Engineers complete a test of the Ground Operations Demo Unit for liquid hydrogen at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The system includes a 33,000 gallon liquid hydrogen storage tank with an internal cold heat exchanger supplied from a cryogenic refrigerator. The primary goal of the testing is to achieve a liquid hydrogen zero boil-off capability. The system was designed, installed and tested by a team of civil servants and contractors from the center's Cryogenic Test Laboratory, with support from engineers at NASA's Glenn Research Center in Cleveland and Stennis Space Center in Mississippi. It may be applicable for use by the Ground Systems Development and Operations Program at Launch Pad 39B.

Liquid Hydrogen Fill

Technicians with Praxair pressurize the hydrogen trailer before offloading liquid hydrogen during a test of the Ground Operations Demo Unit for liquid hydrogen at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The system includes a 33,000 gallon liquid hydrogen storage tank with an internal cold heat exchanger supplied from a cryogenic refrigerator. The primary goal of the testing is to achieve a liquid hydrogen zero boil-off capability. The system was designed, installed and tested by a team of civil servants and contractors from the center's Cryogenic Test Laboratory, with support from engineers at NASA's Glenn Research Center in Cleveland and Stennis Space Center in Mississippi. It may be applicable for use by the Ground Systems Development and Operations Program at Launch Pad 39B.

Liquid Hydrogen Fill

Inside a control building at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, Adam Swinger, cryogenic research engineer in the Exploration Research and Technology Directorate, communicates with team members during a test of the Ground Operations Demo Unit for liquid hydrogen. The system includes a 33,000 gallon liquid hydrogen storage tank with an internal cold heat exchanger supplied from a cryogenic refrigerator. The primary goal of the testing is to achieve a liquid hydrogen zero boil-off capability. The system was designed, installed and tested by a team of civil servants and contractors from the center's Cryogenic Test Laboratory, with support from engineers at NASA's Glenn Research Center in Cleveland and Stennis Space Center in Mississippi. It may be applicable for use by the Ground Systems Development and Operations Program at Launch Pad 39B.

Kimbrough works with MELFI

iss049e052550 (10/29/20160 --- NASA astronaut Kate Rubins is photographed removing samples from the Minus Eighty-Degree Laboratory Freezer for ISS 2 (MELFI2) as part of handover to the Russian crew for packing. The Minus Eighty-degree Laboratory Freezer for ISS (MELFI) is a cold storage unit that maintains experiment samples at ultra-cold temperatures throughout a mission.

Handover of PCMs and experiment samples to Russian crew

Polar 7

NASA astronaut Jonny Kim stows research samples inside a cryogenic storage unit

iss073e0135008 (May 29, 2025) --- NASA astronaut and Expedition 73 Flight Engineer Jonny Kim stows research samples inside a cryogenic storage unit for installation inside a science freezer for preservation inside the International Space Station's Destiny laboratory module. Offically called the Minus Eighty-Degree Laboratory Freezer for ISS, or MELFI, the ultra-cold storage unit enables space biology research by preserving biological samples for analysis including blood, saliva, urine, microbes, and more.

NASA Marshall Tests Innovative Technique for Super Cold Fuel Storage

These photos show how teams at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, are testing an innovative approach to achieve zero boiloff storage of liquid hydrogen using two stages of active cooling, which could prevent the loss of valuable propellant during future long-duration spaceflight missions. Test teams installed the propellant tank in Test Stand 300 at NASA Marshall in early June, and the 90-day test campaign is scheduled to conclude in September. The tank is wrapped in a multi-layer insulation blanket that includes a thin aluminum heat shield fitted between layers. A second set of tubes, carrying helium at about minus 298 Fahrenheit, is integrated into the shield. This intermediate cooling layer intercepts and rejects incoming heat before it reaching the tank, easing the heat load on the tube-on-tank system. The Cryogenic Fluid Management Portfolio Project is a cross-agency team based at NASA Marshall and the agency’s Glenn Research Center in Cleveland. The cryogenic portfolio’s work is under NASA’s Technology Demonstration Missions Program, part of NASA’s Space Technology Mission Directorate, and is comprised of more than 20 individual technology development activities. For more information, contact NASA Marshall’s Office of Communications at 256-544-0034.

