CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- At the Kennedy Space Center’s SAEF-2 planetary spacecraft checkout facility, technicians work on the spacecraft Galileo prior to moving it to the Vertical Processing Facility for mating with an Inertial Upper Stage. Galileo is scheduled to be launched aboard Atlantis on space shuttle mission STS-34, Oct. 12, 1989 and sent to the planet Jupiter, a journey which will take more than six years to complete. In December 1995, as the two and one half ton spacecraft orbits Jupiter with its 10 scientific instruments, a probe will be released to parachute into the Jovian atmosphere. Photo Credit: NASA

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- Kennedy Space Center Director Lee Scherer receives an Ambassador Plenipotentary certificate after successfully landing the NASA-6 aircraft on the runway at the Shuttle Landing Facility. This was the first touchdown of an aircraft on Kennedy's Shuttle Landing Facility. The certificate reads: 'Be it known that Lee Scherer is hereby appointed Ambassador Plenipotentary in recognition of his aeronautical skills in bringing the old to the new by having an antique aircraft and an antique pilot land on the world's newest runway. Photo Credit: NASA

USS KEARSARGE. -- Three U.S. Navy frogmen attach a floatation collar to the Faith 7 Mercury spacecraft minutes after the spacecraft splashed down in the Pacific Ocean less than four miles from the aircraft carrier USS Kearsarge, and within sight of those on board. Photo Credit: NASA

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- At the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, senior NASA managers monitor Columbia’s progress from their stations in Firing Room 1 following today’s liftoff of the space shuttle on its third journey into space. From left to right are George Page, shuttle launch director, Kenned director Richard Smith and Tom Utsman, Kennedy’s director of technical support. Photo Credit: NASA

CAPE KENNEDY, Fla. -- At the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, the 500,000th visitor to take a NASA escorted bus tour, Donald A. Jackson of Sabina, Ohio, was welcomed at the new Visitor Information Center on Merritt Island by deputy center director Albert F. Siepert, left. Jackson toured the center with his wife, Sue, and their three children, Cheryl, Craig and Doug. Jackson works for the National Cash Register Co. The 500,000th visitor was recorded less than an hour after the Visitor Information Center was officially opened to the public at 8:45 a.m. The NASA tours were begun July 22, 1966, and since that time visitors from every state in the nation and more than 60 nations have toured the space center. Photo Credit: NASA

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- At the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, the payloads for the STS-41D space shuttle flight are shown loaded in Discovery’s cargo bay. With the orbiter in the vertical position at Launch Pad 39A, the payloads are, from top to bottom, OAST-1 a 102-foot-tall, 13-foot-wide Office of Application and Space Technology solar panel), the Satellite Business System SBS-D , Telstar 3-C, and Syncom IV-2. The six day mission is scheduled for launch on Aug. 29, 1984. The six crew members are Commander Henry W. Hartsfield Jr., Pilot Michael L. Coats, Mission Specialists Judith A. Resnik, Steven A. Hawley, Richard M. Mullane, and Payload Specialist Charles D. Walker. Photo Credit: NASA

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- In bay 2 of the Orbiter processing Facility at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, the payload bay doors are about to be closed on the space shuttle Atlantis, locking in the primary payload for its upcoming flight -- the Atmospheric Laboratory for Applications and Science-1. The payload features many elements of the spacelab modular laboratory system designed for the space shuttle program by the European Space Agency. The pallets are outfitted with an array of experiments spanning four disciplines: solar physics, atmospheric science, space plasma physics and astronomy. Atlantis is nearly ready for transfer to the Vehicle Assembly Building for mating with the external tank and solid rocket boosters. Liftoff on STS-45 is targeted for spring of 1992 from Launch Pad 39A. Photo Credit: NASA

CAPE KENNEDY, Fla. -- At the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, the Christmas season brought large crowds at Visitors Information Center. Photo Credit: NASA

CAPE KENNEDY, Fla. -- In the AO Building at Cape Kennedy Air Force Station in Florida, the Mariner 3 spacecraft is processed prior to mating with its payload faring. Mariner is one of two identical deep-space probes designed and built by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory for NASA's Mariner Mars 1964 project. Mariner 3 is intended to conduct close-up scientific observations of Mars and transmit information back to Earth on interplanetary space and the space surrounding the Red Planet. Photo Credit: NASA

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- At the Spacecraft Assembly and Encapsulation Facility-1 at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, the Voyager spacecraft for the first of two missions to be launched toward the outer planets was encapsulated within the payload fairing which will protect it during launch. The 1,800 pound spacecraft is to be mated with Titan_Centaur 7 at Launch Complex 41 and sent on a mission to Jupiter and Saturn no earlier than Aug. 20, 1977. Photo Credit: NASA

