S74-28295 (September 1974) --- American-built hardware for the joint U.S.-USSR Apollo-Soyuz Test Project mission undergoes pre-delivery preparations in the giant clean room at Rockwell International Corporation?s Space Division at Downey, California. The U.S. portion of the ASTP docking system is in the right foreground. In the right background is the cylindrical-shaped docking module, which is designed to link the Apollo and Soyuz spacecraft when they dock in Earth orbit next summer. In the left background is the Apollo Command Module which they will carry the three American astronauts into Earth orbit. Photo credit: NASA

The Apollo hardware jammed into the F-8C. The computer is partially visible in the avionics bay at the top of the fuselage behind the cockpit. Note the display and keyboard unit in the gun bay. To carry the computers and other equipment, the F-8 DFBW team removed the aircraft's guns and ammunition boxes.

S89-41564 (25 July 1971) --- Lightning streaks through the sky around the Apollo 15 stack of hardware prior to the Apollo 15 launch. The huge 363-feet tall Apollo 15 (Spacecraft 112/Lunar Module 10/Saturn 510) space vehicle is scheduled to launch from Pad A, Launch Complex 39, at 9:34:00:79 p.m. (EDT) on July 26, 1971. The prime crewmembers for the Apollo 15 mission are astronauts David R. Scott, commander; James B. Irwin, lunar module pilot; and Alfred M. Worden, command module pilot.

S75-24108 (8-10 Feb. 1975) --- A group of Apollo-Soyuz Test Project crewmen inspects an Apollo spacesuit during a three-day tour of NASA's Kennedy Space Center. They were at KSC to look over ASTP launch facilities and flight hardware. The six men wearing white caps are, left to right, cosmonaut Valeriy N. Kubasov, interpreter K.S. Samofal (far end of table), astronaut Vance D. Brand, cosmonaut Aleksey A. Leonov, cosmonaut Vladimir A. Shatalov and astronaut Donald K. Slayton.

This chart details Skylab's Ultraviolet (UV) X-Ray Solar Photography experiment (S020) in an Apollo Telescope Mount facility. It was designed to photograph normal and explosive areas within the solar atmosphere in the UV and x-ray spectra. The Marshall Space Flight Center had program management responsibility for the development of Skylab hardware and experiments.

This chart describes scientific parameters of the Skylab Ultraviolet (UV) Scanning Polychromator Spectroheliometer, one the eight Apollo Telescope Mount facilities. It was designed to observe and provide temporal changes in UV radiation emitted by the Sun's chromosphere and lower corona. The Marshall Space Flight Center had program management responsibility for the development of skylab hardware and experiments.

This 1970 photograph shows the flight unit for Skylab's Ultraviolet (UV) Scarning Polychromator Spectroheliometer, an Apollo Telescope Mount (ATM) facility. It was designed to observe temporal changes in UV radiation emitted by the Sun's chromosphere and lower corona. The Marshall Space Flight Center had program management responsibility for the development of Skylab hardware and experiments.

This chart details Skylab's X-Ray Spectrographic Telescope, an Apollo Telescope Mount facility. It was designed to sequentially photograph solar flares and other active regions in the x-ray spectrum. The Marshall Flight Center had program management responsibility for the development of Skylab hardware and experiments.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- At the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, structural work is ongoing inside the high bay of the Operations and Checkout Building. The modifications are taking place to configure the facility flight hardware from the Apollo Program and prepare to support payload processing for future space shuttle missions. Photo Credit: NASA

This photograph details Skylab's X-Ray Spectrographic Telescope, an Apollo Telescope Mount facility. It was designed to sequentially photograph solar flares and other active regions in x-ray spectrum. The Marshall Space Flight Center had program management responsibility for the development of Skylab hardware and experiments.

This 1970 photograph shows Skylab's Ultraviolet (UV)/X-Ray Solar Photography instrument, an Apollo Telescope Mount (ATM) facility designed to photograph normal and explosive areas in the solar atmosphere in the x-ray and UV spectra. The Marshall Space Flight Center had program management responsibility for the development of Skylab hardware and experiments.

This chart describes Skylab's Extreme Ultraviolet (XUV) Coronal Spectroheliograph, one of the eight Apollo Telescope Mount facilities. It was designed to sequentially photograph the solar chromosphere and corona in selected ultraviolet wavelengths . The instrument also obtained information about composition, temperature, energy conversion and transfer, and plasma processes of the chromosphere and lower corona. The Marshall Space Flight Center had program management responsibility for the development of Skylab hardware and experiments.

This 1970 photograph shows the flight unit for Skylab's White Light Coronagraph, an Apollo Telescope Mount (ATM) facility that photographed the solar corona in the visible light spectrum. A TV camera in the instrument provided real-time pictures of the occulted Sun to the astronauts at the control console and also transmitted the images to the ground. The Marshall Space Flight Center had program management responsibility for the development of Skylab hardware and experiments.

