In the Space Station Processing Facility at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, Jacobs Test and Operations Support Contract, or TOSC, technicians fill portable breathing apparatuses, or PBAS. The PBAs are to be use on board the International Space Staton to provide astronauts with breathable air in the event of a fire or other emergency situation.
A transportation container carrying NASA’s Orbiting Carbon Observatory 3, or OCO-3, payload is moved to a truck for its transport from the Space Station Processing Facility high bay at the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida to the SpaceX facility on March 18, 2019. The OCO-3 payload will be stowed in the trunk of SpaceX’s Dragon spacecraft, where it will launch aboard a Falcon 9 rocket on the company’s 17th Commercial Resupply Services mission to the International Space Station. Launch is scheduled for April 25, 2019, from Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. Once the payload reaches the station, it will be removed from Dragon and robotically installed on the exterior of the orbiting laboratory’s Japanese Experiment Module Exposed Facility Unit, where it will measure and map carbon dioxide from space to provide further understanding of the relationship between carbon and climate.
During the annual Earth Day celebration at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex, guests have an opportunity to get an up-close look at experimental electric vehicles and see and Apollo era Lunar Roving Vehicle used in astronaut training. The battery-operated car was used on Apollos 15, 16 and 17 in 1971 and 1972. The two-day event featured approximately 50 exhibitors offering information on a variety of topics, including electric vehicles, sustainable lighting, renewable energy, Florida-friendly landscaping tips, Florida’s biking trails and more.
NASA’s Robotic Refueling Mission 3 (RRM3) arrived at Kennedy Space Center’s Space Station Processing Facility on May 8. The fluid transfer module will demonstrate innovative methods to store, transfer and freeze standard cryogenic fluid in space. RRM3 is scheduled to launch to the International Space Station later this year.
Employees had the opportunity to take a look under the hood of an electric vehicle on display during Kennedy Space Center’s annual Earth Day celebration. The two-day event featured approximately 50 exhibitors offering information on a variety of topics, including electric vehicles, sustainable lighting, renewable energy, Florida-friendly landscaping tips, Florida’s biking trails and more.
In view in this photograph, taken on May 16, 2019, is the area where the Sierra Nevada Corporation will process its Dream Chaser spacecraft in the high bay of the Space Station Processing Facility (SSPF) at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The center is celebrating the SSPF’s 25th anniversary. The facility was built to process elements for the International Space Station. Now it is providing support for current and future NASA and commercial provider programs, including Commercial Resupply Services, Artemis 1, sending the first woman and next man to the Moon, and deep space destinations including Mars.
Researchers are testing plant growth in a ground unit of the Advanced Plant Habitat inside a laboratory in the Space Station Processing Facility (SSPF) at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, on May 16, 2019. The center is celebrating the SSPF’s 25th anniversary. The facility was built to process elements for the International Space Station. Now it is providing support for current and future NASA and commercial provider programs, including Commercial Resupply Services, Artemis 1, sending the first woman and next man to the Moon, and deep space destinations including Mars.
Packed inside its canister, the Interim Cryogenic Propulsion Stage (ICPS) for NASA's Space Launch System (SLS) rocket arrives at the low bay entrance of the Space Station Processing Facility at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The ICPS is the first integrated piece of flight hardware to arrive for the SLS. It is the in-space stage that is located toward the top of the rocket, between the Launch Vehicle Stage Adapter and the Orion Spacecraft Adapter. It will provide some of the in-space propulsion during Orion's first flight test atop the SLS on Exploration Mission-1.
In view in this photograph, taken on May 16, 2019, is the area where the Sierra Nevada Corporation will process its Dream Chaser spacecraft in the high bay of the Space Station Processing Facility (SSPF) at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The center is celebrating the SSPF’s 25th anniversary. The facility was built to process elements for the International Space Station. Now it is providing support for current and future NASA and commercial provider programs, including Commercial Resupply Services, Artemis 1, sending the first woman and next man to the Moon, and deep space destinations including Mars.
Seen here are science tubes containing soil and soil microbes for the Dynamics of Microbiomes in Space (DynaMoS) experiment after they’ve been prepared for flight to the International Space Station inside the Space Station Processing Facility at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on July 11, 2022. The DynaMoS experiment will launch on SpaceX’s 25th cargo resupply services mission to examine how microgravity affects metabolic interactions in communities of soil microbes. This will help NASA understand the function of soil microorganisms in space versus on Earth and how they can be used to enhance plant growth for crew consumption during long-duration missions to the Moon and Mars. SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket and Dragon spacecraft are scheduled to lift off from Kennedy’s Launch Complex 39A at 8:44 p.m. EDT on Thursday, July 14.
Students from Rockledge High School in Rockledge, Fla., make “plarn” – plastic yarn -- out of used plastic bags during Kennedy Space Center’s annual Earth Day celebration. The plarn was donated to be woven into mats for homeless veterans. The two-day Earth Day event featured approximately 50 exhibitors offering information on a variety of topics, including electric vehicles, sustainable lighting, renewable energy, Florida-friendly landscaping tips, Florida’s biking trails and more.
The Materials International Space Station Experiment-Flight Facility, or MISSE-FF, hardware arrived at the Space Station Processing Facility low bay at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Technicians assist as one of the components is lowered onto another MISSE component. MISSE will be used to test various materials and computing elements on the exterior of the space station. They will be exposed to the harsh environment of low-Earth orbit, including to a vacuum, atomic oxygen, ultraviolet radiation, direct sunlight and extreme heat and cold. The experiment will provide a better understanding of material durability, from coatings to electronic sensors, which could be applied to future spacecraft designs. MISSE will be delivered to the space station on a future commercial resupply mission.
Inside the Space Station Processing Facility (SSPF) high bay at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, workers assist as a crane moves the Orion Stage Adapter (OSA) to a work area. The OSA is the second flight-hardware section of the agency's Space Launch System (SLS) rocket to arrive at Kennedy. The OSA will connect the Orion spacecraft to the upper part of the SLS, the interim cryogenic propulsion stage (ICPS). Both the OSA and ICPS are being stored for processing in the center's SSSPF in preparation for Exploration Mission-1, the first uncrewed, integrated launch of the SLS rocket and Orion spacecraft.
During the annual Earth Day celebration at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex, guests have an opportunity to learn about the environment. The two-day event featured approximately 50 exhibitors offering information on a variety of topics, including electric vehicles, sustainable lighting, renewable energy, Florida-friendly landscaping tips, Florida’s biking trails and more.