CAPE KENNEDY, Fla. -- An exterior view of the NASA Kennedy Space Center tourist information center located at the west end of NASA- Indian River Causeway. Beginning in November 1964, Sunday drive-through tours are available. Photo Credit: NASA

CAPE KENNEDY, Fla. -- At the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, one of Skylab 1's solar cell arrays is installed on the orbital space station in High Bay 2 of the Vehicle Assembly Building. Skylab 2 launch vehicle is in high bay 1, visible in the background. Each of the two solar cell arrays on the space station that will be deployed in orbit is designed to provide 10,500 watts of power. All power needed to operate the station and the Apollo Telescope mount will be taken from the arrays. Each array will have almost 1,177 square feet of surface area to turn sunlight into electrical power. Skylab 1 is schedule for launch April 30, 1973 and Skylab 2, carrying the astronauts Charles Conrad Jr., Dr. Joseph P. Kerwin and Paul J. Weitz to dock with the space station and enter it to live and work for 28 days, will be launched a day later. Photo Credit: NASA

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- In the Payload Hazardous Servicing Facility at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, technicians tilt the massive Gamma ray Observatory GRO upright for installation onto the transporter which will carry it to the Vertical Processing Facility. The spacecraft is scheduled to fly aboard the space shuttle Atlantis on STS-37. As the second of four great observatories planned by NASA, GRO will study the celestial gamma rays believed to be a record of cosmic change and evolution. Photo Credit: NASA

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- At the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, the Ulysses spacecraft with two attached upper stages –- a payload assist module and an inertial upper stage -- is transferred into the payload canister. Transport from the Vertical Processing Facility to the Payload Changeout Room at the Launch Pad 39B was scheduled for Aug. 27, 1990. The payload will be vertically installed in the cargo bay of the space shuttle Discovery after the shuttle is brought to the pad in September. Ulysses will be deployed during STS-41, set for a launch period extending from Oct. 5 through Oct. 23, 1990. Photo Credit: NASA

CAPE KENNEDY, Fla. -- At the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, President Lyndon B. Johnson speaks in the Vehicle Assembly Bulling with West German Chancellor Erhard on left, NASAS Administrator James Webb on right, and NASA Director of launch operations, Rocco Petrone, behind President Johnson. In the background is the first stage of a Saturn V rocket which will be used to launch astronauts to the moon as part of the Apollo Program. Photo Credit: NASA

CAPE KENNEDY, Fla. -- At the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, the Skylab space station, atop a modified Saturn V rocket, lifted off May 14, 1973, from Launch Complex 39A, ten minutes later the 100-ton space station reached orbit, where it will be visited by three astronaut crews during the next eight months. The first crew, consisting of Charles Conrad Jr., mission commander, Dr. Joseph P. Kerwin, science pilot, and Paul J. Weitz, pilot, will live and work in Skylab nearly a month. NASA directs the Skylab Program, which is designed to gain new knowledge in space for improving life on Earth. Its investigations and experiments will help develop new methods of learning about the Earth's environment and resources. It also will examine man's ability to live and work in space for extended periods, and provide new information about the sun. Two additional manned visits to Skylab will follow in August and November. Photo Credit: NASA

ONBOARD ATLANTIS -- A 70mm handheld camera was used by the STS-46 crewmembers to capture this medium closeup view of early operations with the Tethered Satellite System. The sphere can be seen moving away from the ring structure on the boom device in Atlantis’ cargo bay. Photo Credit: NASA

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - Jack King, retired from Communications and Public Relations with United Space Alliance who earlier served as NASA Kennedy Space Center's first chief of Public Information. Photo credit: NASA

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. – A NASA railroad locomotive at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida is part of the space agency's railroad operation to not only move equipment at Kennedy, but to transport hardware to and from contractor facilities across the nation. Photo credit: NASA

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. – Two NASA railroad locomotives at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida is part of the space agency's railroad operation to not only move equipment at Kennedy, but to transport hardware to and from contractor facilities across the nation. Photo credit: NASA

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. – A NASA railroad locomotive at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida is part of the space agency's railroad operation to not only move equipment at Kennedy, but to transport hardware to and from contractor facilities across the nation. Photo credit: NASA

PATRICK AFB, Fla. – Apollo 11 commander Neil A. Armstrong, left, and Donald K. Slayton, chief astronaut and director of flight crew operations, just arrived at Patrick Air Force Base in a T-38 jet in preparation of the nation’s first lunar landing mission. Lift off atop a Saturn V launch vehicle is scheduled for July 16, 1969. During Apollo 11 the command module, Columbia, will remain in orbit around the moon while the lunar module, Eagle, carrying Armstrong and Aldrin, lands on the lunar surface. During 2½ hours of surface exploration, the crew plans to collect lunar surface material for analysis back on Earth. For more: http:__www-pao.ksc.nasa.gov_history_apollo_apollo-11_apollo-11.htm Photo credit: NASA

