A clean room tent within the high bay of the Space Station Processing Facility (SSPF) at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, is in view on May 16, 2019. The extra clean environment is available for use by payload customers. The center is celebrating the SSPF’s 25th anniversary. The SSPF was built to process elements for the International Space Station. Now it is providing support for current and future NASA and commercial provider programs, including Commercial Resupply Services, Artemis 1, sending the first woman and next man to the Moon, and deep space destinations including Mars.

VANDENBERG AFB, Calif. – Technicians process NASA's IRIS spacecraft for launch aboard an Orbital Pegasus XL rocket. Working inside a clean room tent at Vandenberg, the technicians will conduct numerous tests and assembly operations on the spacecraft and rocket ahead of the launch. IRIS is short for Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph and the spacecraft's mission will improve our understanding of how heat and energy move through the deepest levels of the sun’s atmosphere, thereby increasing our ability to forecast space weather. Photo credit: VAFB_Randy Beaudoin

Technician dressed in clean room suits move NASA's Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) on a test stand into a clean room tent inside the Payload Hazardous Servicing Facility (PHSF) at the agency's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Inside the PHSF, the satellite will be processed and prepared for its flight. TESS is scheduled to launch atop a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. TESS is the next step in NASA's search for planets outside our solar system, known as exoplanets. TESS is a NASA Astrophysics Explorer mission led and operated by MIT in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and managed by NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. Dr. George Ricker of MIT’s Kavli Institute for Astrophysics and Space Research serves as principal investigator for the mission. Additional partners include Orbital ATK, NASA’s Ames Research Center, the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics and the Space Telescope Science Institute. More than a dozen universities, research institutes and observatories worldwide are participants in the mission. NASA’s Launch Services Program is responsible for launch management.

Technician dressed in clean room suits move NASA's Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) on a test stand to a clean room tent inside the Payload Hazardous Servicing Facility (PHSF) at the agency's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Inside the PHSF, the satellite will be processed and prepared for its flight. TESS is scheduled to launch atop a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. TESS is the next step in NASA's search for planets outside our solar system, known as exoplanets. TESS is a NASA Astrophysics Explorer mission led and operated by MIT in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and managed by NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. Dr. George Ricker of MIT’s Kavli Institute for Astrophysics and Space Research serves as principal investigator for the mission. Additional partners include Orbital ATK, NASA’s Ames Research Center, the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics and the Space Telescope Science Institute. More than a dozen universities, research institutes and observatories worldwide are participants in the mission. NASA’s Launch Services Program is responsible for launch management.

VANDENBERG AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. – Inside a protected clean room tent on Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, workers install the fairing around NASA’s Interstellar Boundary Explorer, or IBEX, spacecraft. The fairing is a molded structure that fits flush with the outside surface of the rocket and forms an aerodynamically smooth nose cone, protecting the spacecraft during launch and ascent. The IBEX satellite will make the first map of the boundary between the Solar System and interstellar space. IBEX is targeted for launch from the Kwajalein Atoll, a part of the Marshall Islands in the Pacific Ocean, on Oct. 19. IBEX will be launched aboard a Pegasus rocket dropped from under the wing of an L-1011 aircraft flying over the Pacific Ocean. The Pegasus will carry the spacecraft approximately 130 miles above Earth and place it in orbit. Photo credit: NASA/Randy Beaudoin, VAFB

Inside the clean-room "tent" of Building 1555 at North Vandenberg Air Force Base, technicians in bunny suits prepare for the solar array deployment on the AIM spacecraft. The AIM spacecraft will fly three instruments designed to study polar mesospheric clouds located at the edge of space, 50 miles above the Earth's surface in the coldest part of the planet's atmosphere. The mission's primary goal is to explain why these clouds form and what has caused them to become brighter and more numerous and appear at lower latitudes in recent years. AIM's results will provide the basis for the study of long-term variability in the mesospheric climate and its relationship to global climate change. AIM is scheduled to be mated to the Pegasus XL during the second week of April, after which final inspections will be conducted. Launch is scheduled for April 25.