Technicians secure the Space Test Program-Houston 6 (STP-H6) inside a transport truck at the Space Station Processing Facility at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on March 19, 2019. The payload will be moved to the SpaceX facility where it will be stowed in the trunk of the Dragon spacecraft for delivery to the International Space Station on SpaceX’s 17th Commercial Resupply Services mission (CRS-17) for NASA. STP-H6 is an x-ray communication investigation that will be used to perform a space-based demonstration of a new technology for generating beams of modulated x-rays. This technology may be useful for providing efficient communication to deep space probes, or communicating with hypersonic vehicles where plasma sheaths prevent traditional radio communications. CRS-17 is scheduled to launch from Space Launch Complex 40 on Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in late April.
In the Space Station Processing Facility at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, technicians and engineers remove a protective cover on the Cosmic-Ray Energetics and Mass investigation, or CREAM, instrument. It is designed to measure the charges of cosmic rays to better understand what gives them such incredible energies, and how that effects the composition of the universe. The instrument will be launched to the space station on the SpaceX CRS-12 commercial resupply mission in August 2017.
NASA began evaluating five habitat prototypes developed through NASA’s Next Space Exploration for Technologies Partnerships, or NextSTEP, to help engineers refine requirements for the design of an American-made deep space habitat for the Gateway. Lockheed Martin turned over its prototype to NASA, and testing began with crew on March 25, 2019, at Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Astronauts are participating in the evaluations to provide their perspectives as those who may one day live aboard the lunar outpost, which would be located about 250,000 miles from Earth. Ground prototypes developed by Bigelow Aerospace, Boeing, Northrop Grumman, and Sierra Nevada Corporation will be tested in the future at various facilities across the country. A sixth company, NanoRacks, plans to develop a prototype as well.
The processing area for the Nitrogen Oxygen Recharge System (NORS) for the International Space Station, is in view in the high bay of the Space Station Processing Facility (SSPF) at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, on May 16, 2019. NORS are tanks that are used to fill the oxygen and nitrogen tanks that supply the needed gases to the station’s airlock for spacewalks and also are used as a secondary method to replenish the atmosphere inside the space station. The center is celebrating the SSPF’s 25th anniversary. The SSPF was built to process elements for the space station. Now it is providing support for current and future NASA and commercial provider programs, including Commercial Resupply Services, Artemis 1, sending the first woman and next man to the Moon, and deep space destinations including Mars.
In the high bay of Kennedy Space Center's Space Station Processing Facility, Chris Hardcastle, left, of Stinger-Ghaffarian Technologies, and other payload team members performs spacewalk tool fit-checks of the integrated Total and Spectral Solar Irradiance Sensor-1 (TSIS-1) payload and the EXPRESS Pallet Adapter. TSIS-1 is designed to measure the Sun's energy input into Earth by seeing how it is distributed across different wavelengths of light. These measurements help scientists establish Earth's total energy and how our planet's atmosphere responds to changes in the Sun's energy output. TSIS-1 will launch on SpaceX's 13th commercial resupply mission to the International Space Station.
Ground unit experiment chambers for the Veggie plant growth system, at right, and the Advanced Plant Habitat, at left, are in view in a laboratory inside the Space Station Processing Facility (SSPF) at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, on May 16, 2019. The center is celebrating the SSPF’s 25th anniversary. The facility was built to process elements for the International Space Station. Now it is providing support for current and future NASA and commercial provider programs, including Commercial Resupply Services, Artemis 1, sending the first woman and next man to the Moon, and deep space destinations including Mars.
Matt Romeyn, a NASA biologist, secures seeds in plant pillows for the Veggie plant growth system inside a laboratory in the Space Station Processing Facility at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The plant pillows, containing Outredgeous lettuce, Mizuna Mustard and Waldmann's green lettuce seeds, were packed for delivery to Veggie on SpaceX's 12th commercial resupply services mission to the International Space Station.
The Space Test Program-Houston 6 (STP-H6) payload is being moved out of the Space Station Processing Facility high bay at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on March 19, 2019. The payload will be moved to the SpaceX facility where it will be stowed in the trunk of the Dragon spacecraft for delivery to the International Space Station on SpaceX’s 17th Commercial Resupply Services mission (CRS-17) for NASA. STP-H6 is an x-ray communication investigation that will be used to perform a space-based demonstration of a new technology for generating beams of modulated x-rays. This technology may be useful for providing efficient communication to deep space probes, or communicating with hypersonic vehicles where plasma sheaths prevent traditional radio communications. CRS-17 is scheduled to launch from Space Launch Complex 40 on Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in late April.
During the annual Earth Day celebration at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex, guests have an opportunity to get an up-close look at experimental electric vehicles. The "Remove Before Flight" tag is on a Polaris GEM electric car. The two-day event featured approximately 50 exhibitors offering information on a variety of topics, including electric vehicles, sustainable lighting, renewable energy, Florida-friendly landscaping tips, Florida’s biking trails and more.
NASA began evaluating five habitat prototypes developed through NASA’s Next Space Exploration for Technologies Partnerships, or NextSTEP, to help engineers refine requirements for the design of an American-made deep space habitat for the Gateway. Lockheed Martin turned over its prototype to NASA, and testing began with crew on March 25, 2019, at Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Pictured inside the habitat prototype on March 26, 2019, at left is astronaut Stephanie Wilson. To her left, partially hidden is astronaut Shannon Walker. Astronauts are participating in the evaluations to provide their perspectives as those who may one day live aboard the lunar outpost, which would be located about 250,000 miles from Earth. Ground prototypes developed by Bigelow Aerospace, Boeing, Northrop Grumman, and Sierra Nevada Corporation will be tested in the future at various facilities across the country. A sixth company, NanoRacks, plans to develop a prototype as well.
Matt Romeyn, a NASA biologist, secures seeds in plant pillows for the Veggie plant growth system inside a laboratory in the Space Station Processing Facility at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The plant pillows, containing Outredgeous lettuce, Mizuna Mustard and Waldmann's green lettuce seeds, were packed for delivery to Veggie on SpaceX's 12th commercial resupply services mission to the International Space Station.
