Kennedy Space Center’s Carolina Franco, Ph.D., collects samples from a water tank, filled with green dye, for a biological study in the Florida spaceport’s Neil Armstrong Operations and Checkout Building on Nov. 13, 2019. Two tanks have recently returned to Kennedy after spending the last five years on the International Space Station for an experiment to study slosh, or the movement of water, in a zero-gravity environment to help engineers predict the movement of propellant in rocket tanks. With the slosh experiment now concluded, Kennedy’s Air and Water Revitalization lab is studying the water tanks to determine if there is, or was, any microbial growth within them. The results will help NASA determine whether clean water can be stored in space for long-duration missions, an essential component to keeping astronauts safe and healthy as the agency prepares for missions to the Moon and beyond to Mars.

A Kennedy Space Center employee collects samples from a water tank, filled with green dye, for a biological study in the Florida spaceport’s Neil Armstrong Operations and Checkout Building on Nov. 13, 2019. Two tanks have recently returned to Kennedy after spending the last five years on the International Space Station for an experiment to study slosh, or the movement of water, in a zero-gravity environment to help engineers predict the movement of propellant in rocket tanks. With the slosh experiment now concluded, Kennedy’s Air and Water Revitalization lab is studying the water tanks to determine if there is, or was, any microbial growth within them. The results will help NASA determine whether clean water can be stored in space for long-duration missions, an essential component to keeping astronauts safe and healthy as the agency prepares for missions to the Moon and beyond to Mars.

Samples of water, filled with green dye, gathered from two water tanks that have spent the past five years in space, are photographed inside the Neil Armstrong Operations and Checkout Building at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Nov. 13, 2019. The tanks were first sent to the International Space Station in 2014 to study slosh, or the movement of water, in a zero-gravity environment to help engineers predict the movement of propellant in rocket tanks. With the slosh experiment now concluded and the tanks recently returned to Kennedy, they are being utilized for a biological study to determine if there is, or was, any microbial growth within them. The results will help NASA determine whether clean water can be stored in space for long-duration missions, an essential component to keeping astronauts safe and healthy as the agency prepares for missions to the Moon and beyond to Mars.

Researchers from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center Air and Water Revitalization lab are studying two tanks, containing water with green dye, inside the Neil Armstrong Operations and Checkout Building in Florida on Nov. 13, 2019. The tanks have recently returned to Kennedy after remaining on the International Space Station for the past five years, originally sent to space to study slosh – the movement of water – in a zero-gravity environment to help engineers predict the movement of propellant in rocket tanks. With the slosh experiment now concluded, the tanks are being examined to determine if there is, or was, any microbial growth within them. The results will help NASA determine whether clean water can be stored in space for long-duration missions, an essential component to keeping astronauts safe and healthy as the agency prepares for missions to the Moon and beyond to Mars.

Kennedy Space Center’s Carolina Franco, Ph.D., collects samples from a water tank, filled with green dye, for a biological study in the Florida spaceport’s Neil Armstrong Operations and Checkout Building on Nov. 13, 2019. Two tanks have recently returned to Kennedy after spending the last five years on the International Space Station for an experiment to study slosh, or the movement of water, in a zero-gravity environment to help engineers predict the movement of propellant in rocket tanks. With the slosh experiment now concluded, Kennedy’s Air and Water Revitalization lab is studying the water tanks to determine if there is, or was, any microbial growth within them. The results will help NASA determine whether clean water can be stored in space for long-duration missions, an essential component to keeping astronauts safe and healthy as the agency prepares for missions to the Moon and beyond to Mars.