VANDENBERG AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. – Inside a protected clean room tent on Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, the second half of the fairing is ready for installation around NASA’s Interstellar Boundary Explorer, or IBEX, spacecraft. The fairing is a molded structure that fits flush with the outside surface of the rocket and forms an aerodynamically smooth nose cone, protecting the spacecraft during launch and ascent. The IBEX satellite will make the first map of the boundary between the Solar System and interstellar space. IBEX is targeted for launch from the Kwajalein Atoll, a part of the Marshall Islands in the Pacific Ocean, on Oct. 19. IBEX will be launched aboard a Pegasus rocket dropped from under the wing of an L-1011 aircraft flying over the Pacific Ocean. The Pegasus will carry the spacecraft approximately 130 miles above Earth and place it in orbit. Photo credit: NASA/Randy Beaudoin, VAFB

VANDENBERG AIR FORCE BASE , Calif. – On Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, one half of a fairing is being moved to a protected clean room tent where it will be installed around NASA’s Interstellar Boundary Explorer, or IBEX, spacecraft. The fairing is a molded structure that fits flush with the outside surface of the rocket and forms an aerodynamically smooth nose cone, protecting the spacecraft during launch and ascent. The IBEX satellite will make the first map of the boundary between the Solar System and interstellar space. IBEX is targeted for launch from the Kwajalein Atoll, a part of the Marshall Islands in the Pacific Ocean, on Oct. 19. IBEX will be launched aboard a Pegasus rocket dropped from under the wing of an L-1011 aircraft flying over the Pacific Ocean. The Pegasus will carry the spacecraft approximately 130 miles above Earth and place it in orbit. Photo credit: NASA/Randy Beaudoin, VAFB

VANDENBERG AIR FORCE BASE, CALIF. -- Inside the clean-room "tent" of Building 1555 at North Vandenberg Air Force Base, technicians in bunny suits prepare for the solar array deployment on the AIM spacecraft. The AIM spacecraft will fly three instruments designed to study polar mesospheric clouds located at the edge of space, 50 miles above the Earth's surface in the coldest part of the planet's atmosphere. The mission's primary goal is to explain why these clouds form and what has caused them to become brighter and more numerous and appear at lower latitudes in recent years. AIM's results will provide the basis for the study of long-term variability in the mesospheric climate and its relationship to global climate change. AIM is scheduled to be mated to the Pegasus XL during the second week of April, after which final inspections will be conducted. Launch is scheduled for April 25.

VANDENBERG AIR FORCE BASE, CALIF. -- Inside the clean-room 'tent' of Building 1555 at North Vandenberg Air Force Base, technicians in bunny suits prepare for the solar array deployment on the AIM spacecraft. The AIM spacecraft will fly three instruments designed to study polar mesospheric clouds located at the edge of space, 50 miles above the Earth's surface in the coldest part of the planet's atmosphere. The mission's primary goal is to explain why these clouds form and what has caused them to become brighter and more numerous and appear at lower latitudes in recent years. AIM's results will provide the basis for the study of long-term variability in the mesospheric climate and its relationship to global climate change. AIM is scheduled to be mated to the Pegasus XL during the second week of April, after which final inspections will be conducted. Launch is scheduled for April 25.

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. -- Inside the clean-room "tent" of Building 1555 at North Vandenberg Air Force Base, a technician places a star tracker cover on the AIM spacecraft during testing of the solar array panel deployment. The AIM spacecraft will fly three instruments designed to study polar mesospheric clouds located at the edge of space, 50 miles above the Earth's surface in the coldest part of the planet's atmosphere. The mission's primary goal is to explain why these clouds form and what has caused them to become brighter and more numerous and appear at lower latitudes in recent years. AIM's results will provide the basis for the study of long-term variability in the mesospheric climate and its relationship to global climate change. AIM is scheduled to be mated to its launch vehicle, Orbital Sciences' Pegasus XL, during the second week of April, after which final inspections will be conducted. Launch is scheduled for April 25.

