While photographing the Supermoon on September 17, 2024 for a NASA GRC Aerospace Frontiers article on the 2024 Supermoon, a plane departing Cleveland Hopkins Airport flew right through the middle of the moon. The photographer used a portion of the rocket garden’s Ares 1 rocket and a corner of the NASA GRC hangar building to frame the photograph of the moon. When the plane was seen approaching, the photographer used continuous shutter speed in hopes of capturing the plane and the moon together
The carrier plane, L-1011 Stargazer, that will give NASA NuSTAR and its rocket a lift to their airborne launch site is seen here at sunrise on Kwajalein Atoll in the Pacific Ocean.
The X-2, initially an Air Force program, was scheduled to be transferred to the civilian National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA) for scientific research. The Air Force delayed turning the aircraft over to the NACA in the hope of attaining Mach 3 in the airplane. The service requested and received a two-month extension to qualify another Air Force test pilot, Capt. Miburn "Mel" Apt, in the X-2 and attempt to exceed Mach 3. After several ground briefings in the simulator, Apt (with no previous rocket plane experience) made his flight on 27 September 1956. Apt raced away from the B-50 under full power, quickly outdistancing the F-100 chase planes. At high altitude, he nosed over, accelerating rapidly. The X-2 reached Mach 3.2 (2,094 mph) at 65,000 feet. Apt became the first man to fly more than three times the speed of sound. Still above Mach 3, he began an abrupt turn back to Edwards. This maneuver proved fatal as the X-2 began a series of diverging rolls and tumbled out of control. Apt tried to regain control of the aircraft. Unable to do so, Apt separated the escape capsule. Too late, he attempted to bail out and was killed when the capsule impacted on the Edwards bombing range. The rest of the X-2 crashed five miles away. The wreckage of the X-2 rocket plane was later taken to NACA's High Speed Flight Station for analysis following the crash.
While photographing the Supermoon on September 17, 2024 for a NASA GRC Aerospace Frontiers article on the 2024 Supermoon, a plane departing Cleveland Hopkins Airport flew right through the middle of the moon. The photographer used a portion of the rocket garden’s Ares 1 rocket and a corner of the NASA GRC hangar building to frame the photograph of the moon. When the plane was seen approaching, the photographer used continuous shutter speed in hopes of capturing the plane and the moon together.
Against the midnight blue of a high-altitude sky, Orbital Sciences’ Pegasus winged rocket booster ignites after being dropped from NASA’s B-52 mothership on a July 1991 flight. A NASA chase plane for the flight is also visible above the rocket and below the B-52.
Pictured is an artist's concept of the experimental X-37 Reusable Launch Vehicle re-entering Earth‘s atmosphere. NASA and the Boeing Company entered a cooperative agreement to develop and fly a new experimental space plane called the X-37 that would be ferried into orbit to test new technologies. The reusable space plane incorporated technologies aimed at significantly cutting the cost of space flight. The X-37 would be carried into orbit by the Space Shuttle or be launched by an expendable rocket. After the X-37 was deployed, it would remain in orbit up to 21 days, performing a variety of experiments before re-entering the Earth's atmosphere and landing. The X-37 program was discontinued in 2003.
After delivering a French satellite for the EUTELSat Consortium, a Russian cargo plane, the Antonov 124, sits on the end of the Shuttle Landing Facility at KSC. The satellite is targeted to be launched April 12 aboard an Atlas IIAS rocket from Complex 36, Cape Canaveral Air Station
A Russian cargo plane, the Antonov 124, sits on the end of the Shuttle Landing Facility at KSC after delivering a French satellite for the EUTELSat Consortium. The satellite is targeted to be launched April 12 aboard an Atlas IIAS rocket from Complex 36, Cape Canaveral Air Station
An Air Force C-5 Galaxy transport plane approaches the Shuttle Landing Facility at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida to deliver the GOES-R spacecraft for launch processing. The GOES series are weather satellites operated by NOAA to enhance forecasts. The spacecraft is to launch aboard a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket in November.
KWAJALEIN ATOLL, Marshall Islands - Orbital Sciences' L-1011 "Stargazer" aircraft takes off from the runway at Kwajalein Atoll with the company's Pegasus rocket to launch NASA's Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array, or NuSTAR, payload strapped to the belly of the plane. The plane left Kwajalein one hour before launch. At 9:00:35 a.m. PDT 12:00:35 p.m. EDT), June 13, 2012, the rocket dropped with the NuSTAR payload 117 nautical miles south of Kwajalein. NuSTAR will use a unique set of “eyes” to see the highest energy X-ray light from the cosmos to reveal black holes lurking in our Milky Way galaxy, as well as those hidden in the hearts of faraway galaxies. Kwajalein is located in the Marshall Islands chain in the Pacific Ocean and is part of the Reagan Test Site and used for launches of NASA, commercial and military missions. For more information, visit http://www.nasa.gov/nustar. Photo credit: NASA
A truck with a specialized transporter drives out of the cargo hold of an Air Force C-5 Galaxy transport plane at the Shuttle Landing Facility at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida to deliver the GOES-R spacecraft for launch processing. The GOES series are weather satellites operated by NOAA to enhance forecasts. The spacecraft is to launch aboard a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket in November.
S66-24482 (16 March 1966) --- An Agena Target Docking Vehicle atop an Atlas rocket lifts off from Launch Complex 14 at Cape Kennedy at 10 a.m., March 16, 1966 just prior to the Gemini-8 liftoff at nearby Launch Complex 19. The Agena served as a rendezvous and docking vehicle for the Gemini-8 spacecraft. A chase plane leaves a contrail in the background. Photo credit: NASA
A truck with a specialized transporter drives out of the cargo hold of an Air Force C-5 Galaxy transport plane at the Shuttle Landing Facility at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida to deliver the GOES-R spacecraft for launch processing. The GOES series are weather satellites operated by NOAA to enhance forecasts. The spacecraft is to launch aboard a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket in November.
A truck with a specialized transporter drives out of the cargo hold of an Air Force C-5 Galaxy transport plane at the Shuttle Landing Facility at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida to deliver the GOES-R spacecraft for launch processing. The GOES series are weather satellites operated by NOAA to enhance forecasts. The spacecraft is to launch aboard a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket in November.
After offloading of the Centaur upper stage from a Russian cargo plane, the Antenov 124, workers check the offloading of an Atlas IIA rocket. The combined Atlas IIA/Centaur will be used to launch the latest Tracking and Data Relay Satellite (TDRS) June 29 from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. Atlas IIA is capable of lifting payload systems weights in the 2,850 kg (6,300 lb) to 3,070 kg (6,760 lb) class to geosynchronous transfer orbit
A truck with a specialized transporter drives out of the cargo hold of an Air Force C-5 Galaxy transport plane at the Shuttle Landing Facility at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida to deliver the GOES-R spacecraft for launch processing. The GOES series are weather satellites operated by NOAA to enhance forecasts. The spacecraft is to launch aboard a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket in November.
An Air Force C-5 Galaxy transport plane rolls to a stop at the Shuttle Landing Facility at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida to deliver the GOES-R spacecraft for launch processing. The GOES series are weather satellites operated by NOAA to enhance forecasts. The spacecraft is to launch aboard a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket in November.
After offloading of the Centaur upper stage from a Russian cargo plane, the Antenov 124, workers check the offloading of an Atlas IIA rocket. The combined Atlas IIA/Centaur will be used to launch the latest Tracking and Data Relay Satellite (TDRS) June 29 from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. Atlas IIA is capable of lifting payload systems weights in the 2,850 kg (6,300 lb) to 3,070 kg (6,760 lb) class to geosynchronous transfer orbit
After offloading of the Centaur upper stage from a Russian cargo plane, the Antenov 124, workers check the offloading of an Atlas IIA rocket. The combined Atlas IIA/Centaur will be used to launch the latest Tracking and Data Relay Satellite (TDRS) June 29 from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. Atlas IIA is capable of lifting payload systems weights in the 2,850 kg (6,300 lb) to 3,070 kg (6,760 lb) class to geosynchronous transfer orbit
Soichi Noguchi (shown) of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), along with NASA astronauts Michael Hopkins, Victor Glover, and Shannon Walker, board a plane from Ellington Field near the agency’s Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas, en route to Kennedy Space Center in Florida for NASA’s SpaceX Crew-1 mission to begin final launch preparations. Crew-1 is the first operational mission of the SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft and Falcon 9 rocket to the International Space Station as part of the agency’s Commercial Crew Program.
