With Commander Kevin Kregel and Pilot Steven Lindsey at the controls, the orbiter Columbia touches its main gear down on Runway 33 at KSC’s Shuttle Landing Facility at 7:20:04 a.m. EST Dec. 5 to complete the 15-day, 16-hour and 34-minute-long STS-87 mission of 6.5 million miles. Also onboard the orbiter are Mission Specialists Winston Scott; Kalpana Chawla, Ph.D.; and Takao Doi, Ph.D., of the National Space Development Agency of Japan; along with Payload Specialist Leonid Kadenyuk of the National Space Agency of Ukraine. During the 88th Space Shuttle mission, the crew performed experiments on the United States Microgravity Payload-4 and pollinated plants as part of the Collaborative Ukrainian Experiment. This was the 12th landing for Columbia at KSC and the 41st KSC landing in the history of the Space Shuttle program

STS084-380-019 (15-24 May 1997) --- In the last minutes of joint activity between the STS-84 and Russian Space Agency (RSA) Mir-23 crews, ten astronauts and cosmonauts pose for an in-space portrait in the Space Shuttle Atlantis Spacehab Double Module (DM). For orientation purposes, photo should be held with clasped hands of Aleksandr I. Lazutkin (wearing Mir-23 suit) just below center. The flight engineer is flanked by similarly attired crew mates Vasili Tsibliyev, Mir-23 commander, on the left, and C. Michael Foale, cosmonaut guest researcher, on the right. The STS-84 crew members are, clockwise from the left, Jerry M. Linenger, mission specialist; Eileen M. Collins, pilot; Edward T. Lu, mission specialist; Jean-Fran?ois Clervoy, payload commander; Elena V. Kondakova and Carlos I. Noriega, both mission specialists, along with Charles J. Precourt, mission commander.

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, Fla. -- The orbiter drag chute deploys after the Space Shuttle orbiter Atlantis lands on Runway 15 of the KSC Shuttle Landing Facility (SLF) at the conclusion of the nearly 11-day STS-86 mission. The Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) can be seen in the background. Main gear touchdown was at 5:55:09 p.m. EDT, Oct. 6, 1997, with an unofficial mission-elapsed time of 10 days, 19 hours, 20 minutes and 50 seconds. The first two KSC landing opportunities on Sunday were waved off because of weather concerns. The 87th Space Shuttle mission was the 40th landing of the Shuttle at KSC. On Sunday evening, the Space Shuttle program reached a milestone: The total flight time of the Shuttle passed the two-year mark. STS86 was the seventh of nine planned dockings of the Space Shuttle with the Russian Space Station Mir. STS-86 Mission Specialist David A. Wolf replaced NASA astronaut and Mir 24 crew member C. Michael Foale, who has been on the Mir since mid-May. Foale returned to Earth on Atlantis with the remainder of the STS-86 crew. The other crew members are Commander James D. Wetherbee, Pilot Michael J. Bloomfield, and Mission Specialists Wendy B. Lawrence, Scott E. Parazynski, Vladimir Georgievich Titov of the Russian Space Agency, and Jean-Loup J.M. Chretien of the French Space Agency, CNES. Wolf is scheduled to remain on the Mir until the STS-89 Shuttle mission in January. Besides the docking and crew exchange, STS-86 included the transfer of more than three-and-a-half tons of science/logistical equipment and supplies between the two orbiting spacecraft. Parazynski and