This photograph shows Skylab's Extreme Ultraviolet (XUV) Spectroheliograph during an acceptance test and checkout procedures in April 1971. The unit was an Apollo Telescope Mount (ATM) instrument designed to sequentially photograph the solar chromosphere and corona in selected ultraviolet wavelengths. The instrument also obtained information about composition, temperature, energy conversion and transfer, and plasma processes of the chromosphere and lower corona. The Marshall Space Flight Center had program management responsibility for the development of Skylab hardware and experiments.

S75-27289 (May 1975) --- An artist?s concept depicting the American Apollo spacecraft docked with a Soviet Soyuz spacecraft in Earth orbit. During the joint U.S.-USSR Apollo-Soyuz Test Project mission, scheduled for July 1975, the American and Soviet crews will visit one another?s spacecraft while the Soyuz and Apollo are docked for a maximum period of two days. The mission is designed to test equipment and techniques that will establish international crew rescue capability in space, as well as permit future cooperative scientific missions. Each nation has developed separately docking systems based on a mutually agreeable single set of interface design specifications. The major new U.S. program elements are the docking module and docking system necessary to achieve compatibility of rendezvous and docking systems with the USSR-developed hardware to be used on the Soyuz spacecraft. The DM and docking system together with an Apollo Command/Service Module will be launched by a Saturn 1B launch vehicle. This artwork is by Paul Fjeld.

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. -- An overhead crane lifts the saucer-like 27.5-ton lid of an altitude chamber in the Operations and Checkout Building high bay. The chamber was recently reactivated, after a 24-year hiatus, to perform leak tests on International Space Station pressurized modules at the launch site. Originally, two chambers were built to test Apollo Program flight hardware. They were last used in 1975 during the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project. After installation of new vacuum pumping equipment and controls, a new control room, and a new rotation handling fixture, the chamber again became operational in February 1999. The chamber, which is 33 feet in diameter and 50 feet tall, is constructed of stainless steel. The first module that will be tested for leaks is the U.S. Laboratory. No date has been determined for the test

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. -- Workers watch as the 27.5-ton lid is lowered onto the top of an altitude chamber in the Operations and Checkout Building high bay. The chamber was recently reactivated, after a 24-year hiatus, to perform leak tests on International Space Station pressurized modules at the launch site. Originally, two chambers were built to test Apollo Program flight hardware. They were last used in 1975 during the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project. After installation of new vacuum pumping equipment and controls, a new control room, and a new rotation handling fixture, the chamber again became operational in February 1999. The chamber, which is 33 feet in diameter and 50 feet tall, is constructed of stainless steel. The first module that will be tested for leaks is the U.S. Laboratory. No date has been determined for the test

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. -- Looking as if poised in flight, the saucer-like lid of an altitude chamber is lifted from the floor in the Operations and Checkout Building high bay to its place on top of the chamber. The chamber was recently reactivated, after a 24-year hiatus, to perform leak tests on International Space Station pressurized modules at the launch site. Originally, two chambers were built to test Apollo Program flight hardware. They were last used in 1975 during the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project. After installation of new vacuum pumping equipment and controls, a new control room, and a new rotation handling fixture, the chamber again became operational in February 1999. The chamber, which is 33 feet in diameter and 50 feet tall, is constructed of stainless steel. The first module that will be tested for leaks is the U.S. Laboratory. No date has been determined for the test

Apollo-era recovery engineer Milt Heflin observes the new ways in which the Orion crew capsule will be recovered after splashdown during Underway Recovery Test-7 on Oct. 30, 2018. The Exploration Ground Systems recovery team and the U.S. Navy will use a test version of the Orion crew module, several rigid hull inflatable boats and support equipment to verify and validate processes, procedures, hardware and personnel during recovery of Orion in open waters. The test is one in a series of tests to verify and validate procedures and hardware that will be used to recover the Orion spacecraft after it splashes down in the Pacific Ocean following deep space exploration missions. Orion will have emergency abort capability, sustain the crew during space travel and provide safe re-entry from deep space return velocities.

This 1973 chart details Skylab's Ultraviolet (UV) Spectrograph, an Apollo Telescope Mount instrument. Its telescope, with camera and TV capability, photographed the Sun in selected ultraviolet wavelengths. The spectrograph was used to record the spectrum of UV emissions, such as flares or filaments, from a small individual feature on the solar disc. Real-time TV was used by the crew to monitor performance of the telescope, transmit to the ground and record. The exposed films were retrieved by astronaut extravehicular activities. The Marshall Space Flight Center had program management responsibility for the development of the Skylab hardware and experiments.

Chosen to power the upper stages of the new Ares I Crew Launch Vehicle (CLV) and the Ares V cargo segment, the J-2X engine is a stepped up version of the hydrogen/oxygen-fuelled Apollo-era J-2 engine. It was developed for NASA by Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne (PWR), a business unit of United Technologies Corporation of Canoga Park, California. As seen in this photograph, the engine underwent a series of hot fire tests, performed on sub scale main injector hardware in the Test Stand 116 at Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC). The injector is a major component of the engine that injects and mixes propellants in the combustion chamber, where they are ignited and burned to produce thrust.