PATRICK AFB, Fla. – In preparation of the nation’s first lunar landing mission, Apollo 11 crew members arrive at Patrick Air Force Base, Florida. Lunar module pilot Edwin E. Buzz Aldrin Jr. is in the front seat of the T-38 jet, with command module pilot Michael Collins, in the back. Lift off atop a Saturn V launch vehicle is scheduled for July 16, 1969. During Apollo 11 the command module, Columbia, will remain in orbit around the moon while the lunar module, Eagle, carrying Armstrong and Aldrin, lands on the lunar surface. During 2½ hours of surface exploration, the crew plans to collect lunar surface material for analysis back on Earth. For more: http:__www-pao.ksc.nasa.gov_history_apollo_apollo-11_apollo-11.htm Photo credit: NASA

PATRICK AFB, Fla. – Apollo 11 command module pilot Michael Collins, just arrived at Patrick Air Force Base in a T-38 jet in preparation of the nation’s first lunar landing mission. Lift off atop a Saturn V launch vehicle is scheduled for July 16, 1969. During Apollo 11, the command module, Columbia, will remain in orbit around the moon while the lunar module, Eagle, carrying Armstrong and Aldrin, lands on the lunar surface. During 2½ hours of surface exploration, the crew plans to collect lunar surface material for analysis back on Earth. For more: http:__www-pao.ksc.nasa.gov_history_apollo_apollo-11_apollo-11.htm Photo credit: NASA

PATRICK AFB, Fla. – In preparation of the nation’s first lunar landing mission, Apollo 11 crew members arrive at Patrick Air Force Base, Florida. Mission commander Neil A. Armstrong is in the front seat of the T-38 jet, with chief astronaut and director of flight crew operations, Donald K. Slayton, in the back. Lift off atop a Saturn V launch vehicle is scheduled for July 16, 1969. During Apollo 11 the command module, Columbia, will remain in orbit around the moon while the lunar module, Eagle, carrying Armstrong and Aldrin, lands on the lunar surface. During 2½ hours of surface exploration, the crew plans to collect lunar surface material for analysis back on Earth. For more: http:__www-pao.ksc.nasa.gov_history_apollo_apollo-11_apollo-11.htm Photo credit: NASA

PATRICK AFB, Fla. – In preparation of the nation’s first lunar landing mission, Apollo 11 crew members arrive at Patrick Air Force Base, Florida. Lunar module pilot Edwin E. Buzz Aldrin Jr. is in the front seat of the T-38 jet, with command module pilot Michael Collins, in the back. Lift off atop a Saturn V launch vehicle is scheduled for July 16, 1969. During Apollo 11 the command module, Columbia, will remain in orbit around the moon while the lunar module, Eagle, carrying Armstrong and Aldrin, lands on the lunar surface. During 2½ hours of surface exploration, the crew plans to collect lunar surface material for analysis back on Earth. For more: http:__www-pao.ksc.nasa.gov_history_apollo_apollo-11_apollo-11.htm Photo credit: NASA

PATRICK AFB, Fla. – In preparation of the nation’s first lunar landing mission, Apollo 11 crew members arrive at Patrick Air Force Base, Florida. Mission commander Neil Armstrong climbs out of a T-38 jet. Lift off atop a Saturn V launch vehicle is scheduled for July 16, 1969. During Apollo 11 the command module, Columbia, will remain in orbit around the moon while the lunar module, Eagle, carrying Armstrong and Aldrin, lands on the lunar surface. During 2½ hours of surface exploration, the crew plans to collect lunar surface material for analysis back on Earth. For more: http:__www-pao.ksc.nasa.gov_history_apollo_apollo-11_apollo-11.htm Photo credit: NASA

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. -- NASA_APOLLO-SOYUZ: Fit checks were performed in an altitude chamber at KSC today between the Apollo spacecraft and the Docking Module to be used during the Apollo Soyuz Test Project.

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. -- The Commanding Officer of the USS New Orleans, Captain Ralph E. Neiger, welcomes aboard ASTP astronauts Thomas Stafford, Donald Slayton and Vance Brand. The astronauts splashed down in the Pacific Ocean west of Hawaii at 5:18 p.m. today, ending the nine-day ASTP mission. Themission was highlighted by the rendezvous and docking with a Soviet Soyuz spacecraft in Earth orbit.

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. -- The Bumper V-2 is the first missile launched at Cape Canaveral on July 24, 1950.

