Robotic Arm Unwrapped

Unwrapping of Orion STA

Unwrapping of Orion STA

Unwrapping of Orion STA

Unwrapping of Orion STA

The Artemis I Orion pressure vessel sits fully unwrapped, lifted and moved to the birdcage inside the Operations and Checkout Building high bay at Kennedy Space Center on Feb. 2, 2016. Part of Batch image transfer from Flickr.

The Artemis I Orion pressure vessel sits fully unwrapped, lifted and moved to the birdcage inside the Operations and Checkout Building high bay at Kennedy Space Center on Feb. 2, 2016. Part of Batch image transfer from Flickr.

The Artemis I Orion pressure vessel sits fully unwrapped, lifted and moved to the birdcage inside the Operations and Checkout Building high bay at Kennedy Space Center on Feb. 2, 2016. Part of Batch image transfer from Flickr.

The Artemis I Orion pressure vessel sits fully unwrapped, lifted and moved to the birdcage inside the Operations and Checkout Building high bay at Kennedy Space Center on Feb. 2, 2016. Part of Batch image transfer from Flickr.

The Artemis I Orion pressure vessel sits fully unwrapped, lifted and moved to the birdcage inside the Operations and Checkout Building high bay at Kennedy Space Center on Feb. 2, 2016. Part of Batch image transfer from Flickr.

The Artemis I Orion pressure vessel sits fully unwrapped, lifted and moved to the birdcage inside the Operations and Checkout Building high bay at Kennedy Space Center on Feb. 2, 2016. Part of Batch image transfer from Flickr.

The Artemis I Orion pressure vessel sits fully unwrapped, lifted and moved to the birdcage inside the Operations and Checkout Building high bay at Kennedy Space Center on Feb. 2, 2016. Part of Batch image transfer from Flickr.

The Artemis I Orion pressure vessel sits fully unwrapped, lifted and moved to the birdcage inside the Operations and Checkout Building high bay at Kennedy Space Center on Feb. 2, 2016. Part of Batch image transfer from Flickr.

The Artemis I Orion pressure vessel sits fully unwrapped, lifted and moved to the birdcage inside the Operations and Checkout Building high bay at Kennedy Space Center on Feb. 2, 2016. Part of Batch image transfer from Flickr.

The Artemis I Orion pressure vessel sits fully unwrapped, lifted and moved to the birdcage inside the Operations and Checkout Building high bay at Kennedy Space Center on Feb. 2, 2016. Part of Batch image transfer from Flickr.

The Artemis I Orion pressure vessel sits fully unwrapped, lifted and moved to the birdcage inside the Operations and Checkout Building high bay at Kennedy Space Center on Feb. 2, 2016. Part of Batch image transfer from Flickr.

The X-59 arrives in Fort Worth, Texas from Palmdale, California, ready to undergo some important structural and fuel tests at the Lockheed Martin facility. The bright blue wrap around the X-plane is a precautionary measure to keep the exterior of the X-59 safe as it traveled through multiple states on its way to Texas.

The X-59 arrives in Fort Worth, Texas from Palmdale, California, ready to undergo some important structural and fuel tests at the Lockheed Martin facility. The bright blue wrap around the X-plane is a precautionary measure to keep the exterior of the X-59 safe as it traveled through multiple states on its way to Texas.

THE ORION EFT-1 DIAPHGRAM BEING UNLOADED AND UNWRAPPED PRIOR TO BEING PLACED IN THE CLEAN ROOM FOR TESTING.

THE ORION EFT-1 DIAPHGRAM BEING UNLOADED AND UNWRAPPED PRIOR TO BEING PLACED IN THE CLEAN ROOM FOR TESTING.

This image composite highlights the pillars of the Eagle nebula, as seen in infrared light by NASA Spitzer Space Telescope bottom and visible light by NASA Hubble Space Telescope top insets.

Technicians at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida perform work on the agency’s Psyche spacecraft inside the Payload Hazardous Servicing Facility (PHSF) on May 3, 2022. While inside the PHSF, the spacecraft will undergo routine processing and servicing ahead of launch. Psyche is targeting to lift off aboard a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket on Aug. 1, 2022. The spacecraft will use solar-electric propulsion to travel approximately 1.5 billion miles to rendezvous with its namesake asteroid in 2026. The Psyche mission is led by Arizona State University. NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, which is managed for the agency by Caltech in Pasadena, California, is responsible for the mission’s overall management, system engineering, integration and testing, and mission operations. Maxar Technologies in Palo Alto, California, provided the high-power solar electric propulsion spacecraft chassis. NASA’s Launch Services Program (LSP), based at Kennedy, is managing the launch. Psyche will be the 14th mission in the agency's Discovery program and LSP’s 100th primary mission.

NASA’s Psyche spacecraft undergoes processing and servicing ahead of launch atop a work stand inside the Payload Hazardous Servicing Facility at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on May 3, 2022. Psyche is targeting to lift off aboard a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket on Aug. 1, 2022. The spacecraft will use solar-electric propulsion to travel approximately 1.5 billion miles to rendezvous with its namesake asteroid in 2026. The Psyche mission is led by Arizona State University. NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, which is managed for the agency by Caltech in Pasadena, California, is responsible for the mission’s overall management, system engineering, integration and testing, and mission operations. Maxar Technologies in Palo Alto, California, provided the high-power solar electric propulsion spacecraft chassis. NASA’s Launch Services Program (LSP), based at Kennedy, is managing the launch. Psyche will be the 14th mission in the agency's Discovery program and LSP’s 100th primary mission.

Technicians at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida perform work on the agency’s Psyche spacecraft inside the Payload Hazardous Servicing Facility (PHSF) on May 3, 2022. While inside the PHSF, the spacecraft will undergo routine processing and servicing ahead of launch. Psyche is targeting to lift off aboard a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket on Aug. 1, 2022. The spacecraft will use solar-electric propulsion to travel approximately 1.5 billion miles to rendezvous with its namesake asteroid in 2026. The Psyche mission is led by Arizona State University. NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, which is managed for the agency by Caltech in Pasadena, California, is responsible for the mission’s overall management, system engineering, integration and testing, and mission operations. Maxar Technologies in Palo Alto, California, provided the high-power solar electric propulsion spacecraft chassis. NASA’s Launch Services Program (LSP), based at Kennedy, is managing the launch. Psyche will be the 14th mission in the agency's Discovery program and LSP’s 100th primary mission.

NASA’s Psyche spacecraft undergoes processing and servicing ahead of launch atop a work stand inside the Payload Hazardous Servicing Facility at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on May 3, 2022. Psyche is targeting to lift off aboard a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket on Aug. 1, 2022. The spacecraft will use solar-electric propulsion to travel approximately 1.5 billion miles to rendezvous with its namesake asteroid in 2026. The Psyche mission is led by Arizona State University. NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, which is managed for the agency by Caltech in Pasadena, California, is responsible for the mission’s overall management, system engineering, integration and testing, and mission operations. Maxar Technologies in Palo Alto, California, provided the high-power solar electric propulsion spacecraft chassis. NASA’s Launch Services Program (LSP), based at Kennedy, is managing the launch. Psyche will be the 14th mission in the agency's Discovery program and LSP’s 100th primary mission.