This chart details Skylab's Dual X-Ray Telescopes, one of eight Apollo Telescope Mount facilities. It was designed to gather solar radiation data in the x-ray region of the solar spectrum and provide information on physical processes within the solar atmosphere. In support of the two primary telescopes, auxiliary instruments provided a continuous record of the total x-ray flux in two bands. A flare detector was also provided at the control console as an aid to astronauts for monitoring solar activity. The Marshall Space Flight Center had program management responsibility for the development of Skylab hardware and experiments.

This 1970 photograph shows Skylab's Dual X-Ray Telescopes, an Apollo Telescope Mount facility. It was designed to gather solar radiation data in the x-ray region of the solar spectrum and provide information on physical processes within the solar atmosphere. In support of the two primary telescopes, auxiliary instruments provided a continuous record of the total x-ray flux in two bands. A flare detector was also provided at the control console as an aid to astronauts for monitoring solar activity. The Marshall Space Flight Center had program management responsibility for the development of Skylab hardware and experiments.

Chosen to power the upper stages of the new Ares I Crew Launch Vehicle (CLV) and the Ares V cargo segment, the J-2X engine is a stepped up version of the hydrogen/oxygen-fuelled Apollo-era J-2 engine. It was developed for NASA by Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne (PWR), a business unit of United Technologies Corporation of Canoga Park, California. As seen in this photograph, the engine underwent a series of hot fire tests, performed on sub scale main injector hardware in the Test Stand 116 at Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC). The injector is a major component of the engine that injects and mixes propellants in the combustion chamber, where they are ignited and burned to produce thrust.

S75-24114 (8-10 Feb. 1975) --- Two Walt Disney comic cartoon characters, Donald Duck and Pluto, were on hand to greet a group of Apollo-Soyuz Test Project (ASTP) crewmen on their arrival at Disney World near Orlando. From left, are interpreter K. S. Samofal, interpreter Nicholas Timacheff, cosmonaut Vladimir A. Shatalov, astronaut Vance D. Brand, astronaut Donald K. Slayton, cosmonaut Aleksey A. Leonov (squeezing Pluto's nose) and astronaut Thomas P. Stafford. The astronauts and cosmonauts were in Florida for a three-day inspection tour of NASA's Kennedy Space Center where they looked over ASTP launch facilities and flight hardware.

This 1970 photograph shows the Skylab's Ultraviolet (UV) Spectrograph, an Apollo Telescope Mount instrument. Its telescope, with camera and TV capability, photographed the Sun in selected ultraviolet wavelengths. The spectrograph was used to record the spectrum of UV emissions, such as flares or filaments, from a small individual feature on the solar disc. Real-time TV was used by the crew to monitor the performance of the telescope, transmit to the ground, and record. The exposed films were retrieved by astronaut extravehicular activities. The Marshall Space Flight Center had program management responsibility for the development of the Skylab hardware and experiments.

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. -- The command_service module for the Skylab Rescue Vehicle was removed from its Saturn IB rocket in the Vehicle Assembly Building here today. The Skylab Program ended with splashdown of the Skylab 4 crew in the Pacific Ocean Feb. 8, ending the need for the rescue vehicle on Complex 39's Pad B since early December. The SaturnIB_Apollo was returned to the VAB last week and is now being dismantled. The spacecraft is to be taken to the Manned Spacecraft Operations Building in the KSC Industrial Area Feb. 20. Both the spacecraft and rocket will be stored at KSC as backup flight hardware for the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project in 1975.

Apollo-era recovery engineer Milt Heflin takes time out from Underway Recovery Test-7 (URT-7) to pose in front of a test version of the Orion capsule in the well deck of the USS John P. Murtha on Nov. 3, 2018. The capsule is being used during testing. URT-7 is one in a series conducted by the Exploration Ground Systems Recovery Team to verify and validate procedures and hardware that will be used to recover the Orion spacecraft after it splashes down in the Pacific Ocean following deep space exploration missions. Orion will have emergency abort capability, sustain the crew during space travel and provide safe re-entry from deep space return velocities.

NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman visited NASA's Michoud Assembly Facility May 7, 2026, to see how the MAF team is helping build the future of human space exploration through Artemis. As a key production site for NASA's SLS (Space Launch System) and Orion spacecraft, teams at Michoud are focused on hardware for upcoming Artemis missions, including next year’s Artemis III mission and beyond. Isaacman toured the facility following an employee town hall. Acknowledging the facility’s rich history supporting all agency human space flight initiatives since Apollo, Isaacman called Michoud an “advanced manufacturing center of excellence,” and praised the workforce for their contribution to the Artemis campaign. House Majority Leader Steve Scalise was also in attendance and participated in the event and tours. Image credit: NASA/Michael DeMocker

NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman visited NASA's Michoud Assembly Facility May 7, 2026, to see how the MAF team is helping build the future of human space exploration through Artemis. As a key production site for NASA's SLS (Space Launch System) and Orion spacecraft, teams at Michoud are focused on hardware for upcoming Artemis missions, including next year’s Artemis III mission and beyond. Isaacman toured the facility following an employee town hall. Acknowledging the facility’s rich history supporting all agency human space flight initiatives since Apollo, Isaacman called Michoud an “advanced manufacturing center of excellence,” and praised the workforce for their contribution to the Artemis campaign. House Majority Leader Steve Scalise was also in attendance and participated in the event and tours. Image credit: NASA/Michael DeMocker

NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman visited NASA's Michoud Assembly Facility May 7, 2026, to see how the MAF team is helping build the future of human space exploration through Artemis. As a key production site for NASA's SLS (Space Launch System) and Orion spacecraft, teams at Michoud are focused on hardware for upcoming Artemis missions, including next year’s Artemis III mission and beyond. Isaacman toured the facility following an employee town hall. Acknowledging the facility’s rich history supporting all agency human space flight initiatives since Apollo, Isaacman called Michoud an “advanced manufacturing center of excellence,” and praised the workforce for their contribution to the Artemis campaign. House Majority Leader Steve Scalise was also in attendance and participated in the event and tours. Image credit: NASA/Michael DeMocker

NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman visited NASA's Michoud Assembly Facility May 7, 2026, to see how the MAF team is helping build the future of human space exploration through Artemis. As a key production site for NASA's SLS (Space Launch System) and Orion spacecraft, teams at Michoud are focused on hardware for upcoming Artemis missions, including next year’s Artemis III mission and beyond. Isaacman toured the facility following an employee town hall. Acknowledging the facility’s rich history supporting all agency human space flight initiatives since Apollo, Isaacman called Michoud an “advanced manufacturing center of excellence,” and praised the workforce for their contribution to the Artemis campaign. House Majority Leader Steve Scalise was also in attendance and participated in the event and tours. Image credit: NASA/Michael DeMocker

NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman visited NASA's Michoud Assembly Facility May 7, 2026, to see how the MAF team is helping build the future of human space exploration through Artemis. As a key production site for NASA's SLS (Space Launch System) and Orion spacecraft, teams at Michoud are focused on hardware for upcoming Artemis missions, including next year’s Artemis III mission and beyond. Isaacman toured the facility following an employee town hall. Acknowledging the facility’s rich history supporting all agency human space flight initiatives since Apollo, Isaacman called Michoud an “advanced manufacturing center of excellence,” and praised the workforce for their contribution to the Artemis campaign. House Majority Leader Steve Scalise was also in attendance and participated in the event and tours. Image credit: NASA/Michael DeMocker

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. -- In the Operations and Checkout Building's high bay, the Rotation Handling Fixture (RHF), with a simulated module attached, is viewed from above the altitude chamber into which it was lowered during a test. Under normal operation, the RHF will hold a pressurized module intended for the International Space Station, depositing it into the altitude chamber for leak testing. The chamber was recently reactivated after a 20-year hiatus. Originally, two chambers were built to test Apollo Program flight hardware. They were last used in 1975 during the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project. In 1997, in order to increase the probability of successful missions aboard the ISS, NASA decided to perform leak tests on ISS pressurized modules at the launch site. After installation of new vacuum pumping equipment and controls, a new control room, and a new rotation and handling fixture, the chamber again became operational in February 1999. The chamber, which is 33 feet in diameter and 50 feet tall, is constructed of stainless steel. The rotation handling fixture is aluminum. The first module that will be tested for leaks is the U.S. Laboratory. No date has been determined for the test

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. -- In the Operations and Checkout Building's high bay, a crane lifts the Rotation Handling Fixture (RHF) and simulated module during a test. Under normal operation, the RHF will hold a pressurized module intended for the International Space Station, lifting it up and into an altitude chamber for leak testing. The chamber was recently reactivated after a 24-year hiatus. Originally, two chambers were built to test Apollo Program flight hardware. They were last used in 1975 during the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project. In 1997, in order to increase the probability of successful missions aboard the ISS, NASA decided to perform leak tests on ISS pressurized modules at the launch site. After installation of new vacuum pumping equipment and controls, a new control room, and a new rotation and handling fixture, the chamber again became operational in February 1999. The chamber, which is 33 feet in diameter and 50 feet tall, is constructed of stainless steel. The rotation handling fixture is aluminum. The first module that will be tested for leaks is the U.S. Laboratory. No date has been determined for the test

Skylab and Mir Space Stations: In 1964, design and feasibility studies were initiated for missions that could use modified Apollo hardware for a number of possible lunar and Earth-orbital scientific and applications missions. An S-IVB stage of a Saturn V launch vehicle was outfitted completely as a workshop. The Skylab 1 Orbital Workshop with its Apollo Telescope Mount was launched into orbit May 14, 1973. The Skylab 2, 3 and 4 missions, each with three-man crews, proved that humans could live and work in space for extended periods. The Shuttle-Mir Program was a joint effort between 1994-1998 which allowed American and Russian crews to share expertise and knowledge while working together in space. As preparation for the construction of the International Space Station, Shuttle-Mir encompassed 11 space shuttle flights and 7 astronaut residencies on the Russian space station Mir. Poster designed by Kennedy Space Center Graphics Department/Greg Lee. Credit: NASA