A Kennedy Space Center employee collects samples from a water tank, filled with green dye, for a biological study in the Florida spaceport’s Neil Armstrong Operations and Checkout Building on Nov. 13, 2019. Two tanks have recently returned to Kennedy after spending the last five years on the International Space Station for an experiment to study slosh, or the movement of water, in a zero-gravity environment to help engineers predict the movement of propellant in rocket tanks. With the slosh experiment now concluded, the tanks are being utilized to determine if there is, or was, any microbial growth within them. The results will help NASA determine whether clean water can be stored in space for long-duration missions, an essential component to keeping astronauts safe and healthy as the agency prepares for missions to the Moon and beyond to Mars.

Kennedy Space Center’s Brint Bauer drills into a water tank, filled with green dye, in the Florida spaceport’s Neil Armstrong Operations and Checkout Building on Nov. 13, 2019. Two tanks have recently returned to Kennedy after spending the last five years on the International Space Station for an experiment to study slosh, or the movement of water, in a zero-gravity environment to help engineers predict the movement of propellant in rocket tanks. With the slosh experiment now concluded, Kennedy’s Air and Water Revitalization lab is studying the water tanks to determine if there is, or was, any microbial growth within them. The results will help NASA determine whether clean water can be stored in space for long-duration missions, an essential component to keeping astronauts safe and healthy as the agency prepares for missions to the Moon and beyond to Mars.

A Kennedy Space Center employee collects samples from a water tank, filled with green dye, for a biological study in the Florida spaceport’s Neil Armstrong Operations and Checkout Building on Nov. 13, 2019. Two tanks have recently returned to Kennedy after spending the last five years on the International Space Station for an experiment to study slosh, or the movement of water, in a zero-gravity environment to help engineers predict the movement of propellant in rocket tanks. With the slosh experiment now concluded, Kennedy’s Air and Water Revitalization lab is studying the water tanks to determine if there is, or was, any microbial growth within them. The results will help NASA determine whether clean water can be stored in space for long-duration missions, an essential component to keeping astronauts safe and healthy as the agency prepares for missions to the Moon and beyond to Mars.

Kennedy Space Center’s Carolina Franco, Ph.D., conducts a biological study on two tanks of water, filled with green dye, in the Florida spaceport’s Neil Armstrong Operations and Checkout Building on Nov. 13, 2019. The tanks have recently returned to Kennedy after spending the last five years on the International Space Station for an experiment to study slosh, or the movement of water, in a zero-gravity environment to help engineers predict the movement of propellant in rocket tanks. Kennedy’s Air and Water Revitalization lab is studying the water tanks to determine if there is, or was, any microbial growth within them. The results will help NASA determine whether clean water can be stored in space for long-duration missions, an essential component to keeping astronauts safe and healthy as the agency prepares for missions to the Moon and beyond to Mars.

Kennedy Space Center’s Jason Fischer collects samples from a water tank, filled with green dye, for a biological study in the Florida spaceport’s Neil Armstrong Operations and Checkout Building on Nov. 13, 2019. Two tanks have recently returned to Kennedy after spending the last five years on the International Space Station for an experiment to study slosh, or the movement of water, in a zero-gravity environment to help engineers predict the movement of propellant in rocket tanks. Kennedy’s Air and Water Revitalization lab is studying the water tanks to determine if there is, or was, any microbial growth within them. The results will help NASA determine whether clean water can be stored in space for long-duration missions, an essential component to keeping astronauts safe and healthy as the agency prepares for missions to the Moon and beyond to Mars.

Kennedy Space Center’s Carolina Franco, Ph.D., left, and Jason Fischer collect samples from a water tank, filled with green dye, for a biological study in the Florida spaceport’s Neil Armstrong Operations and Checkout Building on Nov. 13, 2019. Two tanks have recently returned to Kennedy after spending the last five years on the International Space Station for an experiment to study slosh, or the movement of water, in a zero-gravity environment to help engineers predict the movement of propellant in rocket tanks. Kennedy’s Air and Water Revitalization lab is studying the water tanks to determine if there is, or was, any microbial growth within them. The results will help NASA determine whether clean water can be stored in space for long-duration missions, an essential component to keeping astronauts safe and healthy as the agency prepares for missions to the Moon and beyond to Mars.