NASA Marshall Tests Innovative Technique for Super Cold Fuel Storage

These photos show how teams at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, are testing an innovative approach to achieve zero boiloff storage of liquid hydrogen using two stages of active cooling, which could prevent the loss of valuable propellant during future long-duration spaceflight missions. Test teams installed the propellant tank in Test Stand 300 at NASA Marshall in early June, and the 90-day test campaign is scheduled to conclude in September. The tank is wrapped in a multi-layer insulation blanket that includes a thin aluminum heat shield fitted between layers. A second set of tubes, carrying helium at about minus 298 Fahrenheit, is integrated into the shield. This intermediate cooling layer intercepts and rejects incoming heat before it reaching the tank, easing the heat load on the tube-on-tank system. The Cryogenic Fluid Management Portfolio Project is a cross-agency team based at NASA Marshall and the agency’s Glenn Research Center in Cleveland. The cryogenic portfolio’s work is under NASA’s Technology Demonstration Missions Program, part of NASA’s Space Technology Mission Directorate, and is comprised of more than 20 individual technology development activities. For more information, contact NASA Marshall’s Office of Communications at 256-544-0034.

NASA Marshall Tests Innovative Technique for Super Cold Fuel Storage

These photos show how teams at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, are testing an innovative approach to achieve zero boiloff storage of liquid hydrogen using two stages of active cooling, which could prevent the loss of valuable propellant during future long-duration spaceflight missions. Test teams installed the propellant tank in Test Stand 300 at NASA Marshall in early June, and the 90-day test campaign is scheduled to conclude in September. The tank is wrapped in a multi-layer insulation blanket that includes a thin aluminum heat shield fitted between layers. A second set of tubes, carrying helium at about minus 298 Fahrenheit, is integrated into the shield. This intermediate cooling layer intercepts and rejects incoming heat before it reaching the tank, easing the heat load on the tube-on-tank system. The Cryogenic Fluid Management Portfolio Project is a cross-agency team based at NASA Marshall and the agency’s Glenn Research Center in Cleveland. The cryogenic portfolio’s work is under NASA’s Technology Demonstration Missions Program, part of NASA’s Space Technology Mission Directorate, and is comprised of more than 20 individual technology development activities. For more information, contact NASA Marshall’s Office of Communications at 256-544-0034.

NASA Marshall Tests Innovative Technique for Super Cold Fuel Storage

These photos show how teams at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, are testing an innovative approach to achieve zero boiloff storage of liquid hydrogen using two stages of active cooling, which could prevent the loss of valuable propellant during future long-duration spaceflight missions. Test teams installed the propellant tank in Test Stand 300 at NASA Marshall in early June, and the 90-day test campaign is scheduled to conclude in September. The tank is wrapped in a multi-layer insulation blanket that includes a thin aluminum heat shield fitted between layers. A second set of tubes, carrying helium at about minus 298 Fahrenheit, is integrated into the shield. This intermediate cooling layer intercepts and rejects incoming heat before it reaching the tank, easing the heat load on the tube-on-tank system. The Cryogenic Fluid Management Portfolio Project is a cross-agency team based at NASA Marshall and the agency’s Glenn Research Center in Cleveland. The cryogenic portfolio’s work is under NASA’s Technology Demonstration Missions Program, part of NASA’s Space Technology Mission Directorate, and is comprised of more than 20 individual technology development activities. For more information, contact NASA Marshall’s Office of Communications at 256-544-0034.

Astronaut Takuya Onishi inserts blood samples into a science freezer

iss072e861307 (March 27, 2025) --- JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) astronaut and Expediion 72 Flight Engineer Takuya Onishi inserts a cryogenic storage unit, called a dewar, containing blood samples collected from a crew member into a science freezer for preservation and later analysis. The Minus Eighty-Degree Laboratory Freezer for International Space Station, or MELFI, is a research freezer that maintains experiment samples at ultra-cold temperatures in microgravity.

NASA astronaut Mike Fincke inserts a cryogenic storage unit into a science freezer

iss073e0548958 (Aug. 29, 2025) --- NASA astronaut and Expedition 73 Flight Engineer Mike Fincke inserts a cryogenic storage unit, called a dewar, containing blood samples collected from a crew member into a science freezer for preservation and later analysis. The Minus Eighty-Degree Laboratory Freezer for International Space Station, or MELFI, is a research freezer that maintains experiment samples at ultra-cold temperatures in microgravity.