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. -- STS-32R lifts off from Pad 39-A at 7:35 a.m. EST. Columbia is scheduled to deploy the Syncom IV-5 defense communications satellite and retrieve NASA's Long duration Exposure Facility (LDEF) during a 10-day mission, the longest Shuttle flight to date. The mission also includes a variety of experiments, including Protein Crystal Growth. This photo was taken from the Shuttle Training Aircraft.

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. -- Apollo 7 astronauts, left to right, Walter Schirra, Walter Cunningham and Donn Eisele pause during a practice mission yesterday within Kennedy Space Center's Flight Crew Training Building. The trio spent several hours in the Apollo mission simulator, rear, in preparation for their upcoming mission. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration's first manned Apollo flight is scheduled to begin no earlier than Oct. 11, 1968.

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. -- Technicians at Pad 39-B carry a new Auxiliary Power Unit (APU) to be installed in the orbiter Discovery. It will replace APU #1 that failed during the STS-31 launch attempt on April 10.

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. -- The Space Shuttle Discovery lifts off from Pad 39-B at 8:33 a.m. EDT carrying a crew of five and the Hubble Space Telescope. STS-31 crew members are Commander Loren Shriver, Pilot Charles Bolden and Mission Specialists Steven Hawley, Bruce McCandless II and Kathryn Sullivan.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- Apollo 9 astronauts James A. McDivitt, David R. Scott, and Russell L. Schweickart breakfast today with mission officials in their crew quarters at the Kennedy Space Center a few hours prior to their scheduled launch into Earth orbit. Seated in the foreground, left to right, are astronauts Schweickart and Scott Brig. Gen. C. H. Bolendar, manager, Lunar Module and backup Lunar Module Pilot Alan L. Bean. Across the table, left to right, George Skurla, Grumman Aircraft Base Manager at the Spaceport McDivitt's clergyman from his home church at Nassau Bay, Texas, The Rev. Laurence Connelly McDivitt and Kenneth Kleinknecht, manager, Command and Service Modules at the Manned Spacecraft Center. Grumman builds the two-man lunar module spacecraft that will be tested during the planned 10-day space mission. Photo credit: NASA

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. -- The first flight of Challenger on mission STS-6. The primary payload is the first Tracking and Data Relay Satellite-1. The mission also is using the first lightweight external tank and lightweight solid rocket booster casings. The crew comprises Commander Paul J. Weitz, Pilot Karol J. Bobko, and Mission Specialists Donald H. Peterson and F. Story Musgrave.

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. -- Columbia launches from Launch Pad 39A on mission STS-5.

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. -- At 1:30 a.m. EST the morning of the scheduled launch of Space Shuttle Mission STS-30 aboard Atlantis, astronaut Charles Bolden receives a call from the Vice President of the United States Dan Quayle. The Vice President called from the NASA tracking station in Australia while visiting the facility. STS-30 will launch the Magellan_Venus radar mapper spacecraft on a 15-month journey to Venus. This is the first U.S. planetary mission in 11 years and the first on Shuttle.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- John Glenn and Scott Carpenter go over the flight plan for MA-7 mission. Photo credit: NASA

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. -- As seen from the Mobile Service Structure as it is being rolled back to its park site, the ASTP Saturn IB launch vehicle sits on its pedestal during the Countdown Demonstration Test. The test is a step-by-step dress rehearsal for the July 15 mission, which culminates with a simulated T-zero and launch with the stages of the rocket fueled as they will be on launch day. Following the simulated launch, the propellants will be offloaded. The terminal portion of the test will be repeated tomorrow with the ASTP astronauts Thomas Stafford, Vance Brand and Donald Slayton aboard the spacecraft.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- Astronaut John Glenn gives ready sign during Mercury-Atlas 6 pre-launch training activities. Photo credit: NASA

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. – Gemini 8 astronauts Neil A. Armstrong, command pilot, and David R. Scott, pilot, during a photosSession for the press outside Mission Control Center, Cape Kennedy. Photo credit: NASA

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. -- The ASTP Apollo Command Module is lowered onto the deck of the USS New Orleans following splashdown in the Pacific Ocean, west of Hawaii, at 5:18 p.m. today. Once aboard the ship, the ASTP astronauts Thomas Stafford, Vance Brand, and Donald Slayton emerged from the spacecraft and participated in ceremonies during which they spoke by telephone to President Gerald Ford. The splashdown ended the crew's historic nine-day mission, highlighted by their rendezvous and docking with a Soviet Soyuz spacecraft while in Earth orbit.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- Apollo 17 prime crew during EVA – F-53-272-857 Photo credit: NASA