A truck with a specialized transporter drives out of the cargo hold of an Air Force C-5 Galaxy transport plane at the Shuttle Landing Facility at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida to deliver the GOES-R spacecraft for launch processing. The GOES series are weather satellites operated by NOAA to enhance forecasts. The spacecraft is to launch aboard a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket in November.
An Air Force C-5 Galaxy transport plane opens its nose section at the Shuttle Landing Facility at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida to deliver the GOES-R spacecraft for launch processing. The GOES series are weather satellites operated by NOAA to enhance forecasts. The spacecraft is to launch aboard a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket in November.
A Russian cargo plane, the Antenov 124, arrives at Cape Canaveral Air Force skid strip to deliver the Atlas IIA/Centaur rocket scheduled to launch the latest Tracking and Data Relay Satellite (TDRS) June 29 from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. Visible is the Centaur upper stage, manufactured and operated by Lockheed Martin. The Centaur vehicle is 3.05 m (10 ft) in diameter and 10.0 m (33-ft) long. It uses liquid hydrogen (LH2) and liquid oxygen (LO2) propellants
Four of the five surviving X-15 pilots were on hand when astronaut wings were presented to the three NASA pilots who flew the X-15 rocket plane into space in the 1960s, Bill Dana, Joe Walker (deceased) and Jack McKay (deceased). From left, Robert White, Dana, Neil Armstrong, Joe Engle.
A truck with a specialized transporter drives out of the cargo hold of an Air Force C-5 Galaxy transport plane at the Shuttle Landing Facility at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida to deliver the GOES-R spacecraft for launch processing. The GOES series are weather satellites operated by NOAA to enhance forecasts. The spacecraft is to launch aboard a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket in November.
A Russian cargo plane, the Antenov 124, arrives at Cape Canaveral Air Force skid strip to deliver the Atlas IIA/Centaur rocket scheduled to launch the latest Tracking and Data Relay Satellite (TDRS) June 29 from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. Visible is the Centaur upper stage, manufactured and operated by Lockheed Martin. The Centaur vehicle is 3.05 m (10 ft) in diameter and 10.0 m (33-ft) long. It uses liquid hydrogen (LH2) and liquid oxygen (LO2) propellants
A truck with a specialized transporter drives out of the cargo hold of an Air Force C-5 Galaxy transport plane at the Shuttle Landing Facility at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida to deliver the GOES-R spacecraft for launch processing. The GOES series are weather satellites operated by NOAA to enhance forecasts. The spacecraft is to launch aboard a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket in November.
After offloading of the Centaur upper stage from a Russian cargo plane, the Antenov 124, workers check the offloading of an Atlas IIA rocket. The combined Atlas IIA/Centaur will be used to launch the latest Tracking and Data Relay Satellite (TDRS) June 29 from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. Atlas IIA is capable of lifting payload systems weights in the 2,850 kg (6,300 lb) to 3,070 kg (6,760 lb) class to geosynchronous transfer orbit
A truck with a specialized transporter drives away from an Air Force C-5 Galaxy transport plane at the Shuttle Landing Facility at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida to deliver the GOES-R spacecraft for launch processing. The GOES series are weather satellites operated by NOAA to enhance forecasts. The spacecraft is to launch aboard a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket in November.
The Orbital ATK Pegasus XL rocket carrying NASA's Cyclone Global Navigation Satellite System, or CYGNSS, spacecraft is released and the first stage ignites at 8:37 a.m. EST. The rocket was released from the Orbital ATK L-1011 Stargazer aircraft flying over the Atlantic Ocean offshore from Daytona Beach, Florida following takeoff from the Skid Strip at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. This image was taken from a NASA F-18 chase plane provided by Armstrong Flight Research Center in California. The CYGNSS satellites will make frequent and accurate measurements of ocean surface winds throughout the life cycle of tropical storms and hurricanes.
The Orbital ATK Pegasus XL rocket carrying NASA's Cyclone Global Navigation Satellite System, or CYGNSS, spacecraft is released and the first stage ignites at 8:37 a.m. EST. The rocket was released from the Orbital ATK L-1011 Stargazer aircraft flying over the Atlantic Ocean offshore from Daytona Beach, Florida following takeoff from the Skid Strip at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. This image was taken from a NASA F-18 chase plane provided by Armstrong Flight Research Center in California. The CYGNSS satellites will make frequent and accurate measurements of ocean surface winds throughout the life cycle of tropical storms and hurricanes.
The Orbital ATK Pegasus XL rocket carrying NASA's Cyclone Global Navigation Satellite System, or CYGNSS, spacecraft is released and the first stage ignites at 8:37 a.m. EST. The rocket was released from the Orbital ATK L-1011 Stargazer aircraft flying over the Atlantic Ocean offshore from Daytona Beach, Florida following takeoff from the Skid Strip at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. This image was taken from a NASA F-18 chase plane provided by Armstrong Flight Research Center in California. The CYGNSS satellites will make frequent and accurate measurements of ocean surface winds throughout the life cycle of tropical storms and hurricanes.
The Orbital ATK Pegasus XL rocket carrying NASA's Cyclone Global Navigation Satellite System, or CYGNSS, spacecraft is released and the first stage ignites at 8:37 a.m. EST. The rocket was released from the Orbital ATK L-1011 Stargazer aircraft flying over the Atlantic Ocean offshore from Daytona Beach, Florida following takeoff from the Skid Strip at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. This image was taken from a NASA F-18 chase plane provided by Armstrong Flight Research Center in California. The CYGNSS satellites will make frequent and accurate measurements of ocean surface winds throughout the life cycle of tropical storms and hurricanes.
VANDENBERG AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. – An F-18 aircraft flies by a launch pad as it departs from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. The plane will serve as the "chase plane" accompanying the Orbital Sciences L-1011 aircraft as it transports the Pegasus XL rocket carrying NASA's Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph, or IRIS, solar observatory over the Pacific Ocean. Release of the rocket from under the wing of the L-1011 is scheduled for 10:27 p.m. EDT. IRIS will open a new window of discovery using spectrometry and imaging to trace the flow of energy and plasma through the chromospheres and transition region into the sun’s corona. The spacecraft will observe how solar material moves, gathers energy and heats up as it travels through a largely unexplored region of the solar atmosphere. This interface region, located between the sun's visible surface and its upper atmosphere, is where most of its ultraviolet emission is generated. These emissions impact the near-Earth space environment and Earth's climate. NASA's Launch Services Program at the agency's Kennedy Space Center in Florida is managing the countdown and launch. For more information, visit http://www.nasa.gov/iris. Photo credit: NASA/Daniel Casper
VANDENBERG AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. – An F-18 aircraft departs from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. The plane will serve as the "chase plane" accompanying the Orbital Sciences L-1011 aircraft as it transports the Pegasus XL rocket carrying NASA's Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph, or IRIS, solar observatory over the Pacific Ocean. Release of the rocket from under the wing of the L-1011 is scheduled for 10:27 p.m. EDT. IRIS will open a new window of discovery using spectrometry and imaging to trace the flow of energy and plasma through the chromospheres and transition region into the sun’s corona. The spacecraft will observe how solar material moves, gathers energy and heats up as it travels through a largely unexplored region of the solar atmosphere. This interface region, located between the sun's visible surface and its upper atmosphere, is where most of its ultraviolet emission is generated. These emissions impact the near-Earth space environment and Earth's climate. NASA's Launch Services Program at the agency's Kennedy Space Center in Florida is managing the countdown and launch. For more information, visit http://www.nasa.gov/iris. Photo credit: NASA/Daniel Casper
The Solar Orbiter spacecraft is moved out of an Antonov An-124 cargo plane at NASA Kennedy Space Center’s Launch and Landing Facility on Nov. 1, 2019. The spacecraft was delivered to the Florida spaceport from Munich, Germany, then transported to the Astrotech Space Operations facility in nearby Titusville. Solar Orbiter is a European Space Agency mission with strong NASA participation. The mission aims to study the Sun, its outer atmosphere and solar winds. The spacecraft will provide the first images of the Sun’s poles. NASA’s Launch Services Program based at Kennedy is managing the launch. Liftoff is scheduled for Feb. 5, 2020, from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station aboard a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket.