John "JC" Carver, a payload integration engineer with NASA Kennedy Space Center's Test and Operations Support Contract, uses a FluorPen to measure the chlorophyll fluorescence of Arabidopsis thaliana plants inside the growth chamber of the Advanced Plant Habitat (APH) Flight Unit No. 1. Half the plants were then harvested. The harvest is part of an ongoing verification test of the APH unit, which is located inside the International Space Station Environmental Simulator in Kennedy's Space Station Processing Facility. The APH undergoing testing at Kennedy is identical to one on the station and uses red, green and broad-spectrum white LED lights to grow plants in an environmentally controlled chamber. The seeds grown during the verification test will be grown on the station to help scientists understand how these plants adapt to spaceflight.
The 2017 class of astronaut candidates are inside the Space Station Processing Facility high bay during a familiarization tour of facilities at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. They are viewing the Interim Cryogenic Propulsion System for NASA's Space Launch System rocket. The candidates toured center facilities, including the Neil Armstrong Operations and Checkout Building high bay; the Launch Control Center, Launch Pad 39B, and the Vehicle Assembly Building. They also toured Boeing's Commercial Crew and Cargo Facility, United Launch Alliance's Space Launch Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, and SpaceX's Launch Pad 39A at Kennedy. The candidates will spend about two years getting to know the space station systems and learning how to spacewalk, speak Russian, control the International Space Station's robotic arm and fly T-38s, before they're eligible to be assigned to a mission.
Mizuna mustard is harvested inside the Veggie harvest chamber in the Space Station Processing Facility at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Feb. 19, 2019, as part of the Experiment Verification Test for the VEG-04B mission that will launch to the International Space Station later this year. VEG-04B examines the interactions between light and spaceflight by growing plants under two different LED lighting conditions. A similar harvest will be conducted on the space station after a grow-out duration of 56 days. The VEG-04B mission is expected to provide sensory stimulation and help mark the passage of time in the confined and isolated environment of the space station. Ultimately, fresh vegetables grown in space will be an essential supplement to the crew’s pre-packaged diet, prepping them for long-duration space exploration.
The Space Test Program-Houston 6 (STP-H6) payload is being moved out of the Space Station Processing Facility high bay at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on March 19, 2019. The payload will be moved to the SpaceX facility where it will be stowed in the trunk of the Dragon spacecraft for delivery to the International Space Station on SpaceX’s 17th Commercial Resupply Services mission (CRS-17) for NASA. STP-H6 is an x-ray communication investigation that will be used to perform a space-based demonstration of a new technology for generating beams of modulated x-rays. This technology may be useful for providing efficient communication to deep space probes, or communicating with hypersonic vehicles where plasma sheaths prevent traditional radio communications. CRS-17 is scheduled to launch from Space Launch Complex 40 on Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in late April.
David Bell of Renew Merchandise was one of 50 exhibitors offering information on a variety of topics, including electric vehicles, sustainable lighting, renewable energy, Florida-friendly landscaping tips, Florida’s biking trails and more. The event took place during the annual Earth Day celebration at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex, guests have an opportunity to learn more about energy awareness, the environment and sustainability.
Packed inside its canister, the Interim Cryogenic Propulsion Stage (ICPS) for NASA's Space Launch System (SLS) rocket is moved into the low bay entrance of the Space Station Processing Facility at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The ICPS is the first integrated piece of flight hardware to arrive for the SLS. It is the in-space stage that is located toward the top of the rocket, between the Launch Vehicle Stage Adapter and the Orion Spacecraft Adapter. It will provide some of the in-space propulsion during Orion's first flight test atop the SLS on Exploration Mission-1.
Dr. Oliver Ullrich (left) from the University of Zurich and Dr. Howard Levine of NASA's Kennedy Space Center stood in the Space Station Processing Facility on Dec. 18, 2018. NASA recently signed a Space Act Agreement with the university, which is located in Switzerland, to collaborate on biological research. The team is studying gene expression in altered gravity.
The 2017 class of astronaut candidates are inside the Space Station Processing Facility high bay during a familiarization tour of facilities at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The candidates toured center facilities, including the Neil Armstrong Operations and Checkout Building high bay; the Launch Control Center, Launch Pad 39B, and the Vehicle Assembly Building. They also toured Boeing's Commercial Crew and Cargo Facility, United Launch Alliance's Space Launch Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, and SpaceX's Launch Pad 39A at Kennedy. The candidates will spend about two years getting to know the space station systems and learning how to spacewalk, speak Russian, control the International Space Station's robotic arm and fly T-38s, before they're eligible to be assigned to a mission.
During the annual Earth Day celebration at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex, guests have an opportunity to get an up-close look at experimental electric vehicles. The two-day event featured approximately 50 exhibitors offering information on a variety of topics, including electric vehicles, sustainable lighting, renewable energy, Florida-friendly landscaping tips, Florida’s biking trails and more.
Jess Bunchek, a veggie plant scientist and pseudonaut, harvests mizuna mustard inside the Veggie harvest chamber in the Space Station Processing Facility at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Feb. 19, 2019, as part of the Experiment Verification Test for the VEG-04B mission that will launch to the International Space Station later this year. VEG-04B examines the interactions between light and spaceflight by growing plants under two different LED lighting conditions. A similar harvest will be conducted on the space station after a grow-out duration of 56 days. The VEG-04B mission is expected to provide fresh food, sensory stimulation and help mark the passage of time in the confined and isolated environment of the space station. Ultimately, fresh vegetables grown in space will be an essential supplement to the crew’s pre-packaged diet, prepping them for long-duration space exploration.
Water and nutrients are being added to plants in the Veggie hardware in NASA Kennedy Space Center's ISS environment simulator chamber. Mizuna mustard, Outredgeous lettuce and Waldmann's green lettuce are growing in Veggie. Growth in the chamber mimics the growth of plant experiments in the Veggie plant growth system on the International Space Station.
During the annual Earth Day celebration at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex, Shari Blissett-Clark of the Florida Bat Conservancy displays one of the mammals. The event took place during the annual Earth Day celebration at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex, guests have an opportunity to learn more about energy awareness, the environment and sustainability.
Instruments for NASA’s Mars Spectrometer observing lunar operations (MSolo) are in view at left in the high bay of the Space Station Processing Facility (SSPF) at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, on May 16, 2019. The center is celebrating the SSPF’s 25th anniversary. The facility was built to process elements for the International Space Station. Now it is providing support for current and future NASA and commercial provider programs, including Commercial Resupply Services, Artemis 1, sending the first woman and next man to the Moon, and deep space destinations including Mars.