VANDENBERG AIR FORCE BASE, CALIF. -- Inside the clean-room "tent" of Building 1555 at North Vandenberg Air Force Base, two of the solar array panels on the AIM spacecraft are deployed for testing. Inside are the instruments that will study polar mesospheric clouds located at the edge of space. The AIM spacecraft will fly three instruments designed to study those clouds located at the edge of space, 50 miles above the Earth's surface in the coldest part of the planet's atmosphere. The mission's primary goal is to explain why these clouds form and what has caused them to become brighter and more numerous and appear at lower latitudes in recent years. AIM's results will provide the basis for the study of long-term variability in the mesospheric climate and its relationship to global climate change. AIM is scheduled to be mated to the Pegasus XL during the second week of April, after which final inspections will be conducted. Launch is scheduled for April 25.

VANDENBERG AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. – Inside a protected clean room tent on Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, both halves of the fairing have been installed around NASA’s Interstellar Boundary Explorer, or IBEX, spacecraft. The fairing is a molded structure that fits flush with the outside surface of the rocket and forms an aerodynamically smooth nose cone, protecting the spacecraft during launch and ascent. The IBEX satellite will make the first map of the boundary between the Solar System and interstellar space. IBEX is targeted for launch from the Kwajalein Atoll, a part of the Marshall Islands in the Pacific Ocean, on Oct. 19. IBEX will be launched aboard a Pegasus rocket dropped from under the wing of an L-1011 aircraft flying over the Pacific Ocean. The Pegasus will carry the spacecraft approximately 130 miles above Earth and place it in orbit. Photo credit: NASA/Randy Beaudoin, VAFB

Inside the clean-room "tent" of Building 1555 at North Vandenberg Air Force Base, a technician places a star tracker cover on the AIM spacecraft during testing of the solar array panel deployment. The AIM spacecraft will fly three instruments designed to study polar mesospheric clouds located at the edge of space, 50 miles above the Earth's surface in the coldest part of the planet's atmosphere. The mission's primary goal is to explain why these clouds form and what has caused them to become brighter and more numerous and appear at lower latitudes in recent years. AIM's results will provide the basis for the study of long-term variability in the mesospheric climate and its relationship to global climate change. AIM is scheduled to be mated to its launch vehicle, Orbital Sciences' Pegasus XL, during the second week of April, after which final inspections will be conducted. Launch is scheduled for April 25.

Inside the clean-room "tent" of Building 1555 at North Vandenberg Air Force Base, two of the solar array panels on the AIM spacecraft are deployed for testing. Inside are the instruments that will study polar mesospheric clouds located at the edge of space. The AIM spacecraft will fly three instruments designed to study those clouds located at the edge of space, 50 miles above the Earth's surface in the coldest part of the planet's atmosphere. The mission's primary goal is to explain why these clouds form and what has caused them to become brighter and more numerous and appear at lower latitudes in recent years. AIM's results will provide the basis for the study of long-term variability in the mesospheric climate and its relationship to global climate change. AIM is scheduled to be mated to the Pegasus XL during the second week of April, after which final inspections will be conducted. Launch is scheduled for April 25.

Inside the clean-room "tent" of Building 1555 at North Vandenberg Air Force Base, technicians in bunny suits prepare for the solar array deployment on the AIM spacecraft. The AIM spacecraft will fly three instruments designed to study polar mesospheric clouds located at the edge of space, 50 miles above the Earth's surface in the coldest part of the planet's atmosphere. The mission's primary goal is to explain why these clouds form and what has caused them to become brighter and more numerous and appear at lower latitudes in recent years. AIM's results will provide the basis for the study of long-term variability in the mesospheric climate and its relationship to global climate change. AIM is scheduled to be mated to the Pegasus XL during the second week of April, after which final inspections will be conducted. Launch is scheduled for April 25.