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - Flight controllers gather inside Mercury Mission Control during the first orbit of John Glenn's Friendship 7 mission, which launched on Feb. 20, 1962. The Mercury Mission Control Center in Florida played a key role in the United States' early spaceflight program. Located at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, the original part of the building was constructed between 1956 and 1958, with additions in 1959 and 1963. The facility officially was transferred to NASA on Dec. 26, 1963, and served as mission control during all the Project Mercury missions, as well as the first three flights of the Gemini Program, when it was renamed Mission Control Center. With its operational days behind, on June 1, 1967, the Mission Control Center became a stop on the public tour of NASA facilities until the mid-90s. In 1999, much of the equipment and furnishings from the Flight Control Area were moved to the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex where they became part of the exhibit there. The building was demolished in spring 2010. Photo credit: NASA

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. -- Astronaut Donald Slayton is shown in the Apollo Command Module for July's Apollo-Soyuz Test Project space mission. Slayton was at KSC for fit checks between the Apollo and the Docking Module, which will be used during the mission as a link between the Soviet Soyuz and American Apollo.

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. -- The STS-34 Space Shuttle Atlantis lifts off from pad 39-B at 12:53 p.m. EDT, marking the beginning of a five-day mission in space. Atlantis is carrying a crew of five and the spacecraft Galileo, wich will be making a six-year trip to Jupiter..

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. -- The STS-34 Space Shuttle Atlantis lifts off from Launch Pad 39-B at 12:53 p.m. EDT, marking the beginning of a five-day mission in space. Atlantis carries a crew of five and the spacecraft Galileo, to be deployed on a six-year trip to Jupiter. The scene was recorded with a 70mm camera by astronaut Daniel Brandenstein.

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. -- Mercury Atlas 7 lifted off today from Complex 14 carrying Astronaut Scott Carpenter and the Aurora 7 for the second manned orbital mission.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- Erection of the first stage of the Delta launch vehicle for Symphonie-B at Complex 17-A on Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. Photo credit: NASA

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. - Apollo 15 Commander David R. Scott operates the battery-powered Lunar Surface Drill during a training exercise at a man-made replica of the Moon's Hadley-Apennine region at the Kennedy Space Center. During his upcoming mission, scheduled to begin no earlier than July 26, 1971, Scott will drill to a depth of about 10 feet to obtain lunar surface core samples and conduct the Heat Flow Experiment. This experiment is designed to measure the rate of heat loss from the interior of the Moon. Lunar Module Pilot James B. Irwin will accompany Scott on the surface while Astronaut Alfred M. Worden will pilot the Command Module while in lunar orbit.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- Holiday Office Center, Cocoa Beach, location of many NASA sub-contractors offices. A PIO photo. Photo credit: NASA

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. - Astronauts Deke Slayton, far left, and Virgil Grissom, far right, were on hand to greet Astronaut Alan B. Shepard at Grand Bahama Island after his historic first U.S. manned suborbital flight. Just behind Astronaut Shepard is Dr. Keith Lyndell.

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. - The chimp Ham (primate #65) and a technician goes over the equipment in Hangar S that is going to be used for Ham's suborbital flight. Ham is scheduled to be launched aboard a Mercury-Redstone 2 from Launch Pad 5 on January 31, 1961.

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. -- Apollo 7 crew member Donn F. Eisele relaxes during suiting up prior to today's space vehicle emergency egress tests conducted at Cape Kennedy's Launch Complex 34.

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. -- The mated orbiter and lander for Viking A were encapsulated within a Centaur shroud at Spacecraft Assembly and Encapsulation Facility 2 (SAEF-2) today. The spacecraft, one of two to be launched toward Mars atop Titan_Centaurs in August, is to be moved to Launch Complex 41 on March 31 for extensive testing. KSC's Unmanned Launch Operations Directorate is scheduled to launch the twin Vikings during a 10-day period in August.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- Minutes before STS-9 launch, nearly 1,000 news media representatives gather at the Press Site to prepare for coverage of the launch. Photo credit: NASA

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. - The Voyager-1 spacecraft was reencapsulated within its payload in Spacecraft Assembly and Encapsulation Facility-1 today. The spacecraft is to be mated with Titan_Centaur-6 at Launch Complex 41 later this week. Launch is scheduled for no earlier than Sept. 5.

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. - The Apollo 7 astronauts, left to right, Donn F. Eisele, Walter M. Schirra Jr., and Walter Cunningham, after 12days and 4.5 million miles later, return to meet with the employees and management at Cape Kennedy. On October 11, the three astronauts were launched aboard a Saturn 1B space vehicle from Launch Pad 34 for the first manned lunar orbital mission.

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. -- Members of the Pacific Recovery Task Force secure the ASTP Apollo spacecraft as the USS New Orleans approaches to pick up the spacecraft and astronauts Thomas Stafford, Vance Brand and Donald Slayton. The Apollo splashed down in the Pacific Ocean, west of Hawaii, at 5:18 p.m., ending the nine-day joint US_USSR space mission.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- Two of the three Apollo 7 astronauts breakfast with National Aeronautics and Space Administration officials at KSC prior to their Earth orbital mission with astronaut Walter Cunningham, not shown. Photo credit: NASA

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. -- Thousands of Britons surround the Space Shuttle Orbiter Enterprise at Stansted Airport, near London. The Enterprise atop its 747 carrier aircraft was viewed in London, Bonn-Cologne, West Germany, Rome and Ottawa, Canada, in addition to being shown at the Paris Air Show in June 1983.