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. -- Viewed from inside the altitude chamber in the Operations and Checkout Building's high bay, the Rotation Handling Fixture (RHF), with a simulated module attached, is lowered during a test. Under normal operation, the RHF will hold a pressurized module intended for the International Space Station, depositing it into the altitude chamber for leak testing. The chamber was recently reactivated after a 24-year hiatus. Originally, two chambers were built to test Apollo Program flight hardware. They were last used in 1975 during the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project. In 1997, in order to increase the probability of successful missions aboard the ISS, NASA decided to perform leak tests on ISS pressurized modules at the launch site. After installation of new vacuum pumping equipment and controls, a new control room, and a new rotation and handling fixture, the chamber again became operational in February 1999. The chamber, which is 33 feet in diameter and 50 feet tall, is constructed of stainless steel. The rotation handling fixture is aluminum. The first module that will be tested for leaks is the U.S. Laboratory. No date has been determined for the test

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. -- In the Operations and Checkout Building's high bay, the Rotation Handling Fixture (RHF), with a simulated module attached, is lowered by crane into the altitude chamber below during a test. Under normal operation, the RHF will hold a pressurized module intended for the International Space Station, depositing it into the altitude chamber for leak testing. The chamber was recently reactivated after a 24-year hiatus. Originally, two chambers were built to test Apollo Program flight hardware. They were last used in 1975 during the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project. In 1997, in order to increase the probability of successful missions aboard the ISS, NASA decided to perform leak tests on ISS pressurized modules at the launch site. After installation of new vacuum pumping equipment and controls, a new control room, and a new rotation and handling fixture, the chamber again became operational in February 1999. The chamber, which is 33 feet in diameter and 50 feet tall, is constructed of stainless steel. The rotation handling fixture is aluminum. The first module that will be tested for leaks is the U.S. Laboratory. No date has been determined for the test

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. – Representatives from NASA, Lockheed Martin, Space Florida and the state of Florida participate in a ceremony at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida to mark the completion of renovations on the historic Operations and Checkout Building high bay for use by the Constellation Program. At center, U.S. Rep. Suzanne Kosmas and Lt. Governor Jeff Kottcamp listen to Richard Harris, with Lockheed Martin, describe some of the hardware that will be used in the building. Originally built to process space vehicles in the Apollo era, the building will serve as the final assembly facility for the Orion crew exploration vehicle. Orion, America's future human spaceflight vehicle, will be capable of transporting four crew members to the moon and later will support crew transfers to Mars. The Orion spacecraft also will be used to transport crew members to the International Space Station after space shuttles are retired in 2010. The first operational launch of Orion atop an Ares I rocket is planned for 2015. Photo credit: NASA/Dimitri Gerondidakis

S75-24030 (8-10 Feb. 1975) --- The five prime crew members of the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project (ASTP) mission pose for a group photograph while at NASA's Kennedy Space Center (KSC) for a three-day inspection tour. They are, left to right, astronaut Donald K. (Deke) Slayton, docking module pilot of the American crew; astronaut Vance D. Brand, command module pilot of the American crew; astronaut Thomas P. Stafford, commander of the American crew; cosmonaut Aleksey A. Leonov, commander of the Soviet crew; and cosmonaut Valeriy N. Kubasov, engineer of the Soviet crew. They were at KSC to look over launch facilities and flight hardware. They are standing in front of artist Robert McCall?s painting of an ASTP docking in Earth orbit.

S75-24052 (8-10 Feb. 1975) --- A space-suited Mickey Mouse character welcomes the prime crewmen of the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project mission to Florida?s Disney World near Orlando. The crewmen made a side-trip to Disney World during a three-day inspection tour of NASA's Kennedy Space Center. The crewmen were at KSC to look over launch facilities and flight hardware. Receiving the jovial Disney World welcome are, left to right, cosmonaut Valeriy N. Kubasov, engineer on the Soviet crew; astronaut Donald K. Slayton, docking module pilot of the American crew; astronaut Vance D. Brand, command module pilot of the American crew; cosmonaut Aleksey A. Leonov, commander of the Soviet crew; astronaut Thomas P. Stafford, commander of the American crew; and cosmonaut Vladimir A. Shatalov, Chief of Cosmonaut Training for the USSR.

Apollo-era recovery engineer Milt Heflin, left, and NASA's Landing and Recovery Director Melissa Jones take time out from Underway Recovery Test-7 (URT-7) to pose in front of a test version of the Orion capsule in the well deck of the USS John P. Murtha on Nov. 3, 2018. The capsule is being used during testing. URT-7 is one in a series conducted by the Exploration Ground Systems Recovery Team to verify and validate procedures and hardware that will be used to recover the Orion spacecraft after it splashes down in the Pacific Ocean following deep space exploration missions. Orion will have emergency abort capability, sustain the crew during space travel and provide safe re-entry from deep space return velocities.

NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman visited NASA's Michoud Assembly Facility May 7, 2026, to see how the MAF team is helping build the future of human space exploration through Artemis. As a key production site for NASA's SLS (Space Launch System) and Orion spacecraft, teams at Michoud are focused on hardware for upcoming Artemis missions, including next year’s Artemis III mission and beyond. Isaacman toured the facility following an employee town hall. Acknowledging the facility’s rich history supporting all agency human space flight initiatives since Apollo, Isaacman called Michoud an “advanced manufacturing center of excellence,” and praised the workforce for their contribution to the Artemis campaign. House Majority Leader Steve Scalise was also in attendance and participated in the event and tours. Image credit: NASA/Michael DeMocker

This photograph shows the flight article of the Airlock Module (AM)/Multiple Docking Adapter (MDA) assembly being readied for testing in a clean room at the McDornell Douglas Plant in St. Louis, Missouri. Although the AM and the MDA were separate entities, they were in many respects simply two components of a single module. The AM enabled crew members to conduct extravehicular activities outside Skylab as required for experiment support. Oxygen and nitrogen storage tanks needed for Skylab's life support system were mounted on the external truss work of the AM. Major components in the AM included Skylab's electric power control and distribution station, environmental control system, communication system, and data handling and recording systems. The MDA, forward of the AM, provided docking facilities for the Command and Service Module. It also accommodated several experiment systems, among them the Earth Resource Experiment Package, the materials processing facility, and the control and display console needed for the Apollo Telescope Mount solar astronomy studies. The AM was built by McDonnell Douglas and the MDA was built by Martin Marietta. The Marshall Space Flight Center was responsible for the design and development of the Skylab hardware and experiment management.

A Centaur second-stage rocket is lowered into the vacuum tank inside the Space Power Chambers at NASA’s Lewis Research Center. Centaur was to be paired with an Atlas booster to send the Surveyor spacecraft to the moon as a precursor to the Apollo landings. Lewis was assigned responsibility for the Centaur Program after the failure of its first developmental flight in May 1962. Lewis’ Altitude Wind Tunnel was converted into two large test chambers—the Space Power Chambers. The facility’s vacuum chamber, seen here, allowed the Centaur to be stood up vertically and subjected to atmospheric conditions-- pressures, temperature, and radiation--similar to those it would encounter in space. The Centaur for these tests was delivered to Cleveland in a C‒130 aircraft on September 27, 1963. The rocket was set up in the facility’s high bay where Lewis technicians and General Dynamics consultants updated its flight systems to match the upcoming Atlas-Centaur‒4 mission. Months were spent reharnessing the Centaur’s electronics, learning about the systems, and being taught how to handle flight hardware. By early spring 1964, the extensive setup of both the spacecraft and the chamber was finally completed. On March 19 the Centaur was rolled out from the shop, hoisted high into the air by a crane, and lowered into the waiting space tank. Researchers were able to verify that the Centaur’s electronics and electrical systems functioned reliably in a space environment.

This photograph shows the flight article of the mated Airlock Module (AM) and Multiple Docking Adapter (MDA) being lowering into horizontal position on a transporter. Although the AM and the MDA were separate entities, they were in many respects simply two components of a single module. The AM enabled crew members to conduct extravehicular activities outside Skylab as required for experiment support. Oxygen and nitrogen storage tanks needed for Skylab's life support system were mounted on the external truss work of the AM. Major components in the AM included Skylab's electric power control and distribution station, environmental control system, communication system, and data handling and recording systems. The MDA, forward of the AM, provided docking facilities for the Command and Service Module. It also accommodated several experiment systems, among them the Earth Resource Experiment Package, the materials processing facility, and the control and display console needed for the Apollo Telescope Mount solar astronomy studies. The AM was built by McDornell Douglas and the MDA was built by Martin Marietta. The Marshall Space Flight Center was responsible for the design and development of the Skylab hardware and experiment management.

In the Orbiter Processing Facility, 1998 astronaut candidates (ASCAN) Barbara R. Morgan, Patricia C. Hilliard (M.D.) and Bjarni V. Tryggvason look at the hardware exhibits, such as the engine actuator on the table. Tryggvason is with the Canadian Space Agency. The 1998 ASCAN class is at KSC for training activities, including fire training and a flight awareness program, plus touring the OPF, SSME Processing Facility, VAB, SSPF, launch pads, SLF, Apollo/Saturn V Center and the crew headquarters. Other U.S. candidates in the '98 class are Clayton C. Anderson, Lee J. Archambault, Tracy E. Caldwell (Ph.D.), Gregory E. Chamitoff (Ph.D.), Timothy J. Creamer, Christopher J. Ferguson, Michael J. Foreman, Michael E. Fossum, Kenneth T. Ham, Gregory C. Johnson, Gregory H. Johnson, Stanley G. Love (Ph.D.), Leland D. Melvin, William A. Oefelein, John D. Olivas (Ph.D.), Nicholas J.M. Patrick (Ph.D.), Alan G. Poindexter, Garrett E. Reisman (Ph.D.), Steven R. Swanson, Douglas H. Wheelock, Sunita L. Williams, Neil W. Woodward III, George D. Zamka; and the other international candidates are Leopold Eyharts, Paolo Nespoli, Hans Schlegel, Roberto Vittori, and Marcos Pontes