Inside the clean-room "tent" of Building 1555 at North Vandenberg Air Force Base, technicians place a star tracker cover on the AIM spacecraft during testing of the solar array panel deployment. The AIM spacecraft will fly three instruments designed to study polar mesospheric clouds located at the edge of space, 50 miles above the Earth's surface in the coldest part of the planet's atmosphere. The mission's primary goal is to explain why these clouds form and what has caused them to become brighter and more numerous and appear at lower latitudes in recent years. AIM's results will provide the basis for the study of long-term variability in the mesospheric climate and its relationship to global climate change. AIM is scheduled to be mated to its launch vehicle, Orbital Sciences' Pegasus XL, during the second week of April, after which final inspections will be conducted. Launch is scheduled for April 25.

VANDENBERG AIR FORCE BASE, CALIF. -- Inside the clean-room "tent" of Building 1555 at North Vandenberg Air Force Base, technicians in bunny suits prepare for the solar array deployment on the AIM spacecraft. The AIM spacecraft will fly three instruments designed to study polar mesospheric clouds located at the edge of space, 50 miles above the Earth's surface in the coldest part of the planet's atmosphere. The mission's primary goal is to explain why these clouds form and what has caused them to become brighter and more numerous and appear at lower latitudes in recent years. AIM's results will provide the basis for the study of long-term variability in the mesospheric climate and its relationship to global climate change. AIM is scheduled to be mated to the Pegasus XL during the second week of April, after which final inspections will be conducted. Launch is scheduled for April 25.

Inside the clean-room "tent" of Building 1555 at North Vandenberg Air Force Base, technicians in bunny suits prepare for the solar array deployment on the AIM spacecraft. The AIM spacecraft will fly three instruments designed to study polar mesospheric clouds located at the edge of space, 50 miles above the Earth's surface in the coldest part of the planet's atmosphere. The mission's primary goal is to explain why these clouds form and what has caused them to become brighter and more numerous and appear at lower latitudes in recent years. AIM's results will provide the basis for the study of long-term variability in the mesospheric climate and its relationship to global climate change. AIM is scheduled to be mated to the Pegasus XL during the second week of April, after which final inspections will be conducted. Launch is scheduled for April 25.

VANDENBERG AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. – Inside a protected clean room tent on Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, workers install the fairing around NASA’s Interstellar Boundary Explorer, or IBEX, spacecraft. The fairing is a molded structure that fits flush with the outside surface of the rocket and forms an aerodynamically smooth nose cone, protecting the spacecraft during launch and ascent. The IBEX satellite will make the first map of the boundary between the Solar System and interstellar space. IBEX is targeted for launch from the Kwajalein Atoll, a part of the Marshall Islands in the Pacific Ocean, on Oct. 19. IBEX will be launched aboard a Pegasus rocket dropped from under the wing of an L-1011 aircraft flying over the Pacific Ocean. The Pegasus will carry the spacecraft approximately 130 miles above Earth and place it in orbit. Photo credit: NASA/Randy Beaudoin, VAFB

VANDENBERG AIR FORCE BASE, CALIF. -- Inside the clean-room "tent" of Building 1555 at North Vandenberg Air Force Base, two of the solar array panels on the AIM spacecraft are deployed for testing. Inside are the instruments that will study polar mesospheric clouds located at the edge of space. The AIM spacecraft will fly three instruments designed to study those clouds located at the edge of space, 50 miles above the Earth's surface in the coldest part of the planet's atmosphere. The mission's primary goal is to explain why these clouds form and what has caused them to become brighter and more numerous and appear at lower latitudes in recent years. AIM's results will provide the basis for the study of long-term variability in the mesospheric climate and its relationship to global climate change. AIM is scheduled to be mated to the Pegasus XL during the second week of April, after which final inspections will be conducted. Launch is scheduled for April 25.