Technicians at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida perform work on the agency’s Psyche spacecraft inside the Payload Hazardous Servicing Facility (PHSF) on May 3, 2022. While inside the PHSF, the spacecraft will undergo routine processing and servicing ahead of launch. Psyche is targeting to lift off aboard a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket on Aug. 1, 2022. The spacecraft will use solar-electric propulsion to travel approximately 1.5 billion miles to rendezvous with its namesake asteroid in 2026. The Psyche mission is led by Arizona State University. NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, which is managed for the agency by Caltech in Pasadena, California, is responsible for the mission’s overall management, system engineering, integration and testing, and mission operations. Maxar Technologies in Palo Alto, California, provided the high-power solar electric propulsion spacecraft chassis. NASA’s Launch Services Program (LSP), based at Kennedy, is managing the launch. Psyche will be the 14th mission in the agency's Discovery program and LSP’s 100th primary mission.

NASA’s Psyche spacecraft undergoes processing and servicing ahead of launch atop a work stand inside the Payload Hazardous Servicing Facility at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on May 3, 2022. Psyche is targeting to lift off aboard a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket on Aug. 1, 2022. The spacecraft will use solar-electric propulsion to travel approximately 1.5 billion miles to rendezvous with its namesake asteroid in 2026. The Psyche mission is led by Arizona State University. NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, which is managed for the agency by Caltech in Pasadena, California, is responsible for the mission’s overall management, system engineering, integration and testing, and mission operations. Maxar Technologies in Palo Alto, California, provided the high-power solar electric propulsion spacecraft chassis. NASA’s Launch Services Program (LSP), based at Kennedy, is managing the launch. Psyche will be the 14th mission in the agency's Discovery program and LSP’s 100th primary mission.

International Space Station (ISS) contractors unwrap Pressurized Mating Adapter-1 (PMA-1) for the ISS in KSC’s Space Station Processing Facility. A PMA is a cone-shaped connector that will be attached to Node 1, the space station’s structural building block, during ground processing. Node 1 with two PMAs attached will be the first element of the station scheduled to be launched aboard the Space Shuttle Endeavour on STS-88 in July 1998

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. -- Workers in the Space Station Processing Facility begin unwrapping the protective cover over the end of Multi-Purpose Logistics Module Leonardo so they can open the hatch and access the inside. The MPLM has just returned from its maiden voyage to the International Space Station aboard Discovery on mission STS-102. Leonardo is one of three MPLMs built by the Italian Space Agency to serve as “cargo vans” to the Station, carrying supplies and equipment. In the SSPF, Leonardo will be prepared for a future mission

International Space Station (ISS) contractors unwrap Pressurized Mating Adapter-1 (PMA-1) for the ISS in KSC’s Space Station Processing Facility. A PMA is a cone-shaped connector that will be attached to Node 1, the space station’s structural building block, during ground processing. Node 1 with two PMAs attached will be the first element of the station scheduled to be launched aboard the Space Shuttle Endeavour on STS-88 in July 1998

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. -- Workers in the Space Station Processing Facility begin unwrapping the protective cover over the end of Multi-Purpose Logistics Module Leonardo so they can open the hatch and access the inside. The MPLM has just returned from its maiden voyage to the International Space Station aboard Discovery on mission STS-102. Leonardo is one of three MPLMs built by the Italian Space Agency to serve as “cargo vans” to the Station, carrying supplies and equipment. In the SSPF, Leonardo will be prepared for a future mission

The main body of NASA's Europa Clipper spacecraft has been delivered to the agency's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California, where, over the next two years, engineers and technicians will finish assembling the craft by hand before testing it to make sure it can withstand the journey to Jupiter's icy moon Europa. Here it is being unwrapped in a main clean room at JPL, as engineers and technicians inspect it just after delivery in early June 2022. The Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) in Laurel, Maryland, designed and built the spacecraft body in collaboration with JPL and NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. Set to launch in October 2024, Europa Clipper will conduct nearly 50 flybys of Europa, which scientists are confident harbors an internal ocean containing twice as much water as Earth's oceans combined. And the moon may currently have conditions suitable for supporting life. The spacecraft's nine science instruments will gather data on the moon's atmosphere, surface, and interior – information that scientists will use to gauge the depth and salinity of the ocean, the thickness of the ice crust, and potential plumes that may be venting subsurface water into space. https://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA25237

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - The Orion crew module is unwrapped after its arrival in the Operations and Checkout Building high bay at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Slated for Exploration Flight Test-1, an uncrewed mission planned for 2014, the capsule will travel farther into space than any human spacecraft has gone in more than 40 years. NASA's Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans built the crew module pressure vessel. The Orion production team will prepare the module for flight by installing heat-shielding thermal protection systems, avionics and other subsystems. For more information, visit http://www.nasa.gov/orion. Photo credit: NASA/Gianni Woods

Children at Audubon Elementary School, Merritt Island, Fla., eagerly unwrap computer equipment donated by Kennedy Space Center. Audubon is one of 13 Brevard County schools receiving 81 excess contractor computers thanks to an innovative educational outreach project spearheaded by the Nasa k-12 Education Services Office at ksc. The Astronaut Memorial Foundation, a strategic partner in the effort, and several schools in rural Florida and Georgia also received refurbished computers as part of the year-long project. KSC employees put in about 3,300 volunteer hours to transform old, excess computers into upgraded, usable units. A total of $90,000 in upgraded computer equipment is being donated

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, Fla. -- In the Vertical Processing Facility, various components of the payload on mission STS-109 rest on workstands after being unwrapped. The purpose of the STS-109 mission is servicing the Hubble Space Telescope. The primary servicing tasks of the mission are to replace Solar Array 2 with Solar Array 3, replace the Power Control Unit, remove the Faint Object Camera and install the Advanced Camera for Surveys, install the NICMOS Cooling System, and install New Outer Blanket Insulation on bays 5 through 8. Mission STS-109 is scheduled for launch in mid-February 2002

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, Fla. -- In the Vertical Processing Facility, two components of the STS-109 payload are revealed while a third is being unwrapped. The purpose of the STS-109 mission is servicing the Hubble Space Telescope. The primary servicing tasks of the mission are to replace Solar Array 2 with Solar Array 3, replace the Power Control Unit, remove the Faint Object Camera and install the Advanced Camera for Surveys, install the NICMOS Cooling System, and install New Outer Blanket Insulation on bays 5 through 8. Mission STS-109 is scheduled for launch in mid-February 2002