From left, NASA astronauts Shannon Walker, Victor Gover and Michael Hopkins, along with Soichi Noguchi of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), board a plane from Ellington Field near the agency’s Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas, en route to Kennedy Space Center in Florida for NASA’s SpaceX Crew-1 mission to begin final launch preparations. Crew-1 is the first operational mission of the SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft and Falcon 9 rocket to the International Space Station as part of the agency’s Commercial Crew Program.
From left, NASA astronauts Shannon Walker, Victor Gover and Michael Hopkins, along with Soichi Noguchi of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), board a plane from Ellington Field near the agency’s Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas, en route to Kennedy Space Center in Florida for NASA’s SpaceX Crew-1 mission to begin final launch preparations. Crew-1 is the first operational mission of the SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft and Falcon 9 rocket to the International Space Station as part of the agency’s Commercial Crew Program.
The Solar Orbiter spacecraft is moved out of an Antonov An-124 cargo plane at NASA Kennedy Space Center’s Launch and Landing Facility on Nov. 1, 2019. The spacecraft was delivered to the Florida spaceport from Munich, Germany, then transported to the Astrotech Space Operations facility in nearby Titusville. Solar Orbiter is a European Space Agency mission with strong NASA participation. The mission aims to study the Sun, its outer atmosphere and solar winds. The spacecraft will provide the first images of the Sun’s poles. NASA’s Launch Services Program based at Kennedy is managing the launch. Liftoff is scheduled for Feb. 5, 2020, from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station aboard a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket.
KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. -- At the Shuttle Landing Facility, the Mars Polar Lander is rolled from the Air Force C-17 cargo plane that carried it from the Lockheed Martin Astronautics plant in Denver, CO. The Mars Polar Lander is targeted for launch from Cape Canaveral Air Station aboard a Delta II rocket on Jan. 3, 1999. The solar-powered spacecraft is designed to touch down on the Martian surface near the northern-most boundary of the south pole in order to study the water cycle there. The lander also will help scientists learn more about climate change and current resources on Mars, studying such things as frost, dust, water vapor and condensates in the Martian atmosphere
NASA’s Lucy spacecraft arrives by cargo plane and is unloaded on the runway of the Launch and Landing Facility at Kennedy Space Center in Florida on July 30, 2021. From there, the Lucy spacecraft will move to the Astrotech Space Operations - Florida payload processing facility in nearby Titusville, Florida, before its scheduled launch on a United Launch Alliance (ULA) Atlas V rocket from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station on October 16, 2021. The Lucy mission will be the first space mission to explore a diverse population of small bodies known as the Jupiter Trojan asteroids. The launch is being managed by NASA’s Launch Services Program based at Kennedy, America’s premier multi-user spaceport.
Yunjin Kim, NuSTAR project manager at the Jet Propulsion Laborartory (JPL), talks about NASA's Spectroscopic Telescope Array (NuStar) during a briefing, Wednesday, May 30, 2012, at NASA Headquarters in Washington. Imaging light in the high-energy, short-wavelength X-ray range, the telescope will aim to study how black holes form and evolve along with galaxies. The instrument, packed aboard an Orbital Sciences Pegasus XL rocket is set to launch from a plane in midair no earlier than June 13 from Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands. Photo Credit: (NASA/Paul E. Alers)
From left, NASA astronaut Shannon Walker, Soichi Noguchi of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), and NASA astronauts Victor Gover and Michael Hopkins, board a plane from Ellington Field near the agency’s Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas, en route to Kennedy Space Center in Florida for NASA’s SpaceX Crew-1 mission to begin final launch preparations. Crew-1 is the first operational mission of the SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft and Falcon 9 rocket to the International Space Station as part of the agency’s Commercial Crew Program.
The GOES-L weather satellite, to be launched from Cape Canaveral Air Station (CCAS) aboard an Atlas II rocket in March or April, is covered and waiting on a semi-trailer truck (in background) that will transport it to Astrotech in Titusville for final testing. It arrived aboard the C-5 air cargo plane (seen in foreground) at CCAS. GOES-L, the fourth of a new advanced series of geostationary weather satellites for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), is a three-axis inertially stabilized spacecraft that will provide pictures and perform atmospheric sounding at the same time. Once launched, the satellite will undergo checkout and then provide backup capabilities for the existing, aging GOES East weather satellite
The Solar Orbiter spacecraft is moved out of an Antonov An-124 cargo plane at NASA Kennedy Space Center’s Launch and Landing Facility on Nov. 1, 2019. The spacecraft was delivered to the Florida spaceport from Munich, Germany, then transported to the Astrotech Space Operations facility in nearby Titusville. Solar Orbiter is a European Space Agency mission with strong NASA participation. The mission aims to study the Sun, its outer atmosphere and solar winds. The spacecraft will provide the first images of the Sun’s poles. NASA’s Launch Services Program based at Kennedy is managing the launch. Liftoff is scheduled for Feb. 5, 2020, from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station aboard a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket.
The Solar Orbiter spacecraft is moved out of an Antonov An-124 cargo plane at NASA Kennedy Space Center’s Launch and Landing Facility on Nov. 1, 2019. The spacecraft was delivered to the Florida spaceport from Munich, Germany, then transported to the Astrotech Space Operations facility in nearby Titusville. Solar Orbiter is a European Space Agency mission with strong NASA participation. The mission aims to study the Sun, its outer atmosphere and solar winds. The spacecraft will provide the first images of the Sun’s poles. NASA’s Launch Services Program based at Kennedy is managing the launch. Liftoff is scheduled for Feb. 5, 2020, from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station aboard a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket.
The Atlas 1 rocket which will launch the GOES-K advanced weather satellite is unloaded from an Air Force C-5 air cargo plane after arrival at the Skid Strip, Cape Canaveral Air Station (CCAS). The Lockheed Martin-built rocket and its Centaur upper stage will form the AC-79 vehicle, the final vehicle in the Atlas 1 series which began launches for NASA in 1962. Future launches of geostationary operational environmental satellites (GOES) in the current series will be on Atlas II vehicles. GOES-K will be the third spacecraft to be launched in the new advanced series of geostationary weather satellites built for NASA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). The spacecraft will be designated GOES-10 in orbit. The launch of AC-79/GOES-K is targeted for April 24 from Launch Pad 36B, CCAS
KWAJALEIN ATOLL, Marshall Islands - The lights of Orbital Sciences' L-1011 "Stargazer" aircraft illuminates the night sky as it takes off from the runway at Kwajalein Atoll with the company's Pegasus rocket to launch NASA's Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array, or NuSTAR. The plane left Kwajalein one hour before launch. At 9:00:35 a.m. PDT 12:00:35 p.m. EDT), June 13, 2012, the rocket dropped with the NuSTAR payload 117 nautical miles south of Kwajalein. NuSTAR will use a unique set of “eyes” to see the highest energy X-ray light from the cosmos to reveal black holes lurking in our Milky Way galaxy, as well as those hidden in the hearts of faraway galaxies. Kwajalein is located in the Marshall Islands chain in the Pacific Ocean and is part of the Reagan Test Site and used for launches of NASA, commercial and military missions. For more information, visit http://www.nasa.gov/nustar. Photo credit: NASA
KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. — At the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station Skid Strip, the first stage of an Atlas V rocket is offloaded from an Atlas V rocket from a Russian air cargo plane. The Atlas V is the launch vehicle for the New Horizons spacecraft. New Horizons is designed to help us understand worlds at the edge of our solar system by making the first reconnaissance of Pluto and Charon - a 'double planet' and the last planet in our solar system to be visited by spacecraft. The mission will then visit one or more objects in the Kuiper Belt region beyond Neptune. New Horizons is scheduled to launch from Launch Complex 41 at CCAFS in January 2006, swing past Jupiter for a gravity boost and scientific studies in February or March 2007, and reach Pluto and its moon, Charon, in July 2015.
KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. — At the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station Skid Strip, the first stage of an Atlas V rocket is offloaded from an Atlas V rocket from a Russian air cargo plane. The Atlas V is the launch vehicle for the New Horizons spacecraft. New Horizons is designed to help us understand worlds at the edge of our solar system by making the first reconnaissance of Pluto and Charon - a 'double planet' and the last planet in our solar system to be visited by spacecraft. The mission will then visit one or more objects in the Kuiper Belt region beyond Neptune. New Horizons is scheduled to launch from Launch Complex 41 at CCAFS in January 2006, swing past Jupiter for a gravity boost and scientific studies in February or March 2007, and reach Pluto and its moon, Charon, in July 2015.
KWAJALEIN ATOLL, Marshall Islands - Orbital Sciences' L-1011 "Stargazer" aircraft takes off from the runway at Kwajalein Atoll with the company's Pegasus rocket to launch NASA's Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array, or NuSTAR. The plane left Kwajalein one hour before launch. At 9:00:35 a.m. PDT 12:00:35 p.m. EDT), June 13, 2012, the rocket dropped with the NuSTAR payload 117 nautical miles south of Kwajalein. NuSTAR will use a unique set of “eyes” to see the highest energy X-ray light from the cosmos to reveal black holes lurking in our Milky Way galaxy, as well as those hidden in the hearts of faraway galaxies. Kwajalein is located in the Marshall Islands chain in the Pacific Ocean and is part of the Reagan Test Site and used for launches of NASA, commercial and military missions. For more information, visit http://www.nasa.gov/nustar. Photo credit: NASA
The shipping container holding NASA's Lucy spacecraft is unloaded from a United States Air Force C-17 cargo plane, stationed out of Charleston Air Force Base in South Carolina, on the runway of the Launch and Landing Facility at Kennedy Space Center in Florida on July 30, 2021. From there, the Lucy spacecraft will move to the Astrotech Space Operations payload processing facility in nearby Titusville, Florida, before its scheduled launch on a United Launch Alliance (ULA) Atlas V rocket from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station on October 16, 2021. The Lucy mission will be the first space mission to explore a diverse population of small bodies known as the Jupiter Trojan asteroids. The launch is being managed by NASA's Launch Services Program based at Kennedy, America's multi-user spaceport.
From left to right, Crew-2 mission astronauts Thomas Pesquet (ESA), Megan McArthur (NASA), Shane Kimbrough (NASA) and Akihiko Hoshide (JAXA), arrive at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on April 16, 2021. The astronauts departed by plane from Ellington Field near the agency’s Johnson Space Center in Houston, making the short flight and touching down at Kennedy’s Launch and Landing Facility. The astronauts are set to launch on SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket and Crew Dragon spacecraft on the second crew rotation mission to the International Space Station as part of NASA’s Commercial Crew Program. Liftoff is targeted for 6:11 a.m. on Earth Day, Thursday, April 22, from Launch Complex 39A at Kennedy.
The Solar Orbiter spacecraft is placed on a truck for transportation from the Launch and Landing Facility at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida to the Astrotech Space Operations facility in nearby Titusville on Nov. 1, 2019. The spacecraft was delivered to the Florida spaceport aboard an Antonov An-124 cargo plane from Munich, Germany. Solar Orbiter is a European Space Agency mission with strong NASA participation. The mission aims to study the Sun, its outer atmosphere and solar winds. The spacecraft will provide the first images of the Sun’s poles. NASA’s Launch Services Program based at Kennedy is managing the launch. Liftoff is scheduled for Feb. 5, 2020, from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station aboard a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket.
VANDENBERG AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. -- The Aquarius/SAC-D spacecraft is in the Spaceport Systems International payload processing facility at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. Earlier, a U.S. Air Force C-17 transport plane delivered the spacecraft from Campos, Brazil. Following final tests, the spacecraft will be integrated to a United Launch Alliance Delta II rocket in preparation for the targeted June launch to low Earth orbit. Aquarius, the NASA-built primary instrument on the SAC-D spacecraft, will map global changes in salinity at the ocean's surface. Salinity is a key measurement for understanding how changes in rainfall, evaporation and the melting of freezing of ice influence ocean circulation and are linked to variations in Earth's climate. The three-year mission will provide new insights into how variations in ocean surface salinity relate to these fundamental climate processes. Photo credit: VAFB/30th Space Wing
VANDENBERG AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. -- Technicians prepare to unpack and unveil the Aquarius/SAC-D spacecraft in the Spaceport Systems International payload processing facility at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. The container protected the spacecraft on its journey from Campos, Brazil, aboard a U.S. Air Force C-17 transport plane. Following final tests, the spacecraft will be integrated to a United Launch Alliance Delta II rocket in preparation for the targeted June launch to low Earth orbit. Aquarius, the NASA-built primary instrument on the SAC-D spacecraft, will map global changes in salinity at the ocean's surface. Salinity is a key measurement for understanding how changes in rainfall, evaporation and the melting of freezing of ice influence ocean circulation and are linked to variations in Earth's climate. The three-year mission will provide new insights into how variations in ocean surface salinity relate to these fundamental climate processes. Photo credit: NASA/Randy Beaudoin, VAFB
The Solar Orbiter spacecraft is placed on a truck for transportation from the Launch and Landing Facility at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida to the Astrotech Space Operations facility in nearby Titusville on Nov. 1, 2019. The spacecraft was delivered to the Florida spaceport aboard an Antonov An-124 cargo plane from Munich, Germany. Solar Orbiter is a European Space Agency mission with strong NASA participation. The mission aims to study the Sun, its outer atmosphere and solar winds. The spacecraft will provide the first images of the Sun’s poles. NASA’s Launch Services Program based at Kennedy is managing the launch. Liftoff is scheduled for Feb. 5, 2020, from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station aboard a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket.
KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. -- At KSC's Shuttle Landing Facility, the Tracking and Data Relay Satellite-I (TDRS-I) is lifted onto a transporter after being offloaded from the Air Force C-17 air cargo plane at right. The second in a new series of telemetry satellites, TDRS-I replenishes the existing on-orbit fleet of six spacecraft. The TDRS System is the primary source of space-to-ground voice, data and telemetry for the Space Shuttle. It also provides communications with the International Space Station and scientific spacecraft in low-Earth orbit such as the Hubble Space Telescope. This new advanced series of satellites will extend the availability of TDRS communications services until about 2017. TDRS-I will undergo processing in the Spacecraft Assembly and Encapsulation Facility-2 (SAEF-2) to prepare it for launch March 8 aboard a Lockheed Martin Atlas IIA rocket from Pad 36-A, Cape Canaveral Air Force Station
VANDENBERG AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. -- Technicians unpack and unveil the Aquarius/SAC-D spacecraft in the Spaceport Systems International payload processing facility at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. The container protected the spacecraft on its journey from Campos, Brazil, aboard a U.S. Air Force C-17 transport plane. Following final tests, the spacecraft will be integrated to a United Launch Alliance Delta II rocket in preparation for the targeted June launch to low Earth orbit. Aquarius, the NASA-built primary instrument on the SAC-D spacecraft, will map global changes in salinity at the ocean's surface. Salinity is a key measurement for understanding how changes in rainfall, evaporation and the melting of freezing of ice influence ocean circulation and are linked to variations in Earth's climate. The three-year mission will provide new insights into how variations in ocean surface salinity relate to these fundamental climate processes. Photo credit: NASA/Randy Beaudoin, VAFB
KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. — At the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station Skid Strip, the first stage of an Atlas V rocket arrives aboard a Russian air cargo plane. The Atlas V is the launch vehicle for the New Horizons spacecraft. New Horizons is designed to help us understand worlds at the edge of our solar system by making the first reconnaissance of Pluto and Charon - a 'double planet' and the last planet in our solar system to be visited by spacecraft. The mission will then visit one or more objects in the Kuiper Belt region beyond Neptune. New Horizons is scheduled to launch from Launch Complex 41 at CCAFS in January 2006, swing past Jupiter for a gravity boost and scientific studies in February or March 2007, and reach Pluto and its moon, Charon, in July 2015.