Seeds are secured in plant pillows for the Veggie plant growth system inside a laboratory in the Space Station Processing Facility at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The plant pillows, containing Outredgeous lettuce, Mizuna Mustard and Waldmann's green lettuce seeds, were packed for delivery to Veggie on SpaceX's 12th commercial resupply services mission to the International Space Station.
NASA astronaut Raja Chari climbs through a hatch of Lockheed Martin’s deep space habitat ground prototype at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on March 25, 2019. Chari is one of the astronauts helping engineers refine requirements for the design of an American-made deep space habitat for the Gateway. Astronauts provide important design perspective as they may one day live and work aboard the lunar outpost, which would be located about 250,000 miles from Earth. To date, five habitat prototypes have been developed through NASA’s Next Space Exploration for Technologies Partnerships, or NextSTEP. Lockheed Martin was the first to turn their habitat over to NASA for testing. Ground prototypes developed by Bigelow Aerospace, Boeing, Northrop Grumman and Sierra Nevada Corporation will be tested in the future at various facilities across the country. A sixth company, NanoRacks, plans to develop a prototype as well.
Employees stop by the University of Florida's Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences booth at Kennedy Space Center’s annual Earth Day celebration. The two-day event featured approximately 50 exhibitors offering information on a variety of topics, including electric vehicles, sustainable lighting, renewable energy, Florida-friendly landscaping tips, Florida’s biking trails and more.
CRS-17 Payload STP-H6 move to SpaceX
NASA’s Orbiting Carbon Observatory 3, or OCO-3, sits in a transportation container at the Space Station Processing Facility high bay at the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida prior to its move to the SpaceX facility on March 18, 2019. The OCO-3 payload will be stowed in the trunk of SpaceX’s Dragon spacecraft, where it will launch aboard a Falcon 9 rocket on the company’s 17th Commercial Resupply Services mission to the International Space Station. Launch is scheduled for April 25, 2019, from Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. Once the payload reaches the station, it will be removed from Dragon and robotically installed on the exterior of the orbiting laboratory’s Japanese Experiment Module Exposed Facility Unit, where it will measure and map carbon dioxide from space to provide further understanding of the relationship between carbon and climate.
Team members pause for a photo after the successful harvest of half the Arabidopsis thaliana plants inside the growth chamber of the Advanced Plant Habitat (APH) Flight Unit No. 1. From right to left are Jeff Richards with Stinger-Ghaffarian Technologies; David Hanson, part of the principal investigator's team; Oscar Monje with NASA Kennedy Space Center's Engineering Services Contract; and John "JC" Carver, a payload integration engineer with Kennedy's Test and Operations Support Contract. The harvest is part of an ongoing verification test of the APH unit, which is located inside the International Space Station Environmental Simulator in Kennedy's Space Station Processing Facility. The APH undergoing testing at Kennedy is identical to one on the station and uses red, green and broad-spectrum white LED lights to grow plants in an environmentally controlled chamber. The seeds grown during the verification test will be grown on the station to help scientists understand how these plants adapt to spaceflight.
An array of electric vehicles are on display for Kennedy Space Center employees during the center’s annual Earth Day celebration. The two-day event featured approximately 50 exhibitors offering information on a variety of topics, including electric vehicles, sustainable lighting, renewable energy, Florida-friendly landscaping tips, Florida’s biking trails and more.
In the Space Station Processing Facility at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, technicians and engineers inspect the Cosmic-Ray Energetics and Mass investigation, or CREAM, instrument. It is designed to measure the charges of cosmic rays to better understand what gives them such incredible energies, and how that effects the composition of the universe. The instrument will be launched to the space station on the SpaceX CRS-12 commercial resupply mission in August 2017.
John "JC" Carver, a payload integration engineer with NASA Kennedy Space Center's Test and Operations Support Contract, places Arabidopsis thaliana plants harvested from the Advanced Plant Habitat (APH) Flight Unit No. 1 into an Ultra-low Freezer chilled to -150 degrees Celsius. The harvest is part of an ongoing verification test of the APH unit, which is located inside the International Space Station Environmental Simulator in Kennedy's Space Station Processing Facility. The APH undergoing testing at Kennedy is identical to one on the station and uses red, green and broad-spectrum white LED lights to grow plants in an environmentally controlled chamber. The seeds grown during the verification test will be grown on the station to help scientists understand how these plants adapt to spaceflight.
In the Space Station Processing Facility at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, Jacobs Test and Operations Support Contract, or TOSC, technician Rod Ostgrard helps fill portable breathing apparatuses, or PBAS. The PBAs are to be use on board the International Space Staton to provide astronauts with breathable air in the event of a fire or other emergency situation.
In the Space Station Processing Facility at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, Jacobs Test and Operations Support Contract, or TOSC, technician John Thompson helps fill portable breathing apparatuses, or PBAS. The PBAs are to be use on board the International Space Staton to provide astronauts with breathable air in the event of a fire or other emergency situation.
A Nitrogen Oxygen Recharge System (NORS) for the International Space Station is in view, center, in the high bay of the Space Station Processing Facility (SSPF) at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, on May 16, 2019. NORS are tanks that are used to fill the oxygen and nitrogen tanks that supply the needed gases to the station’s airlock for spacewalks and also are used as a secondary method to replenish the atmosphere inside the space station. The center is celebrating the SSPF’s 25th anniversary. The SSPF was built to process elements for the space station. Now it is providing support for current and future NASA and commercial provider programs, including Commercial Resupply Services, Artemis 1, sending the first woman and next man to the Moon, and deep space destinations including Mars.
Inside the Space Station Processing Facility (SSPF) high bay at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, workers assist as a crane moves the Orion Stage Adapter (OSA) to a work area. The OSA is the second flight-hardware section of the agency's Space Launch System (SLS) rocket to arrive at Kennedy. The OSA will connect the Orion spacecraft to the upper part of the SLS, the interim cryogenic propulsion stage (ICPS). Both the OSA and ICPS, in view behind the OSA, are being stored for processing in the center's SSPF in preparation for Exploration Mission-1, the first uncrewed, integrated launch of the SLS rocket and Orion spacecraft.
John "JC" Carver, a payload integration engineer with NASA Kennedy Space Center's Test and Operations Support Contract, places Arabidopsis thaliana plants harvested from the Advanced Plant Habitat (APH) Flight Unit No. 1 into a Mini ColdBag that quickly freezes the plants. The harvest is part of an ongoing verification test of the APH unit, which is located inside the International Space Station Environmental Simulator in Kennedy's Space Station Processing Facility. The APH undergoing testing at Kennedy is identical to one on the station and uses red, green and broad-spectrum white LED lights to grow plants in an environmentally controlled chamber. The seeds grown during the verification test will be grown on the station to help scientists understand how these plants adapt to spaceflight.