VANDENBERG AIR FORCE BASE, CALIF. -- Inside the clean-room "tent" of Building 1555 at North Vandenberg Air Force Base, technicians in bunny suits prepare for the solar array deployment on the AIM spacecraft. The AIM spacecraft will fly three instruments designed to study polar mesospheric clouds located at the edge of space, 50 miles above the Earth's surface in the coldest part of the planet's atmosphere. The mission's primary goal is to explain why these clouds form and what has caused them to become brighter and more numerous and appear at lower latitudes in recent years. AIM's results will provide the basis for the study of long-term variability in the mesospheric climate and its relationship to global climate change. AIM is scheduled to be mated to the Pegasus XL during the second week of April, after which final inspections will be conducted. Launch is scheduled for April 25.

Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif. – On Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, one half of a fairing is moved into a protected clean room tent where it will be installed around NASA’s Interstellar Boundary Explorer, or IBEX, spacecraft. The fairing is a molded structure that fits flush with the outside surface of the rocket and forms an aerodynamically smooth nose cone, protecting the spacecraft during launch and ascent. The IBEX satellite will make the first map of the boundary between the Solar System and interstellar space. IBEX is targeted for launch from the Kwajalein Atoll, a part of the Marshall Islands in the Pacific Ocean, on Oct. 19. IBEX will be launched aboard a Pegasus rocket dropped from under the wing of an L-1011 aircraft flying over the Pacific Ocean. The Pegasus will carry the spacecraft approximately 130 miles above Earth and place it in orbit. Photo credit: NASA/Randy Beaudoin, VAFB

Inside the clean-room "tent" of Building 1555 at North Vandenberg Air Force Base, two of the solar array panels on the AIM spacecraft are deployed for testing. Inside are the instruments that will study polar mesospheric clouds located at the edge of space. The AIM spacecraft will fly three instruments designed to study those clouds located at the edge of space, 50 miles above the Earth's surface in the coldest part of the planet's atmosphere. The mission's primary goal is to explain why these clouds form and what has caused them to become brighter and more numerous and appear at lower latitudes in recent years. AIM's results will provide the basis for the study of long-term variability in the mesospheric climate and its relationship to global climate change. AIM is scheduled to be mated to the Pegasus XL during the second week of April, after which final inspections will be conducted. Launch is scheduled for April 25.

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. -- Inside the clean-room "tent" of Building 1555 at North Vandenberg Air Force Base, a star tracker cover is ready for placement on the AIM spacecraft during testing of the solar array panel deployment. The AIM spacecraft will fly three instruments designed to study polar mesospheric clouds located at the edge of space, 50 miles above the Earth's surface in the coldest part of the planet's atmosphere. The mission's primary goal is to explain why these clouds form and what has caused them to become brighter and more numerous and appear at lower latitudes in recent years. AIM's results will provide the basis for the study of long-term variability in the mesospheric climate and its relationship to global climate change. AIM is scheduled to be mated to its launch vehicle, Orbital Sciences' Pegasus XL, during the second week of April, after which final inspections will be conducted. Launch is scheduled for April 25.

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. -- Inside the clean-room "tent" of Building 1555 at North Vandenberg Air Force Base, technicians place a star tracker cover on the AIM spacecraft during testing of the solar array panel deployment. The AIM spacecraft will fly three instruments designed to study polar mesospheric clouds located at the edge of space, 50 miles above the Earth's surface in the coldest part of the planet's atmosphere. The mission's primary goal is to explain why these clouds form and what has caused them to become brighter and more numerous and appear at lower latitudes in recent years. AIM's results will provide the basis for the study of long-term variability in the mesospheric climate and its relationship to global climate change. AIM is scheduled to be mated to its launch vehicle, Orbital Sciences' Pegasus XL, during the second week of April, after which final inspections will be conducted. Launch is scheduled for April 25.

Inside the clean-room "tent" of Building 1555 at North Vandenberg Air Force Base, technicians in bunny suits prepare for the solar array deployment on the AIM spacecraft. The AIM spacecraft will fly three instruments designed to study polar mesospheric clouds located at the edge of space, 50 miles above the Earth's surface in the coldest part of the planet's atmosphere. The mission's primary goal is to explain why these clouds form and what has caused them to become brighter and more numerous and appear at lower latitudes in recent years. AIM's results will provide the basis for the study of long-term variability in the mesospheric climate and its relationship to global climate change. AIM is scheduled to be mated to the Pegasus XL during the second week of April, after which final inspections will be conducted. Launch is scheduled for April 25.