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, Fla. -- Workers in the Vertical Processing Facility begin to unwrap the payload that recently arrived for STS-109, whose mission is servicing the Hubble Space Telescope. The primary servicing tasks of the mission are to replace Solar Array 2 with Solar Array 3, replace the Power Control Unit, remove the Faint Object Camera and install the Advanced Camera for Surveys, install the NICMOS Cooling System, and install New Outer Blanket Insulation on bays 5 through 8. Mission STS-109 is scheduled for launch in mid-February 2002

VANDENBERG AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. - Spacecraft technicians prepare to unwrap the weather protective covering from the transportation canister for NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer, or WISE, at Space Launch Complex 2 at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. WISE will survey the entire sky at infrared wavelengths, creating a cosmic clearinghouse of hundreds of millions of objects which will be catalogued and provide a vast storehouse of knowledge about the solar system, the Milky Way, and the universe. Launch is scheduled for Dec. 9. For additional information, visit http://www.nasa.gov/wise. Photo credit: NASA/Mark Mackley, VAFB

VANDENBERG AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. -- At Space Launch Complex 576-E at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, technicians unwrap the Poly Picosatellite Orbital Deployer, or P-POD, assembly before installation to the aft end of the Taurus rocket's third stage. The P-POD holds three CubeSats or tiny satellites, designed and created by university and college students that will be carried on the Taurus rocket along with the Glory spacecraft. The Orbital Sciences Corp. Taurus XL rocket will carry Glory into low Earth orbit. Once Glory reaches orbit, it will collect data on the properties of aerosols and black carbon. It also will help scientists understand how the sun's irradiance affects Earth's climate. Launch is scheduled for 5:09 a.m. EST Feb. 23. For information, visit www.nasa.gov/glory. Photo credit: NASA/Randy Beaudoin, VAFB

VANDENBERG AFB, Calif. – Engineers unwrap NASA's IRIS spacecraft after its connection to the nose of an Orbital Sciences Pegasus XL rocket that will lift the solar observatory into orbit in June. The work is taking place in a hangar at Vandenberg Air Force Base where IRIS, short for Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph, is being prepared for launch on a Pegasus XL rocket. Scheduled for launch from Vandenberg June 26, IRIS will open a new window of discovery by tracing the flow of energy and plasma through the chromospheres and transition region into the sun’s corona using spectrometry and imaging. IRIS fills a crucial gap in our ability to advance studies of the sun-to-Earth connection by tracing the flow of energy and plasma through the foundation of the corona and the region around the sun known as the heliosphere. Photo credit: NASA/Randy Beaudoin

VANDENBERG AFB, Calif. – Engineers unwrap NASA's IRIS spacecraft after its connection to the nose of an Orbital Sciences Pegasus XL rocket that will lift the solar observatory into orbit in June. The work is taking place in a hangar at Vandenberg Air Force Base where IRIS, short for Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph, is being prepared for launch on a Pegasus XL rocket. Scheduled for launch from Vandenberg June 26, IRIS will open a new window of discovery by tracing the flow of energy and plasma through the chromospheres and transition region into the sun’s corona using spectrometry and imaging. IRIS fills a crucial gap in our ability to advance studies of the sun-to-Earth connection by tracing the flow of energy and plasma through the foundation of the corona and the region around the sun known as the heliosphere. Photo credit: NASA/Randy Beaudoin

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. - The Swift spacecraft is being unwrapped in Hangar AE at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. Swift is a first-of-its-kind, multi-wavelength observatory dedicated to the study of gamma-ray burst (GRB) science. Its three instruments will work together to observe GRBs and afterglows in the gamma-ray, X-ray and optical wavebands. Swift is part of NASA’s medium explorer (MIDEX) program being developed by an international collaboration. During its nominal 2-year mission, Swift is expected to observe more than 200 bursts, which will represent the most comprehensive study of GRB afterglow to date. It is scheduled for launch into a low-Earth orbit on a Delta 7320 rocket on Oct. 7.

Children at Cambridge Elementary School, Cocoa, Fla., eagerly unwrap computer equipment donated by Kennedy Space Center. Cambridge is one of 13 Brevard County schools receiving 81 excess contractor computers thanks to an innovative educational outreach project spearheaded by the Nasa k-12 Education Services Office at ksc. Behind the children is Jim Thurston, a school volunteer and retired employee of USBI, who shared in the project. The Astronaut Memorial Foundation, a strategic partner in the effort, and several schools in rural Florida and Georgia also received refurbished computers as part of the year-long project. KSC employees put in about 3,300 volunteer hours to transform old, excess computers into upgraded, usable units. A total of $90,000 in upgraded computer equipment is being donated

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. - The Swift spacecraft is being unwrapped in Hangar AE at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. Swift is a first-of-its-kind, multi-wavelength observatory dedicated to the study of gamma-ray burst (GRB) science. Its three instruments will work together to observe GRBs and afterglows in the gamma-ray, X-ray and optical wavebands. Swift is part of NASA’s medium explorer (MIDEX) program being developed by an international collaboration. During its nominal 2-year mission, Swift is expected to observe more than 200 bursts, which will represent the most comprehensive study of GRB afterglow to date. It is scheduled for launch into a low-Earth orbit on a Delta 7320 rocket on Oct. 7.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - In the Space Station Processing Facility at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, workers unwrap the ExPRESS Logistics Carrier 3, or ELC-3, still nestled in its transportation case. ELC-3 and the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer are the primary payloads for space shuttle Endeavour's STS-134 mission to the International Space Station. The STS-134 crew will also deliver spare parts including two S-band communications antennas, a high pressure gas tank, additional spare parts for Dextre and micrometeoroid debris shields. Endeavour's launch is targeted for July 29, 2010. For information on the STS-134 mission objectives and crew, visit http://www.nasa.gov/shuttle. Photo credit: NASA/Kim Shiflett

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. - In the mobile service tower at Launch Complex 17-B, Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, the unwrapped MESSENGER (Mercury Surface, Space Environment, Geochemistry and Ranging) spacecraft waits under an environmental curtain for encapsulation. Visible in this view is the sunshade that will protect MESSENGER’s instruments during exposure to the sun as it orbits Mercury. Scheduled to launch Aug. 2, MESSENGER will return to Earth for a gravity boost in July 2005, then fly past Venus twice, in October 2006 and June 2007. It is expected to enter Mercury orbit in March 2011. MESSENGER was built for NASA by the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory in Laurel, Md. Processing is being done at Astrotech Space Operations in Titusville, Fla.

