM) is unpacked inside the Neil Armstrong Operations and Checkout Building high bay on Nov. 7, 2018, at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The ESM is provided by the European Space Agency, and built by ESA contractor Airbus Defence and Space. It will supply the main propulsion system and power to the Orion spacecraft for Exploration Mission-1 (EM-1), a mission around 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.

Evan Bell, a mechanical engineer and member of the Gaseous Lunar Oxygen from Regolith Electrolysis (GaLORE) project team 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-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 JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) astronaut Takuya Onishi (second row, right) and Roscosmos cosmonaut Kirill Peskov (second row, left) 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.

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.

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.

Roscosmos cosmonaut Kirill Peskov 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 JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) astronaut Takuya Onishi and 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.

NASA’s SpaceX Crew-6 astronauts pose for a photo after walking out of the Neil Armstrong Operations and Checkout Building at the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida during a countdown dress rehearsal on Feb. 23, 2023, to prepare for the upcoming Crew-6 launch. From left are Andrey Fedyaev, Roscosmos cosmonaut and mission specialist; NASA astronaut Warren “Woody” Hoburg, pilot; NASA astronaut Stephen Bowen, spacecraft commander; and Sultan Alneyadi, UAE (United Arab Emirates) astronaut and mission specialist. The crew will launch to the International Space Station aboard the Crew Dragon Endeavour on a SpaceX Falcon 9. Launch is targeted for 1:45 a.m. EST on Feb. 27 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.

ASRC technician Chris Slack assists 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.

Thomas Cauvel, an intern assisting with software/electrical engineering on NASA’s Orbital Syngas Commodity Augmentation Reactor, or OSCAR, at Kennedy Space Center assembles the flight hardware. 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.

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. Viewing Orion in the high bay, from left, are Kathy Lueders, associate administrator of the Human Exploration and Operations Mission Directorate, and NASA astronaut Randy Bresnik. 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.

Inside the high bay of the Neil Armstrong Operations and Checkout Building at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, the European Service Module, below, is being mated to Orion's crew module adapter on Nov. 26, 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 the European Space Agency'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 human deep space exploration missions to the Moon and beyond.

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. Kayla Barron, mission specialist, runs through checkouts of her SpaceX spacesuit inside the crew suitup room in the Neil A. Armstrong Operations and Checkout Building. Barron, along with Raja Chari, commander, Tom Marshburn, pilot, 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.

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.

Jeffrey Richards, a payload research and science coordinator on the LASSO contract at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, prepares an experiment for a test in an Airbus Random Positioning Machine 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.

Ismael H. Otero, NASA Kennedy Space Center's project manager on the thermal energy program, addresses the news media and NASA Social about the new Thermal Energy Storage (TES) tank Feb. 17. The TES tank works like a giant battery and is saving the center utility cost. These savings will be applied to new sustainable projects at Kennedy.

Inside the airlock in the Neil Armstrong Operations and Checkout Building high bay on Nov. 6, 2018, the European Space Agency's European Service Module (ESM) 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.

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.

A transporter carrying the Orion crew module structural test article (STA) in its container arrives at the low bay entrance of the Neil Armstrong Operations and Checkout Building at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The STA arrived aboard NASA's Super Guppy aircraft at the Shuttle Landing Facility operated by Space Florida. The test article will be 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.

Cory Spern, a research scientist 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.

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.

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.

Members of the European Service Module processing team from the European Space Agency (ESA), Airbus, and Airbus Netherlands install the four solar array wings 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. 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 ESA 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 Neil Armstrong Operations and Checkout Building high bay at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, a new overhead crane is being installed on March 10, 2021. The new hardware will be used to process Orion beginning with the agency’s first crewed mission, Artemis II. Teams from American Crane and Equipment Corp. are replacing the Lypta 27.5-ton crane with the new Artemis-rated 30-ton crane. The new crane has enhanced controls and additional safety features that will allow for micro movements to within 1/100th of an inch. Operators will use the crane to lift Orion once the crew and service modules are mated.

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.

Jamie Szafran, from left, Mark Lewis and Curtis Ihlefeld work with the prototype of the Flexible Damage Detection System 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.

A close-up view of the Orion’s crew module adapter with the spacecraft adapter jettison fairing panels secured in place shows a peak of the iconic NASA worm insignia on Oct. 27, 2020, inside the Neil Armstrong Operations and Checkout Building (O&C) at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The panels were inspected and moved into place for installation by technicians with Lockheed Martin. Recently, teams from across the globe installed the four solar array wings, which are housed inside the protective covering of the fairings. Once secured, they 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 (SLS) rocket during NASA’s Artemis I mission.

Frank Pelkey, ASRC technician, works to complete the application of 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.

Principal investigator, Dr. Janine Captain, attaches a mass spectrometer sensor to electronics inside a vacuum chamber in the Space Station Processing Facility high bay at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center on Dec. 12, 2018. The Mass Spectrometer observing lunar operations (MSolo) instrument is a commercial off-the-shelf mass instrument modified to work in space, and can identify molecules at lunar landing sites. These MSolo instruments are part of NASA’s efforts to return to the Moon with the Commercial Lunar Payload Services Landers Program.

Inside the high bay of the Neil Armstrong Operations and Checkout Building at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, the European Service Module, below, is being mated to Orion's crew module adapter on Nov. 26, 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 the European Space Agency'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 human deep space exploration missions to the Moon and beyond.

NASA astronauts Anne McClain and Nichole Ayers, along with JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) astronaut Takuya Onishi and Roscosmos cosmonaut Kirill Peskov, pose inside the Astronaut Crew Quarters in the Neil A. Armstrong Operations and Checkout Building at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on March 7, 2025. McClain, Ayers, Onishi, and Peskov will launch on NASA’s SpaceX Crew-10 mission – the 10th crew rotation mission of the SpaceX Dragon spacecraft and Falcon 9 rocket that will send the crew 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.