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. - Apollo 15 Lunar Module Pilot James B. Irwin deploys the Suprathermal Ion Detector Experiment during a training exercise at the Kennedy Space Center. Mission Commander David R. Scott is working in the background on the simulated lunar surface, a replica of the Moon's Hadley-Apennine region. They will be launched to the Moon no earlier than July 26, 1971, along with Command Module Pilot Alfred M. Worden.

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. -- Technicians install a new Auxiliary Power Unit (APU) in the aft compartment of the orbiter Discovery at Pad 39-B. The unit replaces APU #1 that failed during the STS-31 countdown on April 10.

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. -- For the second straight day, astronaut L. Gordon Cooper Jr. sets out at 4:55 a.m. EST from his living quarters at Hangar 'S' to go to Launch Pad 14 for the fourth manned Earth orbital mission. After being launched aboard a Mercury Atlas, astronaut Cooper will orbit the Earth 22 times. Following astronaut Cooper to the transfer van is astronaut Walter Schirra.

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. - The Apollo 15 astronauts that will be involved in the first time use of the Lunar Roving Vehicle, participate in a Crew Fit and Functional Test in the Manned Spacecraft Operations Building. Commander James B. Irwin and Command Module Pilot Alfred M. Worden, Jr., will drive the Lunar Roving Vehicle for the first time on the Moon's surface. The landing site for the Lunar Module is the Hadley-Apennine area of the Moon.

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. -- Vice President George F. Bush, center left, is pictured with Payload Specialist Wubbo Ockels of the Netherlands during the Spacelab Arrival Ceremony. Second from left is Payload Specialist Ulf Merbold, Germany. At far right are James McCulls, chief, Special Services Branch, NASA Headquarters; and James C. Harrington, director, Spacelab Program, NASA. Overhead, astronaut Owen K. Garriott, U.S.A., stands in the Spacelab Engineering Module.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- The Apollo 17 crew took time out from training to pose for the press after the Space Vehicle for their Manned Lunar Landing Mission was moved to Pad A, Complex 39 today. Apollo 17 Commander Eugene A Cernan sits at the controls of the One-G Lunar Roving Vehicle Simulator used to simulate operations on the Moon’s surface. With Cernan are Lunar Module Pilot Dr. Harrison H. “Jack” Schmitt, left and Command Module Plot Ronald A. Evans. The Apollo 17 Space Vehicle, scheduled for launch from KSC on the sixth U.S. Manned Lunar Landing Mission on December 6, 1972 is in the background. Photo credit: NASA

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. -- STS-32R lifts off from Pad 39-A at 7:35 a.m. EST. Columbia is scheduled to deploy the Syncom IV-5 defense communications satellite and retrieve NASA's Long duration Exposure Facility (LDEF) during a 10-day mission, the longest Shuttle flight to date. The mission also includes a variety of experiments, including Protein Crystal Growth. This photo was taken from the Shuttle Training Aircraft.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- Symphonie-B, second in a series of French-West German experimental communications satellites, was launched aboard a Delta rocket from Pad A at Complex 17 at 9:42 p.m. EDT today. The satellite will be placed in a synchronous orbit 22,300 miles above the equator at 11.5 degrees west latitude. Launch was by KSC’s Unmanned Launch Operations Directorate. The launch was the first from Pad A since that of Orbiting Solar Observatory 7 in September 1971. The pad has undergone extensive modifications to prepare it to handle the larger solid strap-on rocket motors to be used in future Delta space missions. Photo credit: NASA Photo credit: NASA

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - Renamed the Mission Control Center, the facility continued to be the flight control through the first three missions of Project Gemini. The Mercury Mission Control Center in Florida played a key role in the United States' early spaceflight program. Located at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, the original part of the building was constructed between 1956 and 1958, with additions in 1959 and 1963. The facility officially was transferred to NASA on Dec. 26, 1963, and served as mission control during all the Project Mercury missions, as well as the first three flights of the Gemini Program, when it was renamed Mission Control Center. With its operational days behind, on June 1, 1967, the Mission Control Center became a stop on the public tour of NASA facilities until the mid-90s. In 1999, much of the equipment and furnishings from the Flight Control Area were moved to the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex where they became part of the exhibit there. The building was demolished in spring 2010. Photo credit: NASA