VANDENBERG AIR FORCE BASE, CALIF. -- Inside the clean-room "tent" of Building 1555 at North Vandenberg Air Force Base, two of the solar array panels on the AIM spacecraft are deployed for testing. Inside are the instruments that will study polar mesospheric clouds located at the edge of space. The AIM spacecraft will fly three instruments designed to study those clouds located at the edge of space, 50 miles above the Earth's surface in the coldest part of the planet's atmosphere. The mission's primary goal is to explain why these clouds form and what has caused them to become brighter and more numerous and appear at lower latitudes in recent years. AIM's results will provide the basis for the study of long-term variability in the mesospheric climate and its relationship to global climate change. AIM is scheduled to be mated to the Pegasus XL during the second week of April, after which final inspections will be conducted. Launch is scheduled for April 25.

VANDENBERG AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. – Inside a protected clean room tent on Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, workers install the fairing around NASA’s Interstellar Boundary Explorer, or IBEX, spacecraft. The fairing is a molded structure that fits flush with the outside surface of the rocket and forms an aerodynamically smooth nose cone, protecting the spacecraft during launch and ascent. The IBEX satellite will make the first map of the boundary between the Solar System and interstellar space. IBEX is targeted for launch from the Kwajalein Atoll, a part of the Marshall Islands in the Pacific Ocean, on Oct. 19. IBEX will be launched aboard a Pegasus rocket dropped from under the wing of an L-1011 aircraft flying over the Pacific Ocean. The Pegasus will carry the spacecraft approximately 130 miles above Earth and place it in orbit. Photo credit: NASA/Randy Beaudoin, VAFB

VANDENBERG AIR FORCE BASE, CALIF. -- Inside the clean-room "tent" of Building 1555 at North Vandenberg Air Force Base, technicians in bunny suits prepare for the solar array deployment on the AIM spacecraft. The AIM spacecraft will fly three instruments designed to study polar mesospheric clouds located at the edge of space, 50 miles above the Earth's surface in the coldest part of the planet's atmosphere. The mission's primary goal is to explain why these clouds form and what has caused them to become brighter and more numerous and appear at lower latitudes in recent years. AIM's results will provide the basis for the study of long-term variability in the mesospheric climate and its relationship to global climate change. AIM is scheduled to be mated to the Pegasus XL during the second week of April, after which final inspections will be conducted. Launch is scheduled for April 25.

VANDENBERG AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. – Inside a protected clean room tent on Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, the second half of the fairing is ready for installation around NASA’s Interstellar Boundary Explorer, or IBEX, spacecraft. The fairing is a molded structure that fits flush with the outside surface of the rocket and forms an aerodynamically smooth nose cone, protecting the spacecraft during launch and ascent. The IBEX satellite will make the first map of the boundary between the Solar System and interstellar space. IBEX is targeted for launch from the Kwajalein Atoll, a part of the Marshall Islands in the Pacific Ocean, on Oct. 19. IBEX will be launched aboard a Pegasus rocket dropped from under the wing of an L-1011 aircraft flying over the Pacific Ocean. The Pegasus will carry the spacecraft approximately 130 miles above Earth and place it in orbit. Photo credit: NASA/Randy Beaudoin, VAFB

VANDENBERG AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. – Inside a protected clean room tent on Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, workers make adjustments before installing the fairing around NASA’s Interstellar Boundary Explorer, or IBEX, spacecraft. The fairing is a molded structure that fits flush with the outside surface of the rocket and forms an aerodynamically smooth nose cone, protecting the spacecraft during launch and ascent. The IBEX satellite will make the first map of the boundary between the Solar System and interstellar space. IBEX is targeted for launch from the Kwajalein Atoll, a part of the Marshall Islands in the Pacific Ocean, on Oct. 19. IBEX will be launched aboard a Pegasus rocket dropped from under the wing of an L-1011 aircraft flying over the Pacific Ocean. The Pegasus will carry the spacecraft approximately 130 miles above Earth and place it in orbit. Photo credit: NASA/Randy Beaudoin, VAFB