Kennedy Space Center’s Carolina Franco, Ph.D., weighs one of the water tanks, recently returned to the center after remaining on the International Space Station for the past five years, in the Florida spaceport’s Neil Armstrong Operations and Checkout Building on Nov. 13, 2019. Two tanks containing water were first sent to the orbiting laboratory in 2014 to study slosh, or the movement of water, in a zero-gravity environment to help engineers predict the movement of propellant in rocket tanks. Kennedy’s Air and Water Revitalization lab is studying the water tanks to determine if there is, or was, any microbial growth within them. The results will help NASA determine whether clean water can be stored in space for long-duration missions, an essential component to keeping astronauts safe and healthy as the agency prepares for missions to the Moon and beyond to Mars.

Kennedy Space Center’s Carolina Franco, Ph.D., left, and Jason Fischer collect samples from a water tank, filled with green dye, for a biological study in the Florida spaceport’s Neil Armstrong Operations and Checkout Building on Nov. 13, 2019. Two tanks have recently returned to Kennedy after spending the last five years on the International Space Station for an experiment to study slosh, or the movement of water, in a zero-gravity environment to help engineers predict the movement of propellant in rocket tanks. Kennedy’s Air and Water Revitalization lab is studying the water tanks to determine if there is, or was, any microbial growth within them. The results will help NASA determine whether clean water can be stored in space for long-duration missions, an essential component to keeping astronauts safe and healthy as the agency prepares for missions to the Moon and beyond to Mars.

Kennedy Space Center’s Brint Bauer, left, and Carolina Franco, Ph.D., collect samples from a water tank, filled with green dye, for a biological study in the Florida spaceport’s Neil Armstrong Operations and Checkout Building on Nov. 13, 2019. Two tanks have recently returned to Kennedy after spending the last five years on the International Space Station for an experiment to study slosh, or the movement of water, in a zero-gravity environment to help engineers predict the movement of propellant in rocket tanks. Kennedy’s Air and Water Revitalization lab is studying the water tanks to determine if there is, or was, any microbial growth within them. The results will help NASA determine whether clean water can be stored in space for long-duration missions, an essential component to keeping astronauts safe and healthy as the agency prepares for missions to the Moon and beyond to Mars.

Kennedy Space Center’s Brint Bauer, left, and Carolina Franco, Ph.D., conduct a biological study on two tanks of water, filled with green dye, in the Florida spaceport’s Neil Armstrong Operations and Checkout Building on Nov. 13, 2019. The tanks have recently returned to Kennedy after spending the last five years on the International Space Station for an experiment to study slosh, or the movement of water, in a zero-gravity environment to help engineers predict the movement of propellant in rocket tanks. Kennedy’s Air and Water Revitalization lab is studying the water tanks to determine if there is, or was, any microbial growth within them. The results will help NASA determine whether clean water can be stored in space for long-duration missions, an essential component to keeping astronauts safe and healthy as the agency prepares for missions to the Moon and beyond to Mars.

Kennedy Space Center’s Christina Khodadad, Ph.D., left, and Jason Fischer hold samples of water in the Florida spaceport’s Neil Armstrong Operations and Checkout Building on Nov. 13, 2019. Two tanks of water have recently returned to Kennedy after spending the last five years on the International Space Station for an experiment to study slosh, or the movement of water, in a zero-gravity environment to help engineers predict the movement of propellant in rocket tanks. Kennedy’s Air and Water Revitalization lab is studying the water tanks to determine if there is, or was, any microbial growth within them. The results will help NASA determine whether clean water can be stored in space for long-duration missions, an essential component to keeping astronauts safe and healthy as the agency prepares for missions to the Moon and beyond to Mars.