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - Inside Mercury Mission Control, Christopher Kraft, Mercury's flight director, sits at his console during preparations for astronaut Gordon Cooper's Faith 7 launch, which took place on May 15, 1963. The Mercury Mission Control Center in Florida played a key role in the United States' early spaceflight program. Located at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, the original part of the building was constructed between 1956 and 1958, with additions in 1959 and 1963. The facility officially was transferred to NASA on Dec. 26, 1963, and served as mission control during all the Project Mercury missions, as well as the first three flights of the Gemini Program, when it was renamed Mission Control Center. With its operational days behind, on June 1, 1967, the Mission Control Center became a stop on the public tour of NASA facilities until the mid-90s. In 1999, much of the equipment and furnishings from the Flight Control Area were moved to the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex where they became part of the exhibit there. The building was demolished in spring 2010. Photo credit: NASA

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. – The Apollo 13 crew walks to the launch pad on April 11, 1970, for launch on their mission. Photo credit: NASA

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. -- U.S. astronauts Thomas Stafford (left), Vance Brand (center) and Donald Slayton pose in front of their Apollo Soyuz Test Project space vehicle during rollout ceremonies at KSC. The 224-foot-tall Saturn IB launch vehicle began its five-mile journey from the Vehicle Assembly Building to Complex 39's Pad at 8 a.m. The ASTP launch is scheduled for 3:50 p.m. EDT on July 15. During the mission the U.S. Apollo spacecraft will rendezvous and dock with the Soviet Soyuz spacecraft. It will be history's first international manned space flight.

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. - Apollo 15 Command Module Pilot Alfred M. Worden undergoes spacesuit pressure checks prior to participating in the space vehicle Countdown Demonstration Test. Lunar Module Pilot James B. Irwin is visible in the rear while David R. Scott, the Commander for Apollo 15, is not shown. The test is a rehearsal in preparation for the scheduled Moon mission, scheduled no earlier than July 26, 1971.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- Astronaut M. Scott Carpenter assists astronaut John H. Glenn Jr. with equipment adjustments during MA-6 activities. Photo credit: NASA

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. -- Saturn blockhouse personnel at Complex 37 during liftoff of SA-3. Dr. Kurt Debus and Dr. Wernher von Braun are in the foreground.

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.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- Apollo 17 Backup Mission Commander John W. Young, in dark shirt, speaks to suited prime crew astronauts Harrison H. Schmitt, left, and Eugene A. Cernan, who are seated in the Lunar Rover training vehicle, Cernan and Schmitt will be launched to the Moon with Command Module Pilot Ronald E. Evans no earlier than December 6, 1972. Photo credit: NASA

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. -- Vice President George H. W. Bush, on a tour of KSC and Space Shuttle launch facilities, is interviewed at the Launch Complex 39 Press Site by Ben Aycrigg, anchorman for WDBO-TV News, Orlando.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- Minutes before STS-9 launch, nearly 1,000 news media representatives gather at the Press Site to prepare for coverage of the launch. Photo credit: NASA

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- Apollo 12 lunar module pilot Alan L. Bean enters spacecraft in preparation for altitude chamber test with mission commander Charles Conrad Jr. and Richard F. Gordon Jr., command module pilot. Air was pumped out of the chamber to simulate a space environment. The Apollo 12 astronauts are scheduled to perform the nation’s second manned lunar landing. Photo credit: NASA

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. -- A technician adjusts the spacesuit of Apollo 15 Lunar Module Pilot James B. Irwin prior to his launch to the Moon today with astronauts David R. Scott and Alfred N. Worden. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration directs the Apollo program.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- Shortly after sunrise the space shuttle orbiter Challenger touches down on the KSC runway at 7:16 a.m. The T-38 escort chase plane is seen just above the orbiter. The historic first landing at KSC brought to a conclusion an eight-day mission that started at 8:00 a.m. Feb. 3, 1984. The STS 41-B mission had several other firsts including an un-tethered spacewalk made by two of the astronauts. The Vehicle Assembly Building can be seen in the right side of the photograph. Photo credit: NASA

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. -- Pararescueman helps Apollo 9 Command Module Pilot David R. Scott from the spacecraft today during recovery at completion of the 10-day Earth orbital flight with James A. McDivitt and Russell L. Schweickart, still in the spacecraft. The astronauts splashed down less than five miles from the USS Guadalcanal, prime recovery ship, at the beginning of their 152nd revolution. During the highly successful flight, they extensively tested the lunar module spacecraft, paving the way for a similar one to carry Americans to the Moon later this year. They were lalunched March 3 by an Apollo_Saturn V space vehicle from the Kennedy Space Center at the start of NASA's third manned mission using an Apollo spacecraft.

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. -- At Pad A, Launch Complex 39, astronauts Joe Engle, left, and Richard Truly talk with technicians and inspect the Space Shuttle vehicle that will propel them into orbit later this fall.