VANDENBERG AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. -- The Aquarius/SAC-D spacecraft arrives at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California from Campos, Brazil, aboard a U.S. Air Force C-17 transport plane. Following final tests, the spacecraft will be integrated to a United Launch Alliance Delta II rocket in preparation for the targeted June launch to low Earth orbit. Aquarius, the NASA-built primary instrument on the SAC-D spacecraft, will map global changes in salinity at the ocean's surface. Salinity is a key measurement for understanding how changes in rainfall, evaporation and the melting of freezing of ice influence ocean circulation and are linked to variations in Earth's climate. The three-year mission will provide new insights into how variations in ocean surface salinity relate to these fundamental climate processes. Photo credit: VAFB/30th Space Wing
VANDENBERG AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. -- The Aquarius/SAC-D spacecraft is in the Spaceport Systems International payload processing facility at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. Earlier, a U.S. Air Force C-17 transport plane delivered the spacecraft from Campos, Brazil. Following final tests, the spacecraft will be integrated to a United Launch Alliance Delta II rocket in preparation for the targeted June launch to low Earth orbit. Aquarius, the NASA-built primary instrument on the SAC-D spacecraft, will map global changes in salinity at the ocean's surface. Salinity is a key measurement for understanding how changes in rainfall, evaporation and the melting of freezing of ice influence ocean circulation and are linked to variations in Earth's climate. The three-year mission will provide new insights into how variations in ocean surface salinity relate to these fundamental climate processes. Photo credit: VAFB/30th Space Wing
A United States Air Force C-17 cargo plane, stationed out of Charleston Air Force Base in South Carolina, holding NASA's Lucy spacecraft lands on the runway of the Launch and Landing Facility at Kennedy Space Center in Florida on July 30, 2021. From there, the Lucy spacecraft will move to the Astrotech Space Operations payload processing facility in nearby Titusville, Florida, before its scheduled launch on a United Launch Alliance (ULA) Atlas V rocket from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station on October 16, 2021. The Lucy mission will be the first space mission to explore a diverse population of small bodies known as the Jupiter Trojan asteroids. The launch is being managed by NASA's Launch Services Program based at Kennedy, America's multi-user spaceport.
The shipping container holding the Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite T (GOES-T) is unloaded from a United States Air Force C-5 cargo plane following its arrival at the Launch and Landing Facility runway at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Nov. 10, 2021. From here, teams will transport the satellite to an Astrotech Space Operations facility in nearby Titusville for prelaunch processing. A collaboration between NASA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, GOES-T is the third satellite in the GOES-R series that will continue to help meteorologists observe and predict local weather events that affect public safety. GOES-T is scheduled to launch aboard a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station on March 1, 2022. The launch is being managed by NASA’s Launch Services Program based at Kennedy, America’s multi-user spaceport.
Members of the European Space Agency (ESA)/Airbus Defence and Space team pause for a photo at NASA Kennedy Space Center’s Launch and Landing Facility during the arrival of the Solar Orbiter spacecraft on Nov. 1, 2019. The spacecraft was delivered to the Florida spaceport aboard an Antonov An-124 cargo plane from Munich, Germany, then transported to the Astrotech Space Operations facility in nearby Titusville. Solar Orbiter is a European Space Agency mission with strong NASA participation. The mission aims to study the Sun, its outer atmosphere and solar winds. The spacecraft will provide the first images of the Sun’s poles. NASA’s Launch Services Program based at Kennedy is managing the launch. Liftoff is scheduled for Feb. 5, 2020, from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station aboard a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket.
VANDENBERG AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. -- The Aquarius/SAC-D spacecraft is transported to the Spaceport Systems International payload processing facility at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. Earlier, a U.S. Air Force C-17 transport plane delivered the spacecraft from Campos, Brazil. Following final tests, the spacecraft will be integrated to a United Launch Alliance Delta II rocket in preparation for the targeted June launch to low Earth orbit. Aquarius, the NASA-built primary instrument on the SAC-D spacecraft, will map global changes in salinity at the ocean's surface. Salinity is a key measurement for understanding how changes in rainfall, evaporation and the melting of freezing of ice influence ocean circulation and are linked to variations in Earth's climate. The three-year mission will provide new insights into how variations in ocean surface salinity relate to these fundamental climate processes. Photo credit: VAFB/30th Space Wing
Arianespace CEO Stéphane Israël, at desk, and NASA Associate Administrator for the Science Mission Directorate Thomas Zurbuchen, right, both gives a thumbs up after receiving confirmation that the Ariane 5 rocket upper stage shut down as planed a few minutes before separation from the James Webb Space Telescope, Saturday, Dec. 25, 2021, in the Jupiter Hall of the Guiana Space Centre in Kourou, French Guiana. The James Webb Space Telescope (sometimes called JWST or Webb) is a large infrared telescope with a 21.3 foot (6.5 meter) primary mirror. The observatory will study every phase of cosmic history—from within our solar system to the most distant observable galaxies in the early universe. Photo Credit: (NASA/Bill Ingalls)
KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. -- At KSC's Shuttle Landing Facility, the Air Force C-17 air cargo plane offloads the Tracking and Data Relay Satellite-I (TDRS-I). The second in a new series of telemetry satellites, TDRS-I replenishes the existing on-orbit fleet of six spacecraft. The TDRS System is the primary source of space-to-ground voice, data and telemetry for the Space Shuttle. It also provides communications with the International Space Station and scientific spacecraft in low-Earth orbit such as the Hubble Space Telescope. This new advanced series of satellites will extend the availability of TDRS communications services until about 2017. TDRS-I will undergo processing in the Spacecraft Assembly and Encapsulation Facility-2 (SAEF-2) to prepare it for launch March 8 aboard a Lockheed Martin Atlas IIA rocket from Pad 36-A, Cape Canaveral Air Force Station
A crane carefully places the Solar Orbiter spacecraft on a truck for transportation from the Launch and Landing Facility at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida to the Astrotech Space Operations facility in nearby Titusville on Nov. 1, 2019. The spacecraft was delivered to the Florida spaceport aboard an Antonov An-124 cargo plane from Munich, Germany. Solar Orbiter is a European Space Agency mission with strong NASA participation. The mission aims to study the Sun, its outer atmosphere and solar winds. The spacecraft will provide the first images of the Sun’s poles. NASA’s Launch Services Program based at Kennedy is managing the launch. Liftoff is scheduled for Feb. 5, 2020, from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station aboard a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket.
The shipping container holding NASA's Lucy spacecraft is unloaded from a United States Air Force C-17 cargo plane, stationed out of Charleston Air Force Base in South Carolina, on the runway of the Launch and Landing Facility at Kennedy Space Center in Florida on July 30, 2021. From there, the Lucy spacecraft will move to the Astrotech Space Operations payload processing facility in nearby Titusville, Florida, before its scheduled launch on a United Launch Alliance (ULA) Atlas V rocket from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station on October 16, 2021. The Lucy mission will be the first space mission to explore a diverse population of small bodies known as the Jupiter Trojan asteroids. The launch is being managed by NASA's Launch Services Program based at Kennedy, America's multi-user spaceport.