Inside the clean-room "tent" of Building 1555 at North Vandenberg Air Force Base, two of the solar array panels on the AIM spacecraft are deployed for testing. Inside are the instruments that will study polar mesospheric clouds located at the edge of space. The AIM spacecraft will fly three instruments designed to study those clouds located at the edge of space, 50 miles above the Earth's surface in the coldest part of the planet's atmosphere. The mission's primary goal is to explain why these clouds form and what has caused them to become brighter and more numerous and appear at lower latitudes in recent years. AIM's results will provide the basis for the study of long-term variability in the mesospheric climate and its relationship to global climate change. AIM is scheduled to be mated to the Pegasus XL during the second week of April, after which final inspections will be conducted. Launch is scheduled for April 25.

Inside the clean-room "tent" of Building 1555 at North Vandenberg Air Force Base, technicians in bunny suits prepare for the solar array deployment on the AIM spacecraft. The AIM spacecraft will fly three instruments designed to study polar mesospheric clouds located at the edge of space, 50 miles above the Earth's surface in the coldest part of the planet's atmosphere. The mission's primary goal is to explain why these clouds form and what has caused them to become brighter and more numerous and appear at lower latitudes in recent years. AIM's results will provide the basis for the study of long-term variability in the mesospheric climate and its relationship to global climate change. AIM is scheduled to be mated to the Pegasus XL during the second week of April, after which final inspections will be conducted. Launch is scheduled for April 25.

VANDENBERG AIR FORCE BASE, CALIF. -- Seen at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California is the fairing (foreground) for the Orbital Sciences Pegasus XL rocket. In the background is the third stage, under the clean room tent. The rocket is the launch vehicle for NASA's Aeronomy of Ice in the Mesosphere, or AIM, spacecraft. AIM is the seventh Small Explorers mission under NASA's Explorer Program. The program provides frequent flight opportunities for world-class scientific investigations from space within heliophysics and astrophysics. The AIM spacecraft will fly three instruments designed to study polar mesospheric clouds located at the edge of space, 50 miles above the Earth's surface in the coldest part of the planet's atmosphere. The mission's primary goal is to explain why these clouds form and what has caused them to become brighter and more numerous and appear at lower latitudes in recent years. AIM's results will provide the basis for the study of long-term variability in the mesospheric climate and its relationship to global climate change. AIM is scheduled to be mated to the Pegasus XL during the second week of April, after which final inspections will be conducted. Launch is scheduled for April 25.

VANDENBERG AIR FORCE BASE, CALIF. -- At Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, workers move the stand holding NASA's Aeronomy of Ice in the Mesosphere, or AIM, spacecraft under a clean room tent. AIM is the seventh Small Explorers mission under NASA's Explorer Program. The program provides frequent flight opportunities for world-class scientific investigations from space within heliophysics and astrophysics. The AIM spacecraft will fly three instruments designed to study polar mesospheric clouds located at the edge of space, 50 miles above the Earth's surface in the coldest part of the planet's atmosphere. The mission's primary goal is to explain why these clouds form and what has caused them to become brighter and more numerous and appear at lower latitudes in recent years. AIM's results will provide the basis for the study of long-term variability in the mesospheric climate and its relationship to global climate change. AIM is scheduled to be mated to the Pegasus XL during the second week of April, after which final inspections will be conducted. Launch is scheduled for April 25.