VANDENBERG AFB, Calif. – Engineers unwrap NASA's IRIS spacecraft after its connection to the nose of an Orbital Sciences Pegasus XL rocket that will lift the solar observatory into orbit in June. The work is taking place in a hangar at Vandenberg Air Force Base where IRIS, short for Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph, is being prepared for launch on a Pegasus XL rocket. Scheduled for launch from Vandenberg June 26, IRIS will open a new window of discovery by tracing the flow of energy and plasma through the chromospheres and transition region into the sun’s corona using spectrometry and imaging. IRIS fills a crucial gap in our ability to advance studies of the sun-to-Earth connection by tracing the flow of energy and plasma through the foundation of the corona and the region around the sun known as the heliosphere. Photo credit: NASA/Randy Beaudoin

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. - Workers in the Orbiter Processing Facility unwrap plastic for use in covering equipment as part of preparations for the expected impact of Hurricane Frances on Saturday. Other preparations at KSC include powering down the Space Shuttle orbiters, closing the payload bay doors and stowing the landing gear. Workers are also taking precautions against flooding by moving spacecraft hardware off the ground and sandbagging facilities. The Orbiter Processing Facility is constructed of concrete and steel and was designed to withstand winds of 105 mph. The Vehicle Assembly Building is constructed of concrete and steel and was designed to withstand winds of 125 mph. Other payload and flight hardware support facilities can endure winds of 110 mph. Launch pads and the Payload Hazardous Servicing Facility can withstand 125-mph winds.

Nancy Nichols, principal of South Lake Elementary School, Titusville, Fla., joins students in teacher Michelle Butler's sixth grade class who are unwrapping computer equipment donated by Kennedy Space Center. South Lake is one of 13 Brevard County schools receiving 81 excess contractor computers thanks to an innovative educational outreach project spearheaded by the Nasa k-12 Education Services Office at ksc. The Astronaut Memorial Foundation, a strategic partner in the effort, and several schools in rural Florida and Georgia also received refurbished computers as part of the year-long project. KSC employees put in about 3,300 volunteer hours to transform old, excess computers into upgraded, usable units. A total of $90,000 in upgraded computer equipment is being donated

VANDENBERG AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. -- Workers unload the two halves that make up the Pegasus XL rocket's fairing that will protect the NuSTAR spacecraft during launch. Inside Orbital Science's processing facility, the fairing halves will be unwrapped and processed in a clean room environmental enclosure. The Pegasus is set to launch NASA's NuSTAR spacecraft. Once the rocket and spacecraft are processed at Vandenberg, they will be flown on the Orbital Sciences’ L-1011 carrier aircraft to the Ronald Reagan Ballistic Missile Defense Test Site at the Pacific Ocean’s Kwajalein Atoll for launch. The high-energy x-ray telescope will conduct a census for black holes, map radioactive material in young supernovae remnants, and study the origins of cosmic rays and the extreme physics around collapsed stars. For more information, visit science.nasa.gov/missions/nustar/. Photo credit: NASA/Randy Beaudoin, VAFB

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, Fla. - Workers in the Payload Hazardous Servicing Facility unwrap the second Mars Exploration Rover, MER-1. MER-2 and other hardware have already arrived at KSC for processing. MER-1 will undergo prelaunch testing, including deployment of the lander petals, the rover's solar arrays, camera mast and camera. While at KSC, each of the rovers, their aeroshells and landers will undergo a full mission simulation. After spin balance testing, each spacecraft will be mated to a solid propellant upper stage booster that will propel the spacecraft out of Earth orbit. Approximately 10 days before launch they will be transported to the launch pad for mating with their respective Boeing Delta II rockets. The rovers will serve as robotic geologists to seek answers about the evolution of Mars, particularly for a history of water. The rovers are identical to each other, and will land at different regions of Mars. Launch of the MER-1 is scheduled for May 30. MER-2 will follow June 25.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. – Inside the Hazardous Processing Facility at Astrotech in Titusville, Fla., NASA's Kepler spacecraft is being unwrapped to prepare for fueling. Kepler is designed to survey more than 100,000 stars in our galaxy to determine the number of sun-like stars that have Earth-size and larger planets, including those that lie in a star's "habitable zone," a region where liquid water, and perhaps life, could exist. If these Earth-size worlds do exist around stars like our sun, Kepler is expected to be the first to find them and the first to measure how common they are. The liftoff of Kepler aboard a Delta II rocket is currently planned for 10:48 p.m. EST March 5 from Space Launch Complex 17 on Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. Photo credit: NASA/Tim Jacobs

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. - In the RLV hangar at KSC, United Space Alliance workers Beth Smith (left) and Theresa Haygood unwrap equipment removed from the hurricane-ravaged Thermal Protection System Facility (TPSF). The facility, which creates the TPS tiles, blankets and all the internal thermal control systems for the Space Shuttles, is almost totally unserviceable at this time after losing approximately 35 percent of its roof due to Hurricane Frances, which blew across Central Florida Sept. 4-5. The maximum wind at the surface from Hurricane Frances was 94 mph from the northeast at 6:40 a.m. on Sunday, September 5. It was recorded at a weather tower located on the east shore of the Mosquito Lagoon near the Cape Canaveral National Seashore. The highest sustained wind at KSC was 68 mph.

VANDENBERG AFB, Calif. – Engineers unwrap NASA's IRIS spacecraft after its connection to the nose of an Orbital Sciences Pegasus XL rocket that will lift the solar observatory into orbit in June. The work is taking place in a hangar at Vandenberg Air Force Base where IRIS, short for Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph, is being prepared for launch on a Pegasus XL rocket. Scheduled for launch from Vandenberg no earlier than June 26, 2013, IRIS will open a new window of discovery by tracing the flow of energy and plasma through the chromospheres and transition region into the sun’s corona using spectrometry and imaging. IRIS fills a crucial gap in our ability to advance studies of the sun-to-Earth connection by tracing the flow of energy and plasma through the foundation of the corona and the region around the sun known as the heliosphere. Photo credit: NASA/Randy Beaudoin

VANDENBERG AFB, Calif. – Engineers unwrap NASA's IRIS spacecraft after its connection to the nose of an Orbital Sciences Pegasus XL rocket that will lift the solar observatory into orbit in June. The work is taking place in a hangar at Vandenberg Air Force Base where IRIS, short for Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph, is being prepared for launch on a Pegasus XL rocket. Scheduled for launch from Vandenberg June 26, IRIS will open a new window of discovery by tracing the flow of energy and plasma through the chromospheres and transition region into the sun’s corona using spectrometry and imaging. IRIS fills a crucial gap in our ability to advance studies of the sun-to-Earth connection by tracing the flow of energy and plasma through the foundation of the corona and the region around the sun known as the heliosphere. Photo credit: NASA/Randy Beaudoin

VANDENBERG AFB, Calif. – Engineers unwrap NASA's IRIS spacecraft after its connection to the nose of an Orbital Sciences Pegasus XL rocket that will lift the solar observatory into orbit in June. The work is taking place in a hangar at Vandenberg Air Force Base where IRIS, short for Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph, is being prepared for launch on a Pegasus XL rocket. Scheduled for launch from Vandenberg June 26, IRIS will open a new window of discovery by tracing the flow of energy and plasma through the chromospheres and transition region into the sun’s corona using spectrometry and imaging. IRIS fills a crucial gap in our ability to advance studies of the sun-to-Earth connection by tracing the flow of energy and plasma through the foundation of the corona and the region around the sun known as the heliosphere. Photo credit: NASA/Randy Beaudoin