SAN DIEGO, Calif. – NASA Administrator Charlie Bolden, center, talks to Milt Heflin on the USS Anchorage on the first day of Orion Underway Recovery Test 3. Heflin was a former space shuttle flight director and Mission Operations executive with experience as a recovery engineer for several Apollo, Skylab and Apollo-Soyuz Test Project missions. At left is Brandi Dean, NASA Public Affairs Office. The ship will head out to sea, off the coast of San Diego, in search of conditions to support test needs for a full dress rehearsal of recovery operations. NASA, Lockheed Martin and U.S. Navy personnel will conduct tests in the Pacific Ocean to prepare for recovery of the Orion crew module on its return from a deep space mission. The test will allow the teams to demonstrate and evaluate the recovery processes, procedures, hardware and personnel in open waters. The Ground Systems Development and Operations Program is conducting the underway recovery tests. Orion is the exploration spacecraft designed to carry astronauts to destinations not yet explored by humans, including an asteroid and Mars. It will have emergency abort capability, sustain the crew during space travel and provide safe re-entry from deep space return velocities. The first unpiloted test flight of Orion is scheduled to launch in 2014 atop a United Launch Alliance Delta IV Heavy rocket and in 2018 on NASA’s Space Launch System rocket. For more information, visit http://www.nasa.gov/orion. Photo credit: NASA/Cory Huston

Photographed on 09/22/1960. -- An examination of the Aerojet-General "Aerobee 150A" propulsion system in February 1960. James Hansen described this as follows: "As for the technical definition of the rocket...the Langley engineers tried to keep developmental costs and time to a minimum by selecting components from off-the-shelf hardware. the majority of Scout's components were to come from an inventory of solid-fuel rockets produced for the military, although everyone involved understood that some improved motors would also have to be developed under contract. By early 1959, after intensive technical analysis and reviews, Langley settled on a design and finalized the selection of the major contractors. The rocket's 40-inch-diameter first stage was to be a new "Algol" motor, a combination of the Jupiter Senior and the navy Polaris produced by the Aerojet General Corporation, Sacramento, California. The 31-inch-diameter second stage, "Castor," was derived from the army's Sergeant and was to be manufactured by the Redstone Division of the Thiokol company in Huntsville, Alabama. the motor for the 30-inch-diameter third stage, "Antares," evolved under NASA contract from the ABL X248 design into a new version called the X254 (and subsequently into the X259); it was built under contract to NASA by ABL, a U.S. Navy Bureau of Ordnance facility operated by the Hercules Powder Company, Cumberland, Maryland. the final upper-stage propulsion unit, "Altair," which was 25.7 inches in diameter (34 inches at the heat shield), amounted to an improved edition of the X248 that was also manufactured by ABL." -- Published in James R. Hansen, Spaceflight Revolution: NASA Langley Research Center From Sputnik to Apollo, NASA SP-4308, pp.200-201.

Under the goals of the Vision for Space Exploration, Ares I is a chief component of the cost-effective space transportation infrastructure being developed by NASA's Constellation Program. This transportation system will safely and reliably carry human explorers back to the moon, and then onward to Mars and other destinations in the solar system. The Ares I effort includes multiple project element teams at NASA centers and contract organizations around the nation, and is managed by the Exploration Launch Projects Office at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center (MFSC). ATK Launch Systems near Brigham City, Utah, is the prime contractor for the first stage booster. ATK's subcontractor, United Space Alliance of Houston, is designing, developing and testing the parachutes at its facilities at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston hosts the Constellation Program and Orion Crew Capsule Project Office and provides test instrumentation and support personnel. Together, these teams are developing vehicle hardware, evolving proven technologies, and testing components and systems. Their work builds on powerful, reliable space shuttle propulsion elements and nearly a half-century of NASA space flight experience and technological advances. Ares I is an inline, two-stage rocket configuration topped by the Crew Exploration Vehicle, its service module, and a launch abort system. In this HD video image, the first stage reentry parachute drop test is conducted at the Yuma, Arizona proving ground. The parachute tests demonstrated a three-stage deployment sequence that included the use of an Orbiter drag chute to properly stage the unfurling of the main chute. The parachute recovery system for Orion will be similar to the system used for Apollo command module landings and include two drogue, three pilot, and three main parachutes. (Highest resolution available)

Under the goals of the Vision for Space Exploration, Ares I is a chief component of the cost-effective space transportation infrastructure being developed by NASA's Constellation Program. This transportation system will safely and reliably carry human explorers back to the moon, and then onward to Mars and other destinations in the solar system. The Ares I effort includes multiple project element teams at NASA centers and contract organizations around the nation, and is managed by the Exploration Launch Projects Office at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center (MFSC). ATK Launch Systems near Brigham City, Utah, is the prime contractor for the first stage booster. ATK's subcontractor, United Space Alliance of Houston, is designing, developing and testing the parachutes at its facilities at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston hosts the Constellation Program and Orion Crew Capsule Project Office and provides test instrumentation and support personnel. Together, these teams are developing vehicle hardware, evolving proven technologies, and testing components and systems. Their work builds on powerful, reliable space shuttle propulsion elements and nearly a half-century of NASA space flight experience and technological advances. Ares I is an inline, two-stage rocket configuration topped by the Crew Exploration Vehicle, its service module, and a launch abort system. In this HD video image, the first stage reentry parachute drop test is conducted at the Yuma, Arizona proving ground. The parachute tests demonstrated a three-stage deployment sequence that included the use of an Orbiter drag chute to properly stage the unfurling of the main chute. The parachute recovery system for Orion will be similar to the system used for Apollo command module landings and include two drogue, three pilot, and three main parachutes. (Highest resolution available)