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.

Inside the Neil Armstrong Operations and Checkout Building high bay at Kennedy Space Center, the European Space Agency (ESA) logo has been added to the aft wall of Orion’s crew module adapter ahead of NASA’s Artemis I mission. 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.

Engineers and technicians monitor the progress as the European Service Module (ESM) for NASA’s Artemis II mission is lifted by crane inside the high bay of 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.

Inside the high bay of the Neil Armstrong Operations and Checkout Building at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, Orion's crew module adapter is mated to the European Service Module on Nov. 26, 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 the European Space Agency'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 human deep space exploration missions to the Moon and beyond.

The Artemis I Orion spacecraft is lowered by crane into the FAST cell after installation of the spacecraft adapter (SA) cone was completed 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.

NASA astronaut Jeremy Hansen, left, sits inside one of the crew transport vehicles (CTVs) outside of the Neil A. Armstrong Operations and Checkout Building at Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Tuesday, Sept. 19, 2023. The CTVs will carry Hansen, along with fellow NASA astronauts Christina Koch, Reid Wiseman, and Victor Glover, to Kennedy’s Launch Complex 39B for liftoff of the Artemis II mission. The specially designed, fully electric, environmentally friendly vehicles were manufactured by Canoo Technologies, Inc. of Torrance California.

Seen here is the pressure vessel for the Artemis IV mission inside the Neil Armstrong Operations and Checkout Building at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Feb. 21, 2023. The pressure vessel is the underlying structure of the Orion crew module, containing the pressurized atmosphere astronauts will breathe and work in while in the vacuum of deep space. Artemis IV will be the first operational mission to Gateway – an outpost in lunar orbit serving as a staging point for deep space exploration – followed by a week-long surface mission on the Moon. Using Gateway, NASA will develop a long-term presence on the Moon, using this as a steppingstone before venturing on to Mars.

Elspeth Petersen, left, a chemical engineer and member of the Gaseous Lunar Oxygen from Regolith Electrolysis (GaLORE) project team at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, and Evan Bell, GaLORE mechanical engineer, inspect hardware that will be used to melt lunar regolith – dirt and dust on the Moon made from crushed rock – stimulants 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.

“On my Twitter page it says: rocket scientist, football coach. “There have been schools where I have coached and kids would ask, ‘you’re an engineer, coach?’ and they seemed so shocked that I'm an engineer. It’s funny! I have two kids on my team this year who are seniors, and they’re going to major in engineering in college. I'm sure there are others that would say, ‘Wow, if Coach Johnson can do it, so can I.’ I’ve brought guys out [to Kennedy Space Center] during Bring Your Child to Work Day. The kids are always wondering, when is a launch? I'm sure they’re all paying more attention to it because I'm around. “[My job also] sparked a conversation with fellow coaches. The American Football Coaches Association did a profile on me last year about how NASA has helped me become a better football coach. For one, the foundations of flight control — those values of being competent at your job, having confidence, being vigilant — translate directly to the football field and then vice versa [when] dealing with adversity. In football, you can be down, you can play hurt, and you learn to fight through adversity. Sometimes, fighting through engineering problems can be tough to solve, but you learn how to persevere, and you find a solution to the problem you’re working on. “As far as similarities, in football, you have a lot of people from different backgrounds and different abilities, and you have to get together to achieve a goal. That’s no different from what we do around here.” — Yusef Johnson, Flight Design Engineer, Kennedy Space Center

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.

NASA astronauts Jeremy Hansen, left, and Christina Koch view the crew transport vehicles (CTVs) outside of the Neil A. Armstrong Operations and Checkout Building at Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Tuesday, Sept. 19, 2023. The CTVs will carry them, along with fellow NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman and Victor Glover, to Kennedy’s Launch Complex 39B for liftoff of the Artemis II mission. The specially designed, fully electric, environmentally friendly vehicles were manufactured by Canoo Technologies, Inc. of Torrance California.

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.

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.

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.

A Kennedy Space Center intern weighs trash simulant – comprised of different types of material that have been cut into tiny pieces – that will be utilized for the agency’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.

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

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.

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.

A protective cover panel has been installed over one of the solar arrays shown 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. 23, 2020. The iconic NASA worm and European Space Agency insignias on the Crew Module Adapter outer wall can be seen just above the panel. 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.

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. 

Crews use a massive crane to lift NASA’s Artemis II Orion spacecraft onto the agency’s KAMAG transporter inside the Neil A. Armstrong Operations and Checkout Building at Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Thursday, May 1, 2025. The spacecraft will be transported to the Multi-Payload Processing Facility to undergo fueling and processing for prelaunch operations. 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.

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). In view at left in the foreground are the Spacecraft Adapter Jettison Fairing panels that will protect Orion’s service module from the environment around it during the ascent. 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.

Jeffrey Richards, a payload research and science coordinator on the LASSO contract at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, prepares an experiment for a test in an Airbus Random Positioning Machine 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.

Mary Lakaszcyck, a technician with ASRC Federal Data Solutions, wears 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.

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.

A sign marks the entrance to the Astronaut Office inside the Astronaut Crew Quarters in the Neil Armstrong Operations and Checkout Building at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The crew quarters are being prepared for the next generation of space explorers. The walls are receiving fresh coats of paint and new flooring is being installed. The historic facility housed Apollo and space shuttle astronauts before and after their missions into space.

Elspeth Petersen, a chemical engineer and member of the Gaseous Lunar Oxygen from Regolith Electrolysis (GaLORE) project team at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, inspects some of the GaLORE 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.

ASRC technician Chris Slack assists 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.