Workers unwrap the latest Space Exploration Technologies Corp. (SpaceX) Dragon capsule inside a building at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida on Oct. 23 so it can be processed and attached to the top of a Falcon 9 rocket on Space Launch Complex-40 for the company's next demonstration test flight for NASA's Commercial Orbital Transportation Services (COTS) program. SpaceX is one of two companies under contract with NASA to take cargo to the International Space Station. NASA is working with SpaceX to combine its last two demonstration flights, and if approved, the Falcon 9 rocket would launch the Dragon capsule to the orbiting laboratory for a docking within the next several months. Photo credit: NASA/ Charisse Nahser

VANDENBERG AFB, Calif. – Engineers unwrap NASA's IRIS spacecraft after its connection to the nose of an Orbital Sciences Pegasus XL rocket that will lift the solar observatory into orbit in June. The work is taking place in a hangar at Vandenberg Air Force Base where IRIS, short for Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph, is being prepared for launch on a Pegasus XL rocket. Scheduled for launch from Vandenberg June 26, IRIS will open a new window of discovery by tracing the flow of energy and plasma through the chromospheres and transition region into the sun’s corona using spectrometry and imaging. IRIS fills a crucial gap in our ability to advance studies of the sun-to-Earth connection by tracing the flow of energy and plasma through the foundation of the corona and the region around the sun known as the heliosphere. Photo credit: NASA/Randy Beaudoin

Workers unwrap the latest Space Exploration Technologies Corp. (SpaceX) Dragon capsule inside a building at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida on Oct. 23 so it can be processed and attached to the top of a Falcon 9 rocket on Space Launch Complex-40 for the company's next demonstration test flight for NASA's Commercial Orbital Transportation Services (COTS) program. SpaceX is one of two companies under contract with NASA to take cargo to the International Space Station. NASA is working with SpaceX to combine its last two demonstration flights, and if approved, the Falcon 9 rocket would launch the Dragon capsule to the orbiting laboratory for a docking within the next several months. Photo credit: NASA/ Charisse Nahser

VANDENBERG AFB, Calif. – Engineers unwrap NASA's IRIS spacecraft after its connection to the nose of an Orbital Sciences Pegasus XL rocket that will lift the solar observatory into orbit in June. The work is taking place in a hangar at Vandenberg Air Force Base where IRIS, short for Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph, is being prepared for launch on a Pegasus XL rocket. Scheduled for launch from Vandenberg no earlier than June 26, 2013, IRIS will open a new window of discovery by tracing the flow of energy and plasma through the chromospheres and transition region into the sun’s corona using spectrometry and imaging. IRIS fills a crucial gap in our ability to advance studies of the sun-to-Earth connection by tracing the flow of energy and plasma through the foundation of the corona and the region around the sun known as the heliosphere. Photo credit: NASA/Randy Beaudoin

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. – In the high bay of the Payload Hazardous Servicing Facility at NASA's Kennedy Space Center, the Super Lightweight Interchangeable Carrier for the Hubble Space Telescope is unwrapped and ready for final processing for launch. The Super Lightweight Interchangeable Carrier, or SLIC, is one of four carriers supporting hardware for space shuttle Atlantis' STS-125 mission to service the telescope. The Orbital Replacement Unit Carrier, or ORUC, and the Flight Support System, or FSS, have also arrived at Kennedy. The Multi-Use Lightweight Equipment carrier will be delivered in late July. The carriers will be prepared for the integration of telescope science instruments, both internal and external replacement components, as well as the flight support equipment to be used by the astronauts during the Hubble servicing mission, targeted for launch Oct. 8. Photo credit: NASA/Jack Pfaller

VANDENBERG AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. -- Workers unload the two halves that make up the Pegasus XL rocket's fairing that will protect the NuSTAR spacecraft during launch. Inside Orbital Science's processing facility, the fairing halves will be unwrapped and processed in a clean room environmental enclosure. The Pegasus is set to launch NASA's NuSTAR spacecraft. Once the rocket and spacecraft are processed at Vandenberg, they will be flown on the Orbital Sciences’ L-1011 carrier aircraft to the Ronald Reagan Ballistic Missile Defense Test Site at the Pacific Ocean’s Kwajalein Atoll for launch. The high-energy x-ray telescope will conduct a census for black holes, map radioactive material in young supernovae remnants, and study the origins of cosmic rays and the extreme physics around collapsed stars. For more information, visit science.nasa.gov/missions/nustar/. Photo credit: NASA/Randy Beaudoin, VAFB

VANDENBERG AFB, Calif. – Engineers unwrap NASA's IRIS spacecraft after its connection to the nose of an Orbital Sciences Pegasus XL rocket that will lift the solar observatory into orbit in June. The work is taking place in a hangar at Vandenberg Air Force Base where IRIS, short for Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph, is being prepared for launch on a Pegasus XL rocket. Scheduled for launch from Vandenberg June 26, IRIS will open a new window of discovery by tracing the flow of energy and plasma through the chromospheres and transition region into the sun’s corona using spectrometry and imaging. IRIS fills a crucial gap in our ability to advance studies of the sun-to-Earth connection by tracing the flow of energy and plasma through the foundation of the corona and the region around the sun known as the heliosphere. Photo credit: NASA/Randy Beaudoin

VANDENBERG AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. -- Workers unload the two halves that make up the Pegasus XL rocket's fairing that will protect the NuSTAR spacecraft during launch. Inside Orbital Science's processing facility, the fairing halves will be unwrapped and processed in a clean room environmental enclosure. The Pegasus is set to launch NASA's NuSTAR spacecraft. Once the rocket and spacecraft are processed at Vandenberg, they will be flown on the Orbital Sciences’ L-1011 carrier aircraft to the Ronald Reagan Ballistic Missile Defense Test Site at the Pacific Ocean’s Kwajalein Atoll for launch. The high-energy x-ray telescope will conduct a census for black holes, map radioactive material in young supernovae remnants, and study the origins of cosmic rays and the extreme physics around collapsed stars. For more information, visit science.nasa.gov/missions/nustar/. Photo credit: NASA/Randy Beaudoin, VAFB

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. - The Swift spacecraft is being unwrapped in Hangar AE at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. Swift is a first-of-its-kind, multi-wavelength observatory dedicated to the study of gamma-ray burst (GRB) science. Its three instruments will work together to observe GRBs and afterglows in the gamma-ray, X-ray and optical wavebands. Swift is part of NASA’s medium explorer (MIDEX) program being developed by an international collaboration. During its nominal 2-year mission, Swift is expected to observe more than 200 bursts, which will represent the most comprehensive study of GRB afterglow to date. It is scheduled for launch into a low-Earth orbit on a Delta 7320 rocket on Oct. 7.