Kennedy Space Center’s Jason Fischer holds a sample of water in the Florida spaceport’s Neil Armstrong Operations and Checkout Building on Nov. 13, 2019. Two tanks of water have recently returned to Kennedy after spending the last five years on the International Space Station for an experiment to study slosh, or the movement of water, in a zero-gravity environment to help engineers predict the movement of propellant in rocket tanks. Kennedy’s Air and Water Revitalization lab is studying the water tanks to determine if there is, or was, any microbial growth within them. The results will help NASA determine whether clean water can be stored in space for long-duration missions, an essential component to keeping astronauts safe and healthy as the agency prepares for missions to the Moon and beyond to Mars.

ISS040-E-139549 (9 Sept. 2014) --- In the International Space Station’s Kibo laboratory, NASA astronaut Reid Wiseman, Expedition 40 crew member, works with the bowling ball-sized satellites known as SPHERES (Synchronized Position Hold Engage Reorient Experimental Satellites) to study how liquids behave inside containers in microgravity. The experiment, named SPHERES-Slosh, maneuvers the tiny satellites similar to an actual spacecraft with an externally mounted tank and observes the interaction between the sloshing fluid and the tank/vehicle dynamics.

iss054e022175 (1/17/2018) --- Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) astronaut Norishige Kanai is photographed during a Synchronized Position Hold, Engage, Reorient, Experimental Satellites (SPHERES) Tether Slosh experiment test session run. Photo was taken in the Kibo Japanese Experiment Pressurized Module (JPM) aboard the International Space Station (ISS). SPHERES Tether Slosh combines fluid dynamics equipment with robotic capabilities aboard the ISS to investigate automated strategies for steering passive cargo that contain fluids. In space, the fluid fuels used by spacecraft can slosh around in unpredictable ways making space maneuvers difficult. SPHERES Tether Slosh uses two Synchronized Position Hold, Engage, Reorient, Experimental Satellites (SPHERES) robots tethered to a fluid-filled container covered in sensors to test strategies for safely steering spacecraft such as dead satellites that might still have fuel in the tank.

iss055e010694 (4/4/2018) --- A view taken aboard the International Space Station (ISS) during the set up of the SPHERES Tether Slosh experiment hardware. The image is of the green SPHERES robots tethered to a fluid-filled container covered in sensors to test strategies for safely steering spacecraft such as dead satellites that might still have fuel in the tank. SPHERES Tether Slosh combines fluid dynamics equipment with robotic capabilities aboard the International Space Station to investigate automated strategies for steering passive cargo that contain fluids.

Andy Stofan views a small-scale tank built to study the sloshing characteristics of liquid hydrogen at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Lewis Research Center. Stofan was tasked with the study of propellant motion, or sloshing, in space vehicle propellant tanks. At the time, there was little knowledge of the behavior of fluids in microgravity or the effects of the launch on the propellant’s motion. Sloshing in the tank could alter a spacecraft’s trajectory or move the propellant away from the turbopump. Stofan became an expert and authored numerous technical reports on the subject. Stofan was assigned to the original Centaur Project Office in 1962 as a member of the Propellant Systems Section. Stofan was instrumental in solving a dynamic instability problem on the Centaur vehicle and served as the systems engineer for the development of the Centaur propellant utilization system. The solution was also applied to the upper-stages of Saturn. In 1966, Stofan was named Head of the Propellant Systems Section. Stofan continued rising through the managerial ranks at Lewis. In 1967 he became Project Manager of a test program that successfully demonstrated the use of a pressurization system for the Centaur vehicle; in 1969 the Assistant Project Manager on the Improved Centaur project; in 1970 Manager of the Titan/Centaur Project Office; in 1974 Director of the Launch Vehicles Division. In 1978, Stofan was appointed Deputy Associate Administrator for the Headquarters Office of Space Science. In 1982, he was named Director of Lewis Research Center.