NASA astronaut Mike Fincke inserts research samples into a science freezer

iss073e0424037 (Aug. 7, 2025) --- NASA astronaut and Expedition 73 Flight Engineer Mike Fincke inserts a cryogenic storage unit, called a dewar, containing blood samples collected from a crew member into a science freezer for preservation and later analysis. The Minus Eighty-Degree Laboratory Freezer for International Space Station, or MELFI, is a research freezer that maintains experiment samples at ultra-cold temperatures in microgravity.

Astronaut Nichole Ayers inserts blood samples into a science freezer

iss072e808609 (March 20, 2025) --- NASA astronaut and Expedition 72 Flight Engineer Nichole Ayers inserts a cryogenic storage unit, called a dewar, containing blood samples collected from a crew member into a science freezer for preservation and later analysis. The Minus Eighty-Degree Laboratory Freezer for International Space Station, or MELFI, is a research freezer that maintains experiment samples at ultra-cold temperatures in microgravity.

iss048e065818 (8/24/2016) --- NASA astonaut Kate Rubins poses for a photo next to Polar Facilities 2 and 4 installed in the SpaceX Dragon Commercial Resupply Services-9 (CRS-9) spacecraft for return to Earth. Polar is a Cold Stowage managed facility that provides transport and storage of science samples at cryogenic temperatures (-80ºC) to and from the International Space Station (ISS).

Rubins with Polar Facilities installed in Dragon CRS-9 Spacecraft

Earth Observations taken by the Expedition 17 Crew

ISS017-E-018075 (1 Oct. 2008) --- The Pueblo Chemical Depot in Colorado is featured in this image photographed by an Expedition 17 crewmember on the International Space Station. This view illustrates the unusual man-made landscape of the Pueblo Chemical Depot located near the city of Pueblo, Colorado. The Depot was built during World War II by the U.S. Army to house and ship ammunition needed for war efforts, and this role transitioned to missile repair and maintenance during the Cold War with the Soviet Union. The current use of the Depot is to house chemical munitions, but changes are underway by the U.S. Army Chemical Materials Agency to destroy these munitions and make the site environmentally safe for reuse -- while also protecting the surrounding local environment. The stippled landscape pattern visible from low Earth orbit is due to hundreds of concrete and earth-covered storage "igloos" that form ordered rows across the site (top). It is within these igloos that chemical munitions and other materials are stored. Larger, white roofed maintenance buildings once used for munitions storage were built with separate compartments to minimize potential damage from explosions. Other features visible in this detailed image include linear roadway (light tan) and rail (dark brown) lines, black irregular surface impoundments of water, and various rectangular office and industrial buildings at lower left.

KSC-2012-1604

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. – Inside the Space Station Processing Facility at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, a cold storage team member prepares an International Space Station experiment cryogenic freezer called a Glacier unit, for transport to Space Launch Complex-40 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. The unit is for an experiment late-load demonstration test with the Space Exploration Technologies Corp. SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket and Dragon capsule. 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 would launch the Dragon capsule to the orbiting laboratory for a docking within the next several months. Photo credit: NASA/Amanda Diller

KSC-2012-1606

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. – Inside the Space Station Processing Facility at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, cold storage team members pack an International Space Station experiment cryogenic freezer called a Glacier unit, for transport to Space Launch Complex-40 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. The unit is for an experiment late-load demonstration test with the Space Exploration Technologies Corp. SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket and Dragon capsule. 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 would launch the Dragon capsule to the orbiting laboratory for a docking within the next several months. Photo credit: NASA/Amanda Diller

KSC-2012-1603

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. –Inside the Space Station Processing Facility at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, a cold storage team member prepares an International Space Station experiment cryogenic freezer called a Glacier unit, for transport to Space Launch Complex-40 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. The unit is for an experiment late-load demonstration test with the Space Exploration Technologies Corp. SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket and Dragon capsule. 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 would launch the Dragon capsule to the orbiting laboratory for a docking within the next several months. Photo credit: NASA/Amanda Diller

KSC-2012-1607

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. – Inside the Space Station Processing Facility at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, cold storage team members cart an International Space Station experiment cryogenic freezer called a Glacier unit, for transport to Space Launch Complex-40 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. The unit is for an experiment late-load demonstration test with Space Exploration Technologies Corp. SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket and Dragon capsule. 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 would launch the Dragon capsule to the orbiting laboratory for a docking within the next several months. Photo credit: NASA/Amanda Diller