In view in this photograph, taken on May 16, 2019, is the area where the Sierra Nevada Corporation will process its Dream Chaser spacecraft in the high bay of the Space Station Processing Facility (SSPF) at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The center is celebrating the SSPF’s 25th anniversary. The facility was built to process elements for the International Space Station. Now it is providing support for current and future NASA and commercial provider programs, including Commercial Resupply Services, Artemis 1, sending the first woman and next man to the Moon, and deep space destinations including Mars.
Experiment chambers are in view in the Veggie Laboratory inside the Space Station Processing Facility (SSPF) at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, on May 16, 2019. The center is celebrating the SSPF’s 25th anniversary. The facility was built to process elements for the International Space Station. Now it is providing support for current and future NASA and commercial provider programs, including Commercial Resupply Services, Artemis 1, sending the first woman and next man to the Moon, and deep space destinations including Mars.
During the annual Earth Day celebration at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex, guests have an opportunity to learn more about energy awareness, the environment and sustainability. The two-day event featured approximately 50 exhibitors offering information on a variety of topics, including electric vehicles, sustainable lighting, renewable energy, Florida-friendly landscaping tips, Florida’s biking trails and more.
Organizers and volunteers for Kennedy Space Center’s Earth Day celebration gather for a photo at the NASA Exchange raffle booth. From left to right are Jeanne Ryba, Environmental Sustainability program specialist; Robert Smith, Earth Day volunteer; and Natasha Darre, Cultural Resources Specialist. The two-day event featured approximately 50 exhibitors offering information on a variety of topics, including electric vehicles, sustainable lighting, renewable energy, Florida-friendly landscaping tips, Florida’s biking trails and more.
Packed inside its canister, the Interim Cryogenic Propulsion Stage (ICPS) for NASA's Space Launch System (SLS) rocket is moved into the low bay entrance of the Space Station Processing Facility at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The ICPS is the first integrated piece of flight hardware to arrive for the SLS. It is the in-space stage that is located toward the top of the rocket, between the Launch Vehicle Stage Adapter and the Orion Spacecraft Adapter. It will provide some of the in-space propulsion during Orion's first flight test atop the SLS on Exploration Mission-1.
The Space Test Program-Houston 6 (STP-H6) payload is inside the Space Station Processing Facility high bay at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on March 19, 2019. It is being prepared for its move to the SpaceX facility where it will be will be stowed in the trunk of the Dragon spacecraft for delivery to the International Space Station on SpaceX’s 17th Commercial Resupply Services mission (CRS-17) for NASA. STP-H6 is an x-ray communication investigation that will be used to perform a space-based demonstration of a new technology for generating beams of modulated x-rays. This technology may be useful for providing efficient communication to deep space probes, or communicating with hypersonic vehicles where plasma sheaths prevent traditional radio communications. CRS-17 is scheduled to launch from Space Launch Complex 40 on Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in late April.
Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) Scientist Yuliya Farris (left) prepares the Dynamics of Microbiomes in Space (DynaMoS) experiment inside a laboratory at the Florida spaceport’s Space Station Processing Facility on July 11, 2022. The DynaMoS experiment will launch on SpaceX’s 25th cargo resupply services mission to examine how microgravity affects metabolic interactions in communities of soil microbes. This will help NASA understand the function of soil microorganisms in space versus on Earth and how they can be used to enhance plant growth for crew consumption during long-duration missions to the Moon and Mars. SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket and Dragon spacecraft are scheduled to lift off from Kennedy’s Launch Complex 39A at 8:44 p.m. EDT on Thursday, July 14.
John "JC" Carver, a payload integration engineer with NASA Kennedy Space Center's Test and Operations Support Contract, opens the door to the growth chamber of the Advanced Plant Habitat (APH) Flight Unit No. 1 for a test harvest of half of the Arabidopsis thaliana plants growing within. The harvest is part of an ongoing verification test of the APH unit, which is located inside the International Space Station Environmental Simulator in Kennedy's Space Station Processing Facility. The APH undergoing testing at Kennedy is identical to one on the station and uses red, green and broad-spectrum white LED lights to grow plants in an environmentally controlled chamber. The seeds grown during the verification test will be grown on the station to help scientists understand how these plants adapt to spaceflight.
In the Space Station Processing Facility at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, the ECOsystem Spaceborne Thermal Radiometer Experiment on Space Station (ECOSTRESS) is removed from its shipping container. ECOSTRESS is designed to monitor one of the most basic processes in living plants: the loss of water through the tiny pores in leaves. ECOSTRESS will launch to the International Space Station aboard a Dragon spacecraft launched by a Falcon 9 rocket on the SpaceX CRS-15 mission in June 2018.
A photograph taken on May 16, 2019, shows a wall inside the Space Station Processing Facility (SSPF) at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, containing signatures of many of those who worked on the International Space Station Program. The center is celebrating the SSPF’s 25th anniversary. The facility was built to process elements for the space station. Now it is providing support for current and future NASA and commercial provider programs, including Commercial Resupply Services, Artemis 1, sending the first woman and next man to the Moon, and deep space destinations including Mars.
A view of the Veggie and Advanced Plant Habitat walk-in experiment chambers in a laboratory inside the Space Station Processing Facility (SSPF) at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, on May 16, 2019. The center is celebrating the SSPF’s 25th anniversary. The facility was built to process elements for the International Space Station. Now it is providing support for current and future NASA and commercial provider programs, including Commercial Resupply Services, Artemis 1, sending the first woman and next man to the Moon, and deep space destinations including Mars.
The Space Test Program-Houston 6 (STP-H6) payload is inside the Space Station Processing Facility high bay at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on March 19, 2019. It is being prepared for its move to the SpaceX facility where it will be will be stowed in the trunk of the Dragon spacecraft for delivery to the International Space Station on SpaceX’s 17th Commercial Resupply Services mission (CRS-17) for NASA. STP-H6 is an x-ray communication investigation that will be used to perform a space-based demonstration of a new technology for generating beams of modulated x-rays. This technology may be useful for providing efficient communication to deep space probes, or communicating with hypersonic vehicles where plasma sheaths prevent traditional radio communications. CRS-17 is scheduled to launch from Space Launch Complex 40 on Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in late April.