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. -- President Jimmy Carter, with wife Rosalynn and daughter Amy, listen to Center Director Lee R. Scherer explain a model of the crawler transporter during their tour of the Kennedy Space Center.

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. --Apollo 10 astronaut Thomas P. Stafford is assisted in being suited up prior to the Countdown Demonstration Test, a full dress rehearsal.

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. -- Astsronaut Walter M. Schirra Jr. relaxes prior to boarding the Apollo 7 spacecraft, which rocketed into Earth orbit from Cape Kennedy this morning. Purpose of the 11-day flight is to qualify the Apollo spacecraft for a future flight to the moon. Other Apollo 7 pilots are Donn Eisele and Walter Cunningham. This is the first manned mission of the Apollo series. It is conducted by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. -- A view from inside bay three of the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) shows the Space Shuttle Discovery washed in white xenon light as it makes a nighttime departure from the VAB on its way to pad 39B. Discovery will fly for mission STS-26 now scheduled for launch in earlly September with its five-man crew and the TDRS-C payload. First motion in the Shuttle's move from the VAB toward the pad came at 12:50 a.m. July 4, 1988.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- Apollo 17 Lunar Module Pilot Harrison H. Schmitt, left, brushes Mission Commander Eugene A. Cernan's spacesuit boot prior to entering the Lunar Module mock-up, at left, during lunar surface training exercise conducted at the Spaceport. This is the same procedure astronauts will follow on the Moon. Their Apollo 17 launch to the Moon's Taurus-Littrow region with Command Module Pilot Ronald E. Evans will take place no earlier than December 6, 1972. Photo credit: NASA

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- Overall view of astronaut John H. Glenn Jr. as he commences entrance into spacecraft Friendship 7 prior to MA-6 launch operations. Photo credit: NASA

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. -- The Apollo 15 astronauts pause in front of a mission simulator during a training exercise at the Kennedy Space Center. The trio will be launched to the Moon no earlier than July 26, 1971. They are, left to right, David R. Scott, commander; Alfred N. Worden, command module pilot; and James B. Irwin, lunar module pilot.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- Minutes before STS-9 launch, nearly 1,000 news media representatives gather at the Press Site to prepare for coverage of the launch. Photo credit: NASA

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- Personnel within Firing Room 2 of the LCC follow the early moments of the Apollo 12 launch on their overhead data display boards. When this view was taken, the vehicle’s second stage engines had ignited, carrying the Apollo 12 spacecraft to an altitude of more than 229,000 feet and more that 50 miles downrange. Photo credit: NASA

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- Exuberant and thrilled to be at Kennedy Space Center, seven women who once aspired to fly into space stand outside Launch Pad 39B near the space shuttle Discovery, poised for liftoff on the first flight of 1995. Visiting the space center as invited guests of STS-63 Pilot Eileen Collins are from left Gene Nora Jessen, Wally Funk, Jerrie Cobb, Jerri Truhill, Sarah Rutley, Myrtle Cagle and Bernice Steadman. They are members of the Mercury 13 group of women who trained to become astronauts for America's first human spaceflight program back in the early 1960s. Although the Mercury 13 effort was eventually cancelled, the women are proud to know that their commitment helped pave the way for the milestone Collins will soon set: becoming the first female shuttle pilot. Photo credit: NASA

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. -- Titan_Centaur 3, which will be used to hurl a Viking spacecraft toward Mars on Aug. 21, was moved from the Vertical Integration Building (VIB) to Launch Complex 41 for electrical and mechanical checks today. TC-3 will be returned to the VIB for storage while TC-4, which will be used to launch the first Viking, is undergoing checkout for launch on Aug. 11. The two Titan_Centaurs are being prepared in parallel for launches at 10-day intervals.

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. -- Vice President Dan Quayle [second from right] is briefed on firing room activities during the Terminal Countdown Demonstration Test. Explaining the launch team's role are Launch Director Robert Sieck (left of Quayle) and NASA Deputy Administrator J.R. Thompson (right). Quayle spoke with the STS-39 flight crew and met launch team members, toured Center facilities, gave a speech, and held a press conference.

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. -- NASA Astronaut Alan B. Shepard Jr. is hoisted up in a body harness by a U.S. Marine helicopter recovery team following the first Project Mercury suborbital space flight. Astronaut Shepard, along with his spacecraft, was then taken to the U.S. Navy Carrier Chaplain.

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. -- The bus-size Hubble Space Telescope is carefully being transferred from the surgically clean Payload Changeout Room at Launch Pad 39-B into the cargo bay of the orbiter Discovery. The telescope is to be deployed during Space Shuttle Mission STS-31, currently scheduled for launch in April 1990.