NASA's Europa Clipper spacecraft is seen in the main clean room of the Spacecraft Assembly Facility at the agency's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California on Jan. 19, 2024. The tent around the spacecraft was erected to support electromagnetic testing, which is designed to ensure the hardware will operate correctly in the electrical and magnetic conditions of space – and that the electrical and magnetic components that make up the spacecraft are compatible and don't interfere with one another. Set to launch from Kennedy Space Center in Florida in October, Europa Clipper will arrive at the Jupiter system in 2030 and conduct about 50 flybys of the moon Europa. The mission's main science goal is to determine whether there are places below the icy surface of Europa that could support life. The mission's three main science objectives are to determine the thickness of the moon's ice shell and its surface interactions with the ocean below, to investigate its composition, and to characterize its geology. The mission's detailed exploration of Europa will help scientists better understand the astrobiological potential for habitable worlds beyond our planet. https://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA26061

Seen at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California is the fairing (foreground) for the Orbital Sciences Pegasus XL rocket. In the background is the third stage, under the clean room tent. The rocket is the launch vehicle for NASA's Aeronomy of Ice in the Mesosphere, or AIM, spacecraft. AIM is the seventh Small Explorers mission under NASA's Explorer Program. The program provides frequent flight opportunities for world-class scientific investigations from space within heliophysics and astrophysics. The AIM spacecraft will fly three instruments designed to study polar mesospheric clouds located at the edge of space, 50 miles above the Earth's surface in the coldest part of the planet's atmosphere. The mission's primary goal is to explain why these clouds form and what has caused them to become brighter and more numerous and appear at lower latitudes in recent years. AIM's results will provide the basis for the study of long-term variability in the mesospheric climate and its relationship to global climate change. AIM is scheduled to be mated to the Pegasus XL during the second week of April, after which final inspections will be conducted. Launch is scheduled for April 25.

NASA's Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS), secured on a test stand, is moved into a clean room tent inside the Payload Hazardous Servicing Facility (PHSF) at the agency's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Inside the PHSF, the satellite will be processed and prepared for its flight. TESS is scheduled to launch atop a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. TESS is the next step in NASA's search for planets outside our solar system, known as exoplanets. TESS is a NASA Astrophysics Explorer mission led and operated by MIT in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and managed by NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. Dr. George Ricker of MIT’s Kavli Institute for Astrophysics and Space Research serves as principal investigator for the mission. Additional partners include Orbital ATK, NASA’s Ames Research Center, the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics and the Space Telescope Science Institute. More than a dozen universities, research institutes and observatories worldwide are participants in the mission. NASA’s Launch Services Program is responsible for launch management.

From June 28 through 30, 2016, the OPTIMUS PRIME Spinoff Promotion and Research Challenge (OPSPARC) gave the contest’s winning students the opportunity to explore NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. Three teams of students from elementary, middle and high school won the contest by creating the most popular ideas to use NASA technology in new and innovative ways. The students used an online platform called Glogster to make posters about their ideas, and the general public voted for their favorites. Sophia Sheehan won the elementary school prize for her invention of the “blow coat,” which would be powered by solar panels and blow warm air into winter coats, helping people in her hometown of Chicago stay warm in the winter. Heidi Long, Aubrey Nesti, Katherine Valbuena and Jasmine Wu won in the middle school category for their idea called Tent-cordion, which would use spacesuit and satellite insulation materials in a foldable tent to house refugees and the homeless. Finally, Jake Laddis, Alex Li, Isaac Wecht and Isabel Wecht won in the high school category for their idea to use James Webb Space Telescope sunshield technology to shield houses from summer heat and reduce the need for air conditioning around the world. The high school winners also had the opportunity to compete in the NASA InWorld challenge, sponsored by the James Webb Space Telescope project, and continued developing their idea in a virtual world and gaming environment. During their three-day workshop at Goddard, the students toured the center, met with scientists and engineers, took a look at the James Webb Space Telescope in Goddard’s clean room, and even made their own videos in Goddard’s TV studio. One of the students talked about how the experience inspired her. Read more: <a href="http://go.nasa.gov/298fGdQ" rel="nofollow">go.nasa.gov/298fGdQ</a>