The Lockheed Martin prototype habitat for NASA’s lunar orbital platform, called the Gateway, is in view at left in the high bay of the Space Station Processing Facility (SSPF) at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, on May 16, 2019. The center is celebrating the SSPF’s 25th anniversary. The facility was built to process elements for the International Space Station. Now it is providing support for current and future NASA and commercial provider programs, including Commercial Resupply Services, Artemis 1, sending the first woman and next man to the Moon, and deep space destinations including Mars.
Jess Bunchek, a veggie plant scientist and pseudonaut, harvests mizuna mustard inside the Veggie harvest chamber in the Space Station Processing Facility at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Feb. 19, 2019, as part of the Experiment Verification Test for the VEG-04B mission that will launch to the International Space Station later this year. VEG-04B examines the interactions between light and spaceflight by growing plants under two different LED lighting conditions. A similar harvest will be conducted on the space station after a grow-out duration of 56 days. Ultimately, fresh vegetables grown in space will be an essential supplement to the crew’s pre-packaged diet, prepping them for long-duration space exploration.
Packed inside its canister, the Interim Cryogenic Propulsion Stage (ICPS) for NASA's Space Launch System (SLS) rocket arrives at the low bay entrance of the Space Station Processing Facility at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The ICPS is the first integrated piece of flight hardware to arrive for the SLS. It is the in-space stage that is located toward the top of the rocket, between the Launch Vehicle Stage Adapter and the Orion Spacecraft Adapter. It will provide some of the in-space propulsion during Orion's first flight test atop the SLS on Exploration Mission-1.
Kevin Mark, Orbiting Carbon Observatory 3 (OCO-3) purge engineer with NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, secures a separate fixture of OCO-3, stored apart from its payload container, on the truck transporting it from the Space Station Processing Facility high bay at the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida to the SpaceX facility on March 18, 2019. The OCO-3 payload will be stowed in the trunk of SpaceX’s Dragon spacecraft, where it will launch aboard a Falcon 9 rocket on the company’s 17th Commercial Resupply Services mission to the International Space Station. Launch is scheduled for April 25, 2019, from Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. Once the payload reaches the station, it will be removed from Dragon and robotically installed on the exterior of the orbiting laboratory’s Japanese Experiment Module Exposed Facility Unit, where it will measure and map carbon dioxide from space to provide further understanding of the relationship between carbon and climate.
During the annual Earth Day celebration at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex, guests have an opportunity to learn more about energy awareness, the environment and sustainability. The two-day event featured approximately 50 exhibitors offering information on a variety of topics, including electric vehicles, sustainable lighting, renewable energy, Florida-friendly landscaping tips, Florida’s biking trails and more.
Seeds are secured in plant pillows for the Veggie plant growth system inside a laboratory in the Space Station Processing Facility at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The plant pillows, containing Outredgeous lettuce, Mizuna Mustard and Waldmann's green lettuce, were packed for delivery to Veggie on SpaceX's 12th commercial resupply services mission to the International Space Station.
Employees discuss one of the electric vehicles on display during Kennedy Space Center’s annual Earth Day celebration. The two-day event featured approximately 50 exhibitors offering information on a variety of topics, including electric vehicles, sustainable lighting, renewable energy, Florida-friendly landscaping tips, Florida’s biking trails and more.
Artwork simulating a view inside the International Space Station marks the entranceway to the high bay in the Space Station Processing Facility (SSPF) at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, on May 16, 2019. The center is celebrating the SSPF’s 25th anniversary. The facility was built to process elements for the International Space Station. Now it is providing support for current and future NASA and commercial provider programs, including Commercial Resupply Services, Artemis 1, sending the first woman and next man to the Moon, and deep space destinations including Mars.
During the annual Earth Day celebration at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex, guests have an opportunity to get an up-close look at experimental electric vehicles. The two-day event featured approximately 50 exhibitors offering information on a variety of topics, including electric vehicles, sustainable lighting, renewable energy, Florida-friendly landscaping tips, Florida’s biking trails and more.
Senior leaders with Kennedy Space Center in Florida, familiarize newly appointed officials from NASA Headquarters with the center’s facilities during a tour on April 19, 2021. The group views plant experiments inside a growth chamber in the Space Station Processing Facility. Plant experiments at Kennedy supports research enabling deep space exploration including experiments in the Veggie and Advanced Plant Habitat systems aboard the International Space Station.
NASA’s Robotic Refueling Mission 3 (RRM3) builds on the first two phases of International Space Station (ISS) technology demonstrations that tested tools, technologies and techniques to refuel and repair satellites in orbit. RRM3, which arrived at Kennedy Space Center’s Space Station Processing Facility on May 8, is planned to launch to the ISS later this year.
In the high bay of Kennedy Space Center's Space Station Processing Facility, Chris Hardcastle, center, of Stinger-Ghaffarian Technologies performs a sharp edge inspection of the integrated Total and Spectral Solar Irradiance Sensor-1 (TSIS-1) payload and the EXPRESS Pallet Adapter. Hardcastle is joined by Dwayne Swieter, left, and Norm Perish, right, TSIS-1 payload team members from the Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics, a Research Institute at the University of Colorado (Boulder). TSIS-1 is designed to measure the Sun's energy input into Earth by seeing how it is distributed across different wavelengths of light. These measurements help scientists establish Earth's total energy and how our planet's atmosphere responds to changes in the Sun's energy output. TSIS-1 will launch on SpaceX's 13th commercial resupply mission to the International Space Station.
NASA began evaluating five habitat prototypes developed through NASA’s Next Space Exploration for Technologies Partnerships, or NextSTEP, to help engineers refine requirements for the design of an American-made deep space habitat for the Gateway. Lockheed Martin turned over its prototype to NASA, and testing began with crew on March 25, 2019, at Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Pictured inside the Space Station Processing Facility on March 26, 2019, from far left is astronaut Frank Rubio. In front of him, are Raja Chari and Stephanie Wilson. At right is astronaut Shannon Walker. Astronauts are participating in the evaluations to provide their perspectives as those who may one day live aboard the lunar outpost, which would be located about 250,000 miles from Earth. Ground prototypes developed by Bigelow Aerospace, Boeing, Northrop Grumman, and Sierra Nevada Corporation will be tested in the future at various facilities across the country. A sixth company, NanoRacks, plans to develop a prototype as well.