VANDENBERG AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. -- Workers unload the two halves that make up the Pegasus XL rocket's fairing that will protect the NuSTAR spacecraft during launch. Inside Orbital Science's processing facility, the fairing halves will be unwrapped and processed in a clean room environmental enclosure. The Pegasus is set to launch NASA's NuSTAR spacecraft. Once the rocket and spacecraft are processed at Vandenberg, they will be flown on the Orbital Sciences’ L-1011 carrier aircraft to the Ronald Reagan Ballistic Missile Defense Test Site at the Pacific Ocean’s Kwajalein Atoll for launch. The high-energy x-ray telescope will conduct a census for black holes, map radioactive material in young supernovae remnants, and study the origins of cosmic rays and the extreme physics around collapsed stars. For more information, visit science.nasa.gov/missions/nustar/. Photo credit: NASA/Randy Beaudoin, VAFB

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. – In the high bay of the Payload Hazardous Servicing Facility at NASA's Kennedy Space Center, the Orbital Replacement Unit Carrier, for the Hubble Space Telescope is unwrapped and awaits final processing for launch. The Orbital Replacement Unit Carrier, or ORUC, is one of four carriers supporting hardware for space shuttle Atlantis' STS-125 mission to service the telescope. The Super Lightweight Interchangeable Carrier, or SLIC, and the Flight Support System, or FSS, have also arrived at Kennedy. The Multi-Use Lightweight Equipment carrier will be delivered in late July. The carriers will be prepared for the integration of telescope science instruments, both internal and external replacement components, as well as the flight support equipment to be used by the astronauts during the Hubble servicing mission, targeted for launch Oct. 8. Photo credit: NASA/Jack Pfaller

VANDENBERG AFB, Calif. – Engineers unwrap NASA's IRIS spacecraft after its connection to the nose of an Orbital Sciences Pegasus XL rocket that will lift the solar observatory into orbit in June. The work is taking place in a hangar at Vandenberg Air Force Base where IRIS, short for Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph, is being prepared for launch on a Pegasus XL rocket. Scheduled for launch from Vandenberg June 26, IRIS will open a new window of discovery by tracing the flow of energy and plasma through the chromospheres and transition region into the sun’s corona using spectrometry and imaging. IRIS fills a crucial gap in our ability to advance studies of the sun-to-Earth connection by tracing the flow of energy and plasma through the foundation of the corona and the region around the sun known as the heliosphere. Photo credit: NASA/Randy Beaudoin

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. – In the high bay of the Payload Hazardous Servicing Facility at NASA's Kennedy Space Center, three of four carriers supporting the space shuttle Atlantis STS-125 Hubble Space Telescope servicing mission have been unwrapped for final launch processing. The Super Lightweight Interchangeable Carrier and the Orbital Replacement Unit Carrier can be seen through the distinctive soft capture mechanism, or SCM, of the Flight Support System. The SCM will be permanently attached to Hubble’s aft shroud by spacewalking astronauts and will provide a rendezvous and docking target that can be easily seen and recognized by a docking vehicle. The Multi-Use Lightweight Equipment carrier will be delivered in early August. The carriers will be prepared for the integration of telescope science instruments, both internal and external replacement components, as well as the flight support equipment to be used by the astronauts during the Hubble servicing mission, targeted for launch Oct. 8. Photo credit: NASA/Jack Pfaller

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. -- Workers in a Quality trailer in the Launch Pad 39B Area unwrap a new Enhanced Main Events Controller (E-MEC) to be installed in Shuttle Endeavour. The original E-MEC in Endeavour became suspect during the Jan. 31 launch countdown and mission STS-99 was delayed when NASA managers decided to replace it. Each Shuttle carries two enhanced master events controllers (E-MECs), which provide relays for onboard flight computers to send signals to arm and fire pyrotechnics that separate the solid rockets and external tank during assent. The E-MECs are located in the orbiter's aft compartment and both are needed for the Shuttle to be cleared for flight. Currently Endeavour and Columbia are the only two orbiters with the E-MECs. Built by Rockwell's Satellite Space Electronics Division, Anaheim, Calif., each unit weighs 65 pounds and is approximately 20 inches long, 13 inches wide and 8 inches tall. Previously, three Shuttle flights have been scrubbed or delayed due to faulty MECs: STS-73, STS-49 and STS-41-D. Before workers can begin E-MEC replacement efforts at the launch pad, cryogenic reactants must be offloaded from the orbiter and Space Shuttle ordnance disconnected. The next scheduled date for launch of STS-99 is Feb. 11 at 12:30 p.m. EST

Cape Canaveral, Fla. -- At the Payload Hazardous Servicing Facility at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, technicians have unwrapped the protective cover from NASA's Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) rocket-powered descent stage thrusters for documenting and inspection. The descent stage will fly the MSL rover, Curiosity, during the final moments before landing on Mars. A United Launch Alliance Atlas V-541 configuration will be used to loft MSL into space. Curiosity’s 10 science instruments are designed to search for evidence on whether Mars has had environments favorable to microbial life, including chemical ingredients for life. The unique rover will use a laser to look inside rocks and release its gasses so that the rover’s spectrometer can analyze and send the data back to Earth. MSL is scheduled to launch from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida Nov. 25 with a window extending to Dec. 18 and arrival at Mars Aug. 2012. For more information, visit http://www.nasa.gov/msl. Photo credit: NASA/Charisse Nahser

Cape Canaveral, Fla. -- At the Payload Hazardous Servicing Facility at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, technicians have unwrapped the protective cover from NASA's Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) rocket-powered descent stage thrusters for documenting and inspection. The descent stage will fly the MSL rover, Curiosity, during the final moments before landing on Mars. A United Launch Alliance Atlas V-541 configuration will be used to loft MSL into space. Curiosity’s 10 science instruments are designed to search for evidence on whether Mars has had environments favorable to microbial life, including chemical ingredients for life. The unique rover will use a laser to look inside rocks and release its gasses so that the rover’s spectrometer can analyze and send the data back to Earth. MSL is scheduled to launch from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida Nov. 25 with a window extending to Dec. 18 and arrival at Mars Aug. 2012. For more information, visit http://www.nasa.gov/msl. Photo credit: NASA/Charisse Nahser

Cape Canaveral, Fla. -- At the Payload Hazardous Servicing Facility at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, technicians begin to unwrap the protective cover from NASA's Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) rocket-powered descent stage thrusters for documenting and inspection. The descent stage will fly the MSL rover, Curiosity, during the final moments before landing on Mars. A United Launch Alliance Atlas V-541 configuration will be used to loft MSL into space. Curiosity’s 10 science instruments are designed to search for evidence on whether Mars has had environments favorable to microbial life, including chemical ingredients for life. The unique rover will use a laser to look inside rocks and release its gasses so that the rover’s spectrometer can analyze and send the data back to Earth. MSL is scheduled to launch from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida Nov. 25 with a window extending to Dec. 18 and arrival at Mars Aug. 2012. For more information, visit http://www.nasa.gov/msl. Photo credit: NASA/Charisse Nahser