Researchers prepare a Centaur-Surveyor nose cone shroud for a separation test in the Space Power Chambers at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Lewis Research Center. Lewis was in the midst of an extensive effort to prepare the Centaur second-stage rocket for its missions to send the Surveyor spacecraft to the moon as a precursor to the Apollo missions. The nose fairing provided an aerodynamic shield for the payload, guidance system, and electronics package as the rocket traveled through the Earth’s atmosphere. Upon entering space, the thruster near the tip of the fairing forced the two pieces away from the space vehicle. The June 30, 1964 launch of Atlas-Centaur-3 was successful. Within a month of the launch, a Centaur shroud was obtained and installed in the Space Power Chambers. The facility was the only space tank in the country large enough to accommodate the hardware. The two halves of the fiberglass fairing were mounted vertically to a platform. Aluminum pads were set up on either side to catch the shroud halves as they were jettisoned, and a myriad of high-speed cameras were installed to record the tests. The shroud was badly damaged during the first test. It was replaced, and the test equipment redesigned. Over the course of 11 runs during the summer of 1964, the redesigned bulkhead was retested and the new fairing was validated by the final jettison on November 24, 1964. Just over two weeks later, Atlas-Centaur-4 successfully launched a mock-up Surveyor spacecraft into orbit. It was the first Centaur mission to have an error-free shroud jettison.

Engineer Emmanuel Decrossas of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California makes an adjustment to an antenna's connector, part of a NASA telecommunications payload called User Terminal, at Firefly Aerospace's facility in Cedar Park, Texas, in August 2025. Figure A (https://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/figures/PIA26596_figA.jpg) shows members of the team from JPL and NASA (dark blue) and Firefly (white) with the User Terminal antenna, radio, and other components on the bench behind them. Managed by JPL, the User Terminal will test a new, low-cost lunar communications system that future missions to the Moon's far side could use to transfer data to and from Earth via lunar relay satellite. The User Terminal payload will be installed atop Firefly's Blue Ghost Mission 2 lunar lander, which is slated to launch to the Moon's far side in 2026 under NASA's CLPS (Commercial Lunar Payload Services) initiative. NASA's Apollo missions brought large and powerful telecommunications systems to the lunar near-side surface to communicate directly with Earth. But spacecraft on the far side will not have that option because only the near side of the Moon is visible to Earth. Sending messages between the Moon and Earth via a relay orbiter enables communication with the lunar far side and improves it at the Moon's poles. The User Terminal will for the first time test such a setup for NASA by using a compact, lightweight software defined radio, antenna, and related hardware to communicate with a satellite that Blue Ghost Mission 2 is delivering to lunar orbit: ESA's (the European Space Agency's) Lunar Pathfinder. The User Terminal radio and antenna installed on the Blue Ghost lander will be used to commission Lunar Pathfinder, sending test data back and forth. After the lander ceases operations as planned at the end of a single lunar day (about 14 Earth days), a separate User Terminal radio and antenna installed on LuSEE-Night – another payload on the lander – will send LuSEE-Night's data to Lunar Pathfinder, which will relay the information to a commercial network of ground stations on Earth. LuSEE-Night is a radio telescope that expected to operate for at least 1½ years; it is a joint effort by NASA, the U.S. Department of Energy, and University of California, Berkeley's Space Sciences Laboratory. Additionally, User Terminal will be able to communicate with another satellite that's being delivered to lunar orbit by Blue Ghost Mission 2: Firefly's own Elytra Dark orbital vehicle. The hardware on the lander is only part of the User Terminal project, which was also designed to implement a new S-band two-way protocol, or standard, for short-range space communications between entities on the lunar surface (such as rovers and landers) and lunar orbiters, enabling reliable data transfer between them. The standard is a new version of a space communications protocol called Proximity-1 that was initially developed more than two decades ago for use at Mars by an international standard body called the Consultative Committee for Space Data Systems (CCSDS), of which NASA is a member agency. The User Terminal team made recommendations to CCSDS on the development of the new lunar S-band standard, which was specified in 2024. The new standard will enable lunar orbiters and surface spacecraft from various entities – NASA and other civil space agencies as well as industry and academia – to communicate with each other, a concept known as interoperability. At Mars, NASA rovers communicate with various Red Planet orbiters using the Ultra-High Frequency (UHF) radio band version of the Proximity-1 standard. On the Moon's far side, use of UHF is reserved for radio astronomy science; so a new lunar standard was needed using a different frequency range, S-band, as were more efficient modulation and coding schemes to better fit the available frequency spectrum specified by the new standard. User Terminal is funded by NASA's Exploration Science Strategy and Integration Office, part of the agency's Science Mission Directorate, which manages the CLPS initiative. JPL manages the project and supported development of the new S-band radio standard and the payload in coordination with Vulcan Wireless in Carlsbad, California, which built the radio. Caltech in Pasadena manages JPL for NASA. https://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA26596