Gretchen Maldonado Vazquez, a microbiologist, weighs the harvest of mizuna mustard inside the Veggie harvest chamber in the Space Station Processing Facility at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Feb. 19, 2019, from the Experiment Verification Test for the VEG-04B mission that will launch to the International Space Station later this year. VEG-04B examines the interactions between light and spaceflight by growing plants under two different LED lighting conditions, and a similar harvest will be conducted on the space station after a grow-out duration of 56 days. Ultimately, fresh vegetables grown in space will be an essential supplement to the crew’s pre-packaged diet, prepping them for long-duration space exploration.
The technology to replenish crucial satellite supplies in space currently does not exist. NASA is looking to help change that with Robotic Refueling Mission 3 (RRM3). The fluid transfer module arrived at Kennedy Space Center on May 8, and is planned to launch to the International Space Station later this year.
In the Space Station Processing Facility at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, technicians and engineers remove a protective cover on the Cosmic-Ray Energetics and Mass investigation, or CREAM, instrument. It is designed to measure the charges of cosmic rays to better understand what gives them such incredible energies, and how that effects the composition of the universe. The instrument will be launched to the space station on the SpaceX CRS-12 commercial resupply mission in August 2017.
A forklift moves the transportation container carrying NASA’s Orbiting Carbon Observatory 3, or OCO-3, payload to a truck for its move from the Space Station Processing Facility high bay at the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida to the SpaceX facility on March 18, 2019. The OCO-3 payload will be stowed in the trunk of SpaceX’s Dragon spacecraft, where it will launch aboard a Falcon 9 rocket on the company’s 17th Commercial Resupply Services mission to the International Space Station. Launch is scheduled for April 25, 2019, from Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. Once the payload reaches the station, it will be removed from Dragon and robotically installed on the exterior of the orbiting laboratory’s Japanese Experiment Module Exposed Facility Unit, where it will measure and map carbon dioxide from space to provide further understanding of the relationship between carbon and climate.
In the Space Station Processing Facility at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, technicians and engineers inspect components for the Cosmic-Ray Energetics and Mass investigation, or CREAM, instrument. It is designed to measure the charges of cosmic rays to better understand what gives them such incredible energies, and how that effects the composition of the universe. The instrument will be launched to the space station on the SpaceX CRS-12 commercial resupply mission in August 2017.
Ground unit experiment chambers for the Veggie plant growth system and the Advanced Plant Habitat are in view in a laboratory inside the Space Station Processing Facility (SSPF) at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, on May 16, 2019. The center is celebrating the SSPF’s 25th anniversary. The facility was built to process elements for the International Space Station. Now it is providing support for current and future NASA and commercial provider programs, including Commercial Resupply Services, Artemis 1, sending the first woman and next man to the Moon, and deep space destinations including Mars.
Inside the Space Station Processing Facility (SSPF) high bay at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, workers assist as a crane lifts the Orion Stage Adapter (OSA) away from the flatbed of a transport truck. The OSA is the second flight-hardware section of the agency's Space Launch System (SLS) rocket to arrive at Kennedy. The OSA will connect the Orion spacecraft to the upper part of the SLS, the interim cryogenic propulsion stage (ICPS). Both the OSA and ICPS are being stored for processing in the center's SSPF in preparation for Exploration Mission-1, the first uncrewed, integrated launch of the SLS rocket and Orion spacecraft.
In the Space Station Processing Facility at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, the ECOsystem Spaceborne Thermal Radiometer Experiment on Space Station (ECOSTRESS) is removed from its shipping container. ECOSTRESS is designed to monitor one of the most basic processes in living plants: the loss of water through the tiny pores in leaves. ECOSTRESS will launch to the International Space Station aboard a Dragon spacecraft launched by a Falcon 9 rocket on the SpaceX CRS-15 mission in June 2018.
An industrial building behind the Space Station Processing Facility (SSPF) is seen during an aerial survey of NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida on September 12, 2017. The survey was performed to identify structures and facilities that may have sustained damage from Hurricane Irma as the storm passed Kennedy on September 10, 2017. NASA closed the center ahead of the storm's onset and only a small team of specialists known as the Rideout Team was on the center as the storm approached and passed.
During the annual Earth Day celebration at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex, guests have an opportunity to learn about the environment. The two-day event featured approximately 50 exhibitors offering information on a variety of topics, including electric vehicles, sustainable lighting, renewable energy, Florida-friendly landscaping tips, Florida’s biking trails and more.
An employee learns about indoor air quality at the Kennedy Space Center (KSC) Environmental and Medical Contract (KEMCON) booth at the center’s annual Earth Day celebration. The two-day event featured approximately 50 exhibitors offering information on a variety of topics, including electric vehicles, sustainable lighting, renewable energy, Florida-friendly landscaping tips, Florida’s biking trails and more.
NASA began evaluating five habitat prototypes developed through NASA’s Next Space Exploration for Technologies Partnerships, or NextSTEP, to help engineers refine requirements for the design of an American-made deep space habitat for the Gateway. Lockheed Martin turned over its prototype to NASA, and testing began with crew on March 25, 2019, at Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Pictured inside the habitat prototype on March 26, 2019, from left are astronauts Frank Rubio, Stephanie Wilson and Raja Chari. Partially in view next to Chari is astronaut Shannon Walker. Astronauts are participating in the evaluations to provide their perspectives as those who may one day live aboard the lunar outpost, which would be located about 250,000 miles from Earth. Ground prototypes developed by Bigelow Aerospace, Boeing, Northrop Grumman, and Sierra Nevada Corporation will be tested in the future at various facilities across the country. A sixth company, NanoRacks, plans to develop a prototype as well.
From left to right: Dr. Oliver Ullrich from the University of Zurich, Dr. Ye Zhang and Dr. Howard Levine of NASA's Kennedy Space Center, and Dr. Cora Thiel of the University of Zurich stood in the Space Station Processing Facility on Dec. 18, 2018. NASA recently signed a Space Act Agreement with the university, which is located in Switzerland, to collaborate on biological research. The team is studying gene expression in altered gravity.
Arabidopsis thaliana plants are seen inside the growth chamber of the Advanced Plant Habitat (APH) Flight Unit No. 1 prior to harvest of half the plants. The harvest is part of an ongoing verification test of the APH unit, which is located inside the International Space Station Environmental Simulator in NASA Kennedy Space Center's Space Station Processing Facility. The APH undergoing testing at Kennedy is identical to one on the station and uses red, green and broad-spectrum white LED lights to grow plants in an environmentally controlled chamber. The seeds grown during the verification test will be grown on the station to help scientists understand how these plants adapt to spaceflight.