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. -- Workers in a Quality trailer in the Launch Pad 39B Area unwrap a new Enhanced Main Events Controller (E-MEC) to be installed in Shuttle Endeavour. The original E-MEC in Endeavour became suspect during the Jan. 31 launch countdown and mission STS-99 was delayed when NASA managers decided to replace it. Each Shuttle carries two enhanced master events controllers (E-MECs), which provide relays for onboard flight computers to send signals to arm and fire pyrotechnics that separate the solid rockets and external tank during assent. The E-MECs are located in the orbiter's aft compartment and both are needed for the Shuttle to be cleared for flight. Currently Endeavour and Columbia are the only two orbiters with the E-MECs. Built by Rockwell's Satellite Space Electronics Division, Anaheim, Calif., each unit weighs 65 pounds and is approximately 20 inches long, 13 inches wide and 8 inches tall. Previously, three Shuttle flights have been scrubbed or delayed due to faulty MECs: STS-73, STS-49 and STS-41-D. Before workers can begin E-MEC replacement efforts at the launch pad, cryogenic reactants must be offloaded from the orbiter and Space Shuttle ordnance disconnected. The next scheduled date for launch of STS-99 is Feb. 11 at 12:30 p.m. EST

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, Fla. - The second Mars Exploration Rover, MER-1, sits revealed on a platform in the Payload Hazardous Servicing Facility after being unwrapped . MER-2 and other hardware have already arrived at KSC for processing. MER-1 will undergo prelaunch testing, including deployment of the lander petals, the rover's solar arrays, camera mast and camera. While at KSC, each of the rovers, their aeroshells and landers will undergo a full mission simulation. After spin balance testing, each spacecraft will be mated to a solid propellant upper stage booster that will propel the spacecraft out of Earth orbit. Approximately 10 days before launch they will be transported to the launch pad for mating with their respective Boeing Delta II rockets. The rovers will serve as robotic geologists to seek answers about the evolution of Mars, particularly for a history of water. The rovers are identical to each other, and will land at different regions of Mars. Launch of the MER-1 is scheduled for May 30. MER-2 will follow June 25.

Cape Canaveral, Fla. -- At the Payload Hazardous Servicing Facility at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, technicians begin to unwrap the protective cover from NASA's Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) rocket-powered descent stage thrusters for documenting and inspection. The descent stage will fly the MSL rover, Curiosity, during the final moments before landing on Mars. A United Launch Alliance Atlas V-541 configuration will be used to loft MSL into space. Curiosity’s 10 science instruments are designed to search for evidence on whether Mars has had environments favorable to microbial life, including chemical ingredients for life. The unique rover will use a laser to look inside rocks and release its gasses so that the rover’s spectrometer can analyze and send the data back to Earth. MSL is scheduled to launch from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida Nov. 25 with a window extending to Dec. 18 and arrival at Mars Aug. 2012. For more information, visit http://www.nasa.gov/msl. Photo credit: NASA/Charisse Nahser

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. – In the Space Station Processing Facility at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, workers unwrap the newly arrived replacement high-pressure ammonia jumper hoses to support space shuttle Endeavour's STS-130 mission. A problem arose during a prelaunch test Jan. 7 with one of four hoses that are needed to connect the ammonia loops of the International Space Station's Tranquility node to those of the Destiny laboratory. A decision was made to use an alternate hose design for use as the primary jumper. The new hoses are assembled from shorter hoses that were previously certified and tested. Connection of the modules requires two ammonia loops, with two lines apiece, each of which must be connected to both Tranquility and Destiny to route cooling to and from the Tranquility module. The primary payload for the STS-130 mission, Tranquility is a pressurized module that will provide additional room for crew members and many of the station's life support and environmental control systems. The node was built in Turin, Italy, by Thales Alenia Space for the European Space Agency. Endeavour's launch is set for Feb. 7. For information on the STS-130 mission and crew, visit http:__www.nasa.gov_mission_pages_shuttle_shuttlemissions_sts130_index.html. Photo credit: NASA_Jack Pfaller

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, Fla. -- Fully unwrapped, the Advanced Camera for Surveys, which is suspended by an overhead crane, is checked over by workers. Part of the payload on the Hubble Space Telescope Servicing Mission, STS-109, the ACS will increase the discovery efficiency of the HST by a factor of ten. It consists of three electronic cameras and a complement of filters and dispersers that detect light from the ultraviolet to the near infrared (1200 - 10,000 angstroms). The ACS was built through a collaborative effort between Johns Hopkins University, Goddard Space Flight Center, Ball Aerospace Corporation and Space Telescope Science Institute. Tasks for the mission include replacing Solar Array 2 with Solar Array 3, replacing the Power Control Unit, removing the Faint Object Camera and installing the ACS, installing the Near Infrared Camera and Multi-Object Spectrometer (NICMOS) Cooling System, and installing New Outer Blanket Layer insulation on bays 5 through 8. Mission STS-109 is scheduled for launch Feb. 14, 2002

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. – In the Space Station Processing Facility at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, workers unwrap the newly arrived replacement high-pressure ammonia jumper hoses to support space shuttle Endeavour's STS-130 mission. A problem arose during a prelaunch test Jan. 7 with one of four hoses that are needed to connect the ammonia loops of the International Space Station's Tranquility node to those of the Destiny laboratory. A decision was made to use an alternate hose design for use as the primary jumper. The new hoses are assembled from shorter hoses that were previously certified and tested. Connection of the modules requires two ammonia loops, with two lines apiece, each of which must be connected to both Tranquility and Destiny to route cooling to and from the Tranquility module. The primary payload for the STS-130 mission, Tranquility is a pressurized module that will provide additional room for crew members and many of the station's life support and environmental control systems. The node was built in Turin, Italy, by Thales Alenia Space for the European Space Agency. Endeavour's launch is set for Feb. 7. For information on the STS-130 mission and crew, visit http:__www.nasa.gov_mission_pages_shuttle_shuttlemissions_sts130_index.html. Photo credit: NASA_Jack Pfaller

Cape Canaveral, Fla. -- At the Payload Hazardous Servicing Facility at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, technicians prepare to unwrap the rocket-powered descent stage for NASA's Mars Science Laboratory (MSL). The descent stage will fly the MSL rover, Curiosity, during the final moments before landing on Mars. A United Launch Alliance Atlas V-541 configuration will be used to loft MSL into space. Curiosity’s 10 science instruments are designed to search for evidence on whether Mars has had environments favorable to microbial life, including chemical ingredients for life. The unique rover will use a laser to look inside rocks and release its gasses so that the rover’s spectrometer can analyze and send the data back to Earth. MSL is scheduled to launch from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida Nov. 25 with a window extending to Dec. 18 and arrival at Mars Aug. 2012. For more information, visit http://www.nasa.gov/msl. Photo credit: NASA/Charisse Nahser