ISS038-E-033890 (22 Jan. 2014) --- In the International Space Station's Kibo laboratory, NASA astronaut Mike Hopkins, Expedition 38 flight engineer, works with a new experiment using the soccer-ball-sized, free-flying satellites known as Synchronized Position Hold, Engage, Reorient, Experimental Satellites, or SPHERES, which are already on the station. For the SPHERES-Slosh experiment, two SPHERES robots are attached to opposite ends of a metal frame holding the plastic tank with the green-colored water. The new hardware for the SPHERES-Slosh study was delivered to the station aboard Orbital Sciences' Cygnus cargo craft on Jan. 12.

ISS038-E-033884 (22 Jan. 2014) --- In the International Space Station's Kibo laboratory, NASA astronaut Mike Hopkins, Expedition 38 flight engineer, holds a plastic container partially filled with green-colored water which will be used in a new experiment using the soccer-ball-sized, free-flying satellites known as Synchronized Position Hold, Engage, Reorient, Experimental Satellites, or SPHERES, which are already on the station. For the SPHERES-Slosh experiment, two SPHERES robots are attached to opposite ends of a metal frame holding the plastic tank with the green-colored water. The new hardware for the SPHERES-Slosh study was delivered to the station aboard Orbital Sciences' Cygnus cargo craft on Jan. 12.

ISS038-E-033888 (22 Jan. 2014) --- A new experiment using the soccer-ball-sized, free-flying satellites known as Synchronized Position Hold, Engage, Reorient, Experimental Satellites, or SPHERES, already on the station, is featured in this image photographed by an Expedition 38 crew member in the International Space Station's Kibo laboratory. For the SPHERES-Slosh experiment, two SPHERES robots are attached to opposite ends of a metal frame holding a plastic tank with green-colored water. The new hardware for the SPHERES-Slosh study was delivered to the station aboard Orbital Sciences' Cygnus cargo craft on Jan. 12.

A 13-foot diameter mounted inside the large test chamber at the Cryogenic Propellant Tank, or K-Site, at National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s (NASA) Plum Brook Station. The 25-foot test chamber and 20-foot access door were designed to test liquid hydrogen fuel tanks up to 18 feet in diameter in conditions that simulated launches and spaceflight. Shakers were installed to test the effects of launch vibration on the tanks and their insulation. The K Site chamber was also equipped with cold walls that could be cooled with either liquid nitrogen or liquid hydrogen and vacuum pumps that could reduce pressure levels to 10-8 torr. This 13-foot tank passed its initial acceptance tests in K-Site on August 24, 1966. Delays in the modification of the tank postponed further tests of the tank until May 1967. Four pressure hold tests and expulsion runs were made in May using gaseous hydrogen or gaseous helium at 300R and 520R. In June a straight pipe injector test was run and two pressure effect tests at 35 and 75psi. Propellant slosh tests were successfully run in August. This photograph was taken the day after the program’s final runs on September 12, 1967.

Mechanic Howard Wine inspects the setup of a spin isolator in Cell 2 of the Propulsion Systems Laboratory at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Lewis Research Center. Photographer Al Jecko filmed the proceedings. This test was unique in that the chamber’s altitude system was used, but not its inlet air flow. The test was in preparation for an upcoming launch of modified liquid hydrogen propellant tank on a sounding rocket. This Weightlessness Analysis Sounding Probe (WASP) was part of Lewis investigation into methods for controlling partially filled liquid hydrogen fuel tanks during flight. Second-stage rockets, the Centaur in particular, were designed to stop their engines and coast, then restart them when needed. During this coast period, the propellant often shifted inside the tank. This movement could throw the rocket off course or result in the sloshing of fuel away from the fuel pump. Wine was one of only three journeymen mechanics at Lewis when he was hired in January 1954. He spent his first decade in the Propulsion Systems Laboratory and was soon named a section head. Wine went on to serve as Assistant Division Chief and later served as an assistant to the director. Jecko joined the center in 1947 as a photographer and artist. He studied at the Cleveland School or Art and was known for his cartoon drawing. He worked at the center for 26 years.