The Solar Orbiter spacecraft is placed on a truck for transportation from the Launch and Landing Facility at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida to the Astrotech Space Operations facility in nearby Titusville on Nov. 1, 2019. The spacecraft was delivered to the Florida spaceport aboard an Antonov An-124 cargo plane from Munich, Germany. Solar Orbiter is a European Space Agency mission with strong NASA participation. The mission aims to study the Sun, its outer atmosphere and solar winds. The spacecraft will provide the first images of the Sun’s poles. NASA’s Launch Services Program based at Kennedy is managing the launch. Liftoff is scheduled for Feb. 5, 2020, from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station aboard a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket.
VANDENBERG AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. -- Workers at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California prepare to offload the Aquarius/SAC-D spacecraft from a U.S. Air Force C-17 transport plane. The aircraft traveled from Campos, Brazil. Following final tests, the spacecraft will be integrated to a United Launch Alliance Delta II rocket in preparation for the targeted June launch to low Earth orbit. Aquarius, the NASA-built primary instrument on the SAC-D spacecraft, will map global changes in salinity at the ocean's surface. Salinity is a key measurement for understanding how changes in rainfall, evaporation and the melting of freezing of ice influence ocean circulation and are linked to variations in Earth's climate. The three-year mission will provide new insights into how variations in ocean surface salinity relate to these fundamental climate processes. Photo credit: VAFB/30th Space Wing
KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. -- At the Shuttle Landing Facility, the Mars Polar Lander is loaded onto a truck after its flight aboard an Air Force C-17 cargo plane that carried it from the Lockheed Martin Astronautics plant in Denver, CO. The lander is being transported to the Spacecraft Assembly and Encapsulation Facility-2(SAEF-2) in the KSC Industrial Area for testing, including a functional test of the science instruments and the basic spacecraft subsystems. The solar-powered spacecraft is designed to touch down on the Martian surface near the northern-most boundary of the south pole in order to study the water cycle there. The lander also will help scientists learn more about climate change and current resources on Mars, studying such things as frost, dust, water vapor and condensates in the Martian atmosphere. The Mars Polar Lander spacecraft is planned for launch from Cape Canaveral Air Station aboard a Delta II rocket on Jan. 3, 1999
The shipping container holding NASA's Lucy spacecraft is unloaded from a United States Air Force C-17 cargo plane, stationed out of Charleston Air Force Base in South Carolina, on the runway of the Launch and Landing Facility at Kennedy Space Center in Florida on July 30, 2021. From there, the Lucy spacecraft will move to the Astrotech Space Operations payload processing facility in nearby Titusville, Florida, before its scheduled launch on a United Launch Alliance (ULA) Atlas V rocket from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station on October 16, 2021. The Lucy mission will be the first space mission to explore a diverse population of small bodies known as the Jupiter Trojan asteroids. The launch is being managed by NASA's Launch Services Program based at Kennedy, America's multi-user spaceport.
VANDENBERG AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. -- The Aquarius/SAC-D spacecraft is transported to the Spaceport Systems International processing facility at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. Earlier, a U.S. Air Force C-17 transport plane delivered the spacecraft from Campos, Brazil. Following final tests, the spacecraft will be integrated to a United Launch Alliance Delta II rocket in preparation for the targeted June launch to low Earth orbit. Aquarius, the NASA-built primary instrument on the SAC-D spacecraft, will map global changes in salinity at the ocean's surface. Salinity is a key measurement for understanding how changes in rainfall, evaporation and the melting of freezing of ice influence ocean circulation and are linked to variations in Earth's climate. The three-year mission will provide new insights into how variations in ocean surface salinity relate to these fundamental climate processes. Photo credit: VAFB/30th Space Wing
VANDENBERG AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. -- The Aquarius/SAC-D spacecraft is unpacked and unveiled in the Spaceport Systems International payload processing facility at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. The container protected the spacecraft on its journey from Campos, Brazil, aboard a U.S. Air Force C-17 transport plane. Following final tests, the spacecraft will be integrated to a United Launch Alliance Delta II rocket in preparation for the targeted June launch to low Earth orbit. Aquarius, the NASA-built primary instrument on the SAC-D spacecraft, will map global changes in salinity at the ocean's surface. Salinity is a key measurement for understanding how changes in rainfall, evaporation and the melting of freezing of ice influence ocean circulation and are linked to variations in Earth's climate. The three-year mission will provide new insights into how variations in ocean surface salinity relate to these fundamental climate processes. Photo credit: NASA/Randy Beaudoin, VAFB
A crane carefully places the Solar Orbiter spacecraft on a truck for transportation from the Launch and Landing Facility at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida to the Astrotech Space Operations facility in nearby Titusville on Nov. 1, 2019. The spacecraft was delivered to the Florida spaceport aboard an Antonov An-124 cargo plane from Munich, Germany. Solar Orbiter is a European Space Agency mission with strong NASA participation. The mission aims to study the Sun, its outer atmosphere and solar winds. The spacecraft will provide the first images of the Sun’s poles. NASA’s Launch Services Program based at Kennedy is managing the launch. Liftoff is scheduled for Feb. 5, 2020, from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station aboard a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket.
VANDENBERG AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. -- The Aquarius/SAC-D spacecraft is unpacked and unveiled in the Spaceport Systems International payload processing facility at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. The container protected the spacecraft on its journey from Campos, Brazil, aboard a U.S. Air Force C-17 transport plane. Following final tests, the spacecraft will be integrated to a United Launch Alliance Delta II rocket in preparation for the targeted June launch to low Earth orbit. Aquarius, the NASA-built primary instrument on the SAC-D spacecraft, will map global changes in salinity at the ocean's surface. Salinity is a key measurement for understanding how changes in rainfall, evaporation and the melting of freezing of ice influence ocean circulation and are linked to variations in Earth's climate. The three-year mission will provide new insights into how variations in ocean surface salinity relate to these fundamental climate processes. Photo credit: NASA/Randy Beaudoin, VAFB
VANDENBERG AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. – The nose gear of Orbital Sciences’ L-1011 carrier aircraft rises from the runway as the plane takes off from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. The aircraft is transporting Orbital’s Pegasus rocket and NASA’s Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array, or NuSTAR, to the U.S. Army's Ronald Reagan Ballistic Missile Defense Test Site on Kwajalein Atoll, part of the Marshall Islands in the Pacific Ocean. The Pegasus, mated to its NuSTAR payload, will be launched from the carrier aircraft 117 nautical miles south of Kwajalein at latitude 6.75 degrees north of the equator. The high-energy X-ray telescope will conduct a census of black holes, map radioactive material in young supernovae remnants, and study the origins of cosmic rays and the extreme physics around collapsed stars. Launch is scheduled for June 13. For more information, visit http://www.nasa.gov/nustar. Photo credit: NASA/Randy Beaudoin, VAFB
VANDENBERG AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. -- Workers at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California prepare to offload the Aquarius/SAC-D spacecraft from a U.S. Air Force C-17 transport plane. The aircraft traveled from Campos, Brazil. Following final tests, the spacecraft will be integrated to a United Launch Alliance Delta II rocket in preparation for the targeted June launch to low Earth orbit. Aquarius, the NASA-built primary instrument on the SAC-D spacecraft, will map global changes in salinity at the ocean's surface. Salinity is a key measurement for understanding how changes in rainfall, evaporation and the melting of freezing of ice influence ocean circulation and are linked to variations in Earth's climate. The three-year mission will provide new insights into how variations in ocean surface salinity relate to these fundamental climate processes. Photo credit: VAFB/30th Space Wing
VANDENBERG AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. -- The Aquarius/SAC-D spacecraft is transported to the Spaceport Systems International payload processing facility at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. Earlier, a U.S. Air Force C-17 transport plane delivered the spacecraft from Campos, Brazil. Following final tests, the spacecraft will be integrated to a United Launch Alliance Delta II rocket in preparation for the targeted June launch to low Earth orbit. Aquarius, the NASA-built primary instrument on the SAC-D spacecraft, will map global changes in salinity at the ocean's surface. Salinity is a key measurement for understanding how changes in rainfall, evaporation and the melting of freezing of ice influence ocean circulation and are linked to variations in Earth's climate. The three-year mission will provide new insights into how variations in ocean surface salinity relate to these fundamental climate processes. Photo credit: VAFB/30th Space Wing
A crane carefully places the Solar Orbiter spacecraft on a truck for transportation from the Launch and Landing Facility at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida to the Astrotech Space Operations facility in nearby Titusville on Nov. 1, 2019. The spacecraft was delivered to the Florida spaceport aboard an Antonov An-124 cargo plane from Munich, Germany. Solar Orbiter is a European Space Agency mission with strong NASA participation. The mission aims to study the Sun, its outer atmosphere and solar winds. The spacecraft will provide the first images of the Sun’s poles. NASA’s Launch Services Program based at Kennedy is managing the launch. Liftoff is scheduled for Feb. 5, 2020, from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station aboard a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket.
A crane carefully places the Solar Orbiter spacecraft on a truck for transportation from the Launch and Landing Facility at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida to the Astrotech Space Operations facility in nearby Titusville on Nov. 1, 2019. The spacecraft was delivered to the Florida spaceport aboard an Antonov An-124 cargo plane from Munich, Germany. Solar Orbiter is a European Space Agency mission with strong NASA participation. The mission aims to study the Sun, its outer atmosphere and solar winds. The spacecraft will provide the first images of the Sun’s poles. NASA’s Launch Services Program based at Kennedy is managing the launch. Liftoff is scheduled for Feb. 5, 2020, from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station aboard a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket.
VANDENBERG AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. -- The Aquarius/SAC-D spacecraft enters the Spaceport Systems International payload processing facility at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. Earlier, a U.S. Air Force C-17 transport plane delivered the spacecraft from Campos, Brazil. Following final tests, the spacecraft will be integrated to a United Launch Alliance Delta II rocket in preparation for the targeted June launch to low Earth orbit. Aquarius, the NASA-built primary instrument on the SAC-D spacecraft, will map global changes in salinity at the ocean's surface. Salinity is a key measurement for understanding how changes in rainfall, evaporation and the melting of freezing of ice influence ocean circulation and are linked to variations in Earth's climate. The three-year mission will provide new insights into how variations in ocean surface salinity relate to these fundamental climate processes. Photo credit: VAFB/30th Space Wing
VANDENBERG AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. -- The Aquarius/SAC-D spacecraft is transported to the Spaceport Systems International processing facility at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. Earlier, a U.S. Air Force C-17 transport plane delivered the spacecraft from Campos, Brazil. Following final tests, the spacecraft will be integrated to a United Launch Alliance Delta II rocket in preparation for the targeted June launch to low Earth orbit. Aquarius, the NASA-built primary instrument on the SAC-D spacecraft, will map global changes in salinity at the ocean's surface. Salinity is a key measurement for understanding how changes in rainfall, evaporation and the melting of freezing of ice influence ocean circulation and are linked to variations in Earth's climate. The three-year mission will provide new insights into how variations in ocean surface salinity relate to these fundamental climate processes. Photo credit: VAFB/30th Space Wing
The Mars Climate Orbiter spacecraft arrives at KSC's Shuttle Landing Facility aboard an Air Force C-17 cargo plane early this morning following its flight from the Lockheed Martin Astronautics plant in Denver, Colo. When the spacecraft arrives at the red planet, it will primarily support its companion Mars Polar Lander spacecraft, planned for launch on Jan. 3, 1999. After that, the Mars Climate Orbiter's instruments will monitor the Martian atmosphere and image the planet's surface on a daily basis for one Martian year (1.8 Earth years). It will observe the appearance and movement of atmospheric dust and water vapor, as well as characterize seasonal changes on the surface. The detailed images of the surface features will provide important clues to the planet's early climate history and give scientists more information about possible liquid water reserves beneath the surface. The scheduled launch date for the Mars Climate Orbiter is Dec. 10, 1998, on a Delta II 7425 rocket
VANDENBERG AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. -- Workers at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California snap photos of the U.S. Air Force C-17 transport plane carrying the Aquarius/SAC-D spacecraft. The aircraft traveled from Campos, Brazil. Following final tests, the spacecraft will be integrated to a United Launch Alliance Delta II rocket in preparation for the targeted June launch to low Earth orbit. Aquarius, the NASA-built primary instrument on the SAC-D spacecraft, will map global changes in salinity at the ocean's surface. Salinity is a key measurement for understanding how changes in rainfall, evaporation and the melting of freezing of ice influence ocean circulation and are linked to variations in Earth's climate. The three-year mission will provide new insights into how variations in ocean surface salinity relate to these fundamental climate processes. Photo credit: VAFB/30th Space Wing
VANDENBERG AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. -- Technicians begin to unpack and unveil the Aquarius/SAC-D spacecraft in the Spaceport Systems International payload processing facility at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. The container protected the spacecraft on its journey from Campos, Brazil, aboard a U.S. Air Force C-17 transport plane. Following final tests, the spacecraft will be integrated to a United Launch Alliance Delta II rocket in preparation for the targeted June launch to low Earth orbit. Aquarius, the NASA-built primary instrument on the SAC-D spacecraft, will map global changes in salinity at the ocean's surface. Salinity is a key measurement for understanding how changes in rainfall, evaporation and the melting of freezing of ice influence ocean circulation and are linked to variations in Earth's climate. The three-year mission will provide new insights into how variations in ocean surface salinity relate to these fundamental climate processes. Photo credit: NASA/Randy Beaudoin, VAFB
VANDENBERG AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. -- The Aquarius/SAC-D spacecraft is transported to the Spaceport Systems International processing facility at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. Earlier, a U.S. Air Force C-17 transport plane delivered the spacecraft from Campos, Brazil. Following final tests, the spacecraft will be integrated to a United Launch Alliance Delta II rocket in preparation for the targeted June launch to low Earth orbit. Aquarius, the NASA-built primary instrument on the SAC-D spacecraft, will map global changes in salinity at the ocean's surface. Salinity is a key measurement for understanding how changes in rainfall, evaporation and the melting of freezing of ice influence ocean circulation and are linked to variations in Earth's climate. The three-year mission will provide new insights into how variations in ocean surface salinity relate to these fundamental climate processes. Photo credit: VAFB/30th Space Wing
An Antonov An-124 cargo plane, foreground, is seen at NASA Kennedy Space Center’s Launch and Landing Facility on Nov. 1, 2019 after delivering the Solar Orbiter spacecraft from Munich, Germany. The spacecraft was placed on a truck for transportation from the Florida spaceport to the Astrotech Space Operations facility in nearby Titusville. Solar Orbiter is a European Space Agency mission with strong NASA participation. The mission aims to study the Sun, its outer atmosphere and solar winds. The spacecraft will provide the first images of the Sun’s poles. NASA’s Launch Services Program based at Kennedy is managing the launch. Liftoff is scheduled for Feb. 5, 2020, from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station aboard a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket.
VANDENBERG AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. -- The Aquarius/SAC-D spacecraft arrives at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California from Campos, Brazil, aboard a U.S. Air Force C-17 transport plane. Following final tests, the spacecraft will be integrated to a United Launch Alliance Delta II rocket in preparation for the targeted June launch to low Earth orbit. Aquarius, the NASA-built primary instrument on the SAC-D spacecraft, will map global changes in salinity at the ocean's surface. Salinity is a key measurement for understanding how changes in rainfall, evaporation and the melting of freezing of ice influence ocean circulation and are linked to variations in Earth's climate. The three-year mission will provide new insights into how variations in ocean surface salinity relate to these fundamental climate processes. Photo credit: VAFB/30th Space Wing
The Solar Orbiter spacecraft has arrived aboard an Antonov An-124 cargo plane at NASA Kennedy Space Center’s Launch and Landing Facility on Nov. 1, 2019. The spacecraft was delivered to the Florida spaceport from Munich, Germany, then transported to the Astrotech Space Operations facility in nearby Titusville. Solar Orbiter is a European Space Agency mission with strong NASA participation. The mission aims to study the Sun, its outer atmosphere and solar winds. The spacecraft will provide the first images of the Sun’s poles. NASA’s Launch Services Program based at Kennedy is managing the launch. Liftoff is scheduled for Feb. 5, 2020, from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station aboard a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket.
KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. — At the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station Skid Strip, workers begin to offload the first stage of an Atlas V rocket from a Russian air cargo plane. The Atlas V is the launch vehicle for the New Horizons spacecraft. New Horizons is designed to help us understand worlds at the edge of our solar system by making the first reconnaissance of Pluto and Charon - a 'double planet' and the last planet in our solar system to be visited by spacecraft. The mission will then visit one or more objects in the Kuiper Belt region beyond Neptune. New Horizons is scheduled to launch from Launch Complex 41 at CCAFS in January 2006, swing past Jupiter for a gravity boost and scientific studies in February or March 2007, and reach Pluto and its moon, Charon, in July 2015.
The Solar Orbiter spacecraft is moved out of the cavernous interior of an Antonov An-124 cargo plane at NASA Kennedy Space Center’s Launch and Landing Facility on Nov. 1, 2019. The spacecraft was delivered to the Florida spaceport from Munich, Germany, then transported to the Astrotech Space Operations facility in nearby Titusville. Solar Orbiter is a European Space Agency mission with strong NASA participation. The mission aims to study the Sun, its outer atmosphere and solar winds. The spacecraft will provide the first images of the Sun’s poles. NASA’s Launch Services Program based at Kennedy is managing the launch. Liftoff is scheduled for Feb. 5, 2020, from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station aboard a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket.
VANDENBERG AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. – Videographer Lori Losey, back seat, and pilot Jim Less board an F-18 aircraft at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. The F-18 will be the "chase plane" for the Orbital Sciences L-1011 aircraft transporting the Pegasus XL rocket that will launch NASA's Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph, or IRIS, solar observatory to orbit. Release of the rocket from under the wing of the L-1011 is scheduled for 10:27 p.m. EDT. IRIS will open a new window of discovery using spectrometry and imaging to trace the flow of energy and plasma through the chromospheres and transition region into the sun’s corona. The spacecraft will observe how solar material moves, gathers energy and heats up as it travels through a largely unexplored region of the solar atmosphere. This interface region, located between the sun's visible surface and its upper atmosphere, is where most of its ultraviolet emission is generated. These emissions impact the near-Earth space environment and Earth's climate. NASA's Launch Services Program at the agency's Kennedy Space Center in Florida is managing the countdown and launch. For more information, visit http://www.nasa.gov/iris. Photo credit: NASA/Daniel Casper
VANDENBERG AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. – Videographer Lori Losey boards an F-18 aircraft at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. The F-18 "chase plane" will accompany the Orbital Sciences L-1011 aircraft as it transports the Pegasus XL rocket carrying NASA's Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph, or IRIS, solar observatory over the Pacific Ocean. Release of the rocket from under the wing of the L-1011 is scheduled for 10:27 p.m. EDT. IRIS will open a new window of discovery using spectrometry and imaging to trace the flow of energy and plasma through the chromospheres and transition region into the sun’s corona. The spacecraft will observe how solar material moves, gathers energy and heats up as it travels through a largely unexplored region of the solar atmosphere. This interface region, located between the sun's visible surface and its upper atmosphere, is where most of its ultraviolet emission is generated. These emissions impact the near-Earth space environment and Earth's climate. NASA's Launch Services Program at the agency's Kennedy Space Center in Florida is managing the countdown and launch. For more information, visit http://www.nasa.gov/iris. Photo credit: NASA/Daniel Casper
This photo gives an overhead look at an RS-88 development rocket engine being test fired at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, in support of the Pad Abort Demonstration (PAD) test flights for NASA's Orbital Space Plane (OSP). The tests could be instrumental in developing the first crew launch escape system in almost 30 years. Paving the way for a series of integrated PAD test flights, the engine tests support development of a system that could pull a crew safely away from danger during liftoff. A series of 16 hot fire tests of a 50,000-pound thrust RS-88 rocket engine were conducted, resulting in a total of 55 seconds of successful engine operation. The engine is being developed by the Rocketdyne Propulsion and Power unit of the Boeing Company. Integrated launch abort demonstration tests in 2005 will use four RS-88 engines to separate a test vehicle from a test platform, simulating pulling a crewed vehicle away from an aborted launch. Four 156-foot parachutes will deploy and carry the vehicle to landing. Lockheed Martin is building the vehicles for the PAD tests. Seven integrated tests are plarned for 2005 and 2006.
KWAJALEIN ATOLL, Marshall Islands - In this time-lapse image, the lights of Orbital Sciences' L-1011 "Stargazer" streak across the night sky as the aircraft takes off from the runway at Kwajalein Atoll with the company's Pegasus rocket to launch NASA's Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array, or NuSTAR. The plane left Kwajalein one hour before launch. At 9:00:35 a.m. PDT 12:00:35 p.m. EDT), June 13, 2012, the rocket dropped with the NuSTAR payload 117 nautical miles south of Kwajalein. NuSTAR will use a unique set of “eyes” to see the highest energy X-ray light from the cosmos to reveal black holes lurking in our Milky Way galaxy, as well as those hidden in the hearts of faraway galaxies. Kwajalein is located in the Marshall Islands chain in the Pacific Ocean and is part of the Reagan Test Site and used for launches of NASA, commercial and military missions. For more information, visit http://www.nasa.gov/nustar. Photo credit: NASA
In this photo, an RS-88 development rocket engine is being test fired at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, in support of the Pad Abort Demonstration (PAD) test flights for NASA's Orbital Space Plane (OSP). The tests could be instrumental in developing the first crew launch escape system in almost 30 years. Paving the way for a series of integrated PAD test flights, the engine tests support development of a system that could pull a crew safely away from danger during liftoff. A series of 16 hot fire tests of a 50,000-pound thrust RS-88 rocket engine were conducted, resulting in a total of 55 seconds of successful engine operation. The engine is being developed by the Rocketdyne Propulsion and Power unit of the Boeing Company. Integrated launch abort demonstration tests in 2005 will use four RS-88 engines to separate a test vehicle from a test platform, simulating pulling a crewed vehicle away from an aborted launch. Four 156-foot parachutes will deploy and carry the vehicle to landing. Lockheed Martin is building the vehicles for the PAD tests. Seven integrated tests are plarned for 2005 and 2006.
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- An Air Force C-17 cargo plane arrives on the Shuttle Landing Facility at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida carrying the space agency's Gravity Recovery and Interior Laboratory, or GRAIL, spacecraft. The spacecraft traveled from the Lockheed Martin plant in Denver, Colo., and will undergo further processing in the Astrotech payload processing facility in Titusville, Fla. The United Launch Alliance Delta II rocket that will carry GRAIL into lunar orbit already is fully stacked at NASA's Space Launch Complex 17B and launch is scheduled for Sept. 8. The GRAIL mission is a part of NASA's Discovery Program. GRAIL will fly twin spacecraft in tandem orbits around the moon for several months to measure its gravity field. The mission also will answer longstanding questions about Earth's moon and provide scientists a better understanding of how Earth and other rocky planets in the solar system formed. For more information, visit http://science.nasa.gov/missions/grail/. Photo credit: NASA/Dimitri Gerondidakis