Cape Canaveral, Fla. -- At the Payload Hazardous Servicing Facility at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, technicians prepare to unwrap the rocket-powered descent stage for NASA's Mars Science Laboratory (MSL). The descent stage will fly the MSL rover, Curiosity, during the final moments before landing on Mars. A United Launch Alliance Atlas V-541 configuration will be used to loft MSL into space. Curiosity’s 10 science instruments are designed to search for evidence on whether Mars has had environments favorable to microbial life, including chemical ingredients for life. The unique rover will use a laser to look inside rocks and release its gasses so that the rover’s spectrometer can analyze and send the data back to Earth. MSL is scheduled to launch from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida Nov. 25 with a window extending to Dec. 18 and arrival at Mars Aug. 2012. For more information, visit http://www.nasa.gov/msl. Photo credit: NASA/Charisse Nahser

VANDENBERG AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. -- Workers unwrap the environmentally controlled shipping container enclosing NASA's Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array (NuSTAR) in the airlock of processing facility 1555 at Vandenberg Air Force Base (VAFB) in California. The spacecraft arrived at 7:52 a.m. PST after a cross-country trip from Orbital Sciences' manufacturing plant in Dulles, Va., which began Jan. 24. The spacecraft will be offloaded into the processing hangar, joining the Pegasus XL rocket that is set to carry it to space. After NuSTAR is removed from its shipping container, checkout and other processing activity will begin. The spacecraft will be integrated with the Pegasus in mid-February and encapsulation in the vehicle fairing will follow. After processing is completed, the rocket and spacecraft will be flown on Orbital's L-1011 carrier aircraft to the Ronald Reagan Ballistic Missile Defense Test Site at the Pacific Ocean's Kwajalein Atoll for launch in March. The high-energy x-ray telescope will conduct a census for black holes, map radioactive material in young supernovae remnants, and study the origins of cosmic rays and the extreme physics around collapsed stars. For more information, visit http://www.nasa.gov/nustar. Photo credit: NASA/Randy Beaudoin, VAFB

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. -- The unwrapped Phoenix spacecraft is on display in the Payload Hazardous Servicing Facility. The Phoenix mission is the first project in NASA's first openly competed program of Mars Scout missions. Phoenix will land in icy soils near the north polar permanent ice cap of Mars and explore the history of the water in these soils and any associated rocks, while monitoring polar climate. Landing is planned in May 2008 on arctic ground where a mission currently in orbit, Mars Odyssey, has detected high concentrations of ice just beneath the top layer of soil. It will serve as NASA's first exploration of a potential modern habitat on Mars and open the door to a renewed search for carbon-bearing compounds, last attempted with NASA’s Viking missions in the 1970s. A stereo color camera and a weather station will study the surrounding environment while the other instruments check excavated soil samples for water, organic chemicals and conditions that could indicate whether the site was ever hospitable to life. Microscopes can reveal features as small as one one-thousandth the width of a human hair. Launch of Phoenix aboard a Delta II rocket is targeted for Aug. 3 from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. Photo credit: NASA/George Shelton

A team member from South African research station, SANAE IV, helps unwrap the balloon from its protective yellow plastic cover just prior to inflation. Credit: NASA/Goddard/BARREL/Nicky Knox Read more: <a href="http://www.nasa.gov/content/goddard/nasas-barrel-returns-successful-from-antarctica" rel="nofollow">www.nasa.gov/content/goddard/nasas-barrel-returns-success...</a> -- Three months, 20 balloons, and one very successful campaign. The team for NASA's BARREL – short for Balloon Array for Radiation belt Relativistic Electron Losses -- mission returned from Antarctica in March 2014. BARREL's job is to help unravel the mysterious Van Allen belts, two gigantic donuts of radiation that surround Earth, which can shrink and swell in response to incoming energy and particles from the sun and sometimes expose satellites to harsh radiation. While in Antarctica, the team launched 20 balloons carrying instruments that sense charged particles that are scattered into the atmosphere from the belts, spiraling down the magnetic fields near the South Pole. Each balloon traveled around the pole for up to three weeks. The team will coordinate the BARREL data with observations from NASA's two Van Allen Probes to better understand how occurrences in the belts relate to bursts of particles funneling down toward Earth. BARREL team members will be on hand at the USA Science and Engineering Festival in DC on April 26 and 27, 2014 for the exhibit Space Balloons: Exploring the Extremes of Space Weather. <b><a href="http://www.nasa.gov/audience/formedia/features/MP_Photo_Guidelines.html" rel="nofollow">NASA image use policy.</a></b> <b><a href="http://www.nasa.gov/centers/goddard/home/index.html" rel="nofollow">NASA Goddard Space Flight Center</a></b> enables NASA’s mission through four scientific endeavors: Earth Science, Heliophysics, Solar System Exploration, and Astrophysics. Goddard plays a leading role in NASA’s accomplishments by contributing compelling scientific knowledge to advance the Agency’s mission. <b>Follow us on <a href="http://twitter.com/NASAGoddardPix" rel="nofollow">Twitter</a></b> <b>Like us on <a href="http://www.facebook.com/pages/Greenbelt-MD/NASA-Goddard/395013845897?ref=tsd" rel="nofollow">Facebook</a></b> <b>Find us on <a href="http://instagram.com/nasagoddard?vm=grid" rel="nofollow">Instagram</a></b>

An engineer works on the High-resolution Volatiles and Minerals Moon Mapper (HVM³) for NASA's Lunar Trailblazer spacecraft in a clean room at Lockheed Martin Space in Littleton, Colorado, shortly after the instrument delivered in December 2022. HVM³ is an imaging spectrometer that was developed at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California. It was shipped from JPL to Lockheed Martin Space, where it was integrated with the spacecraft. HVM³ is one of two instruments that will be used by the mission to detect and map water on the Moon's surface to determine its abundance, location, form, and how it changes over time. Lunar Trailblazer was selected under NASA's Small Innovative Missions for Planetary Exploration (SIMPLEx) program in 2019. The Lunar Trailblazer mission is managed by JPL and its science investigation is led by Caltech in Pasadena, California. Managed for NASA by Caltech, JPL also provides system engineering, mission assurance, the HVM³ instrument, as well as navigation. Lockheed Martin Space provides the spacecraft and integrates the flight system, under contract with Caltech. SIMPLEx mission investigations are managed by the Planetary Missions Program Office at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, as part of the Discovery Program at NASA Headquarters in Washington. The program conducts space science investigations in the Planetary Science Division of NASA's Science Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters. https://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA25255

At Northrop Grumman’s Gilbert, Arizona, facility, teams begin removing Gateway’s HALO (Habitation and Logistics Outpost) from its transport container. HALO arrived from Turin, Italy, where Thales Alenia Space fabricated its primary structure. The module will undergo final outfitting in Gilbert before being integrated with the Power and Propulsion Element and launched to lunar orbit.