NASA began evaluating five habitat prototypes developed through NASA’s Next Space Exploration for Technologies Partnerships, or NextSTEP, to help engineers refine requirements for the design of an American-made deep space habitat for the Gateway. Lockheed Martin turned over its prototype to NASA, and testing began with crew on March 25, 2019, at Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Pictured inside the habitat prototype on March 26, 2019, from left are astronauts Stephanie Wilson, Shannon Walker and Raja Chari. Astronauts are participating in the evaluations to provide their perspectives as those who may one day live aboard the lunar outpost, which would be located about 250,000 miles from Earth. Ground prototypes developed by Bigelow Aerospace, Boeing, Northrop Grumman, and Sierra Nevada Corporation will be tested in the future at various facilities across the country. A sixth company, NanoRacks, plans to develop a prototype as well.
In the high bay of Kennedy Space Center's Space Station Processing Facility, Chris Hardcastle, left, of Stinger-Ghaffarian Technologies applies crew preference tape to the integrated Total and Spectral Solar Irradiance Sensor-1 (TSIS-1) payload and the EXPRESS Pallet Adapter. Hardcastle is joined by TSIS-1 payload team members from the Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics, a Research Institute at the University of Colorado (Boulder). Standing from left to right are Tom Patton, Greg Ucker and Norm Perish. TSIS-1 is designed to measure the Sun's energy input into Earth by seeing how it is distributed across different wavelengths of light. These measurements help scientists establish Earth's total energy and how our planet's atmosphere responds to changes in the Sun's energy output. TSIS-1 will launch on SpaceX's 13th commercial resupply mission to the International Space Station.
NASA began evaluating five habitat prototypes developed through NASA’s Next Space Exploration for Technologies Partnerships, or NextSTEP, to help engineers refine requirements for the design of an American-made deep space habitat for the Gateway. Lockheed Martin turned over its prototype to NASA, and testing began with crew on March 25, 2019, at Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Pictured inside the habitat prototype on March 26, 2019, in back from left are astronauts Frank Rubio, Stephanie Wilson and Shannon Walker. Astronauts are participating in the evaluations to provide their perspectives as those who may one day live aboard the lunar outpost, which would be located about 250,000 miles from Earth. Ground prototypes developed by Bigelow Aerospace, Boeing, Northrop Grumman, and Sierra Nevada Corporation will be tested in the future at various facilities across the country. A sixth company, NanoRacks, plans to develop a prototype as well.
Workers move NASA’s Orbiting Carbon Observatory 3, or OCO-3, payload container out of the Space Station Processing Facility high bay at the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida to board a truck that will transport it to the SpaceX facility on March 18, 2019. The OCO-3 payload will be stowed in the trunk of SpaceX’s Dragon spacecraft, where it will launch aboard a Falcon 9 rocket on the company’s 17th Commercial Resupply Services mission the International Space Station. Launch is scheduled for April 25, 2019, from Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. Once the payload reaches the station, it will be removed from Dragon and robotically installed on the exterior of the orbiting laboratory’s Japanese Experiment Module Exposed Facility Unit, where it will measure and map carbon dioxide from space to provide further understanding of the relationship between carbon and climate.
NASA’s Orbiting Carbon Observatory 3, or OCO-3, payload sits in a transportation container at the Space Station Processing Facility high bay at the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida in preparation for its move to the SpaceX facility on March 18, 2019. The OCO-3 payload will be stowed in the trunk of SpaceX’s Dragon spacecraft, where it will launch aboard a Falcon 9 rocket on the company’s 17th Commercial Resupply Services mission to the International Space Station. Launch is scheduled for April 25, 2019, from Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. Once the payload reaches the station, it will be removed from Dragon and robotically installed on the exterior of the orbiting laboratory’s Japanese Experiment Module Exposed Facility Unit, where it will measure and map carbon dioxide from space to provide further understanding of the relationship between carbon and climate.
A transportation container carrying NASA’s Orbiting Carbon Observatory 3, or OCO-3, payload is moved to a truck for transport from the Space Station Processing Facility high bay at the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida to the SpaceX facility on March 18, 2019. The OCO-3 payload will be stowed in the trunk of SpaceX’s Dragon spacecraft, where it will launch aboard a Falcon 9 rocket on the company’s 17th Commercial Resupply Services mission to the International Space Station. Launch is scheduled for April 25, 2019, from Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. Once the payload reaches the station, it will be removed from Dragon and robotically installed on the exterior of the orbiting laboratory’s Japanese Experiment Module Exposed Facility Unit, where it will measure and map carbon dioxide from space to provide further understanding of the relationship between carbon and climate.
The Space Test Program-Houston 6 (STP-H6) payload is moved to a transport truck at the Space Station Processing Facility at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on March 19, 2019. The payload will be moved to the SpaceX facility where it will be stowed in the trunk of the Dragon spacecraft for delivery to the International Space Station on SpaceX’s 17th Commercial Resupply Services mission (CRS-17) for NASA. STP-H6 is an x-ray communication investigation that will be used to perform a space-based demonstration of a new technology for generating beams of modulated x-rays. This technology may be useful for providing efficient communication to deep space probes, or communicating with hypersonic vehicles where plasma sheaths prevent traditional radio communications. CRS-17 is scheduled to launch from Space Launch Complex 40 on Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in late April.
Inside the Space Station Processing Facility high bay at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, technicians work on the pump package assembly (PPA) on Aug. 30, 2018. The payload will be carried to the International Space Station on SpaceX's 16th Commercial Resupply Services mission. The PPA will be used to continuously drive the cooling water in the space station's thermal control system. The assembly includes a centrifuge pump, a fine filter and gas trap for pump protection, a coarse outlet filter, sensors, and an accumulator. The PPA also will provide a reservoir used for makeup of coolant if leakage occurred. CRS-16 is scheduled to launch to the space station later this year.
In the Space Station Processing Facility at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, the ECOsystem Spaceborne Thermal Radiometer Experiment on Space Station (ECOSTRESS) is inspected shortly after arrival. ECOSTRESS is designed to monitor one of the most basic processes in living plants: the loss of water through the tiny pores in leaves. ECOSTRESS will launch to the International Space Station aboard a Dragon spacecraft launched by a Falcon 9 rocket on the SpaceX CRS-15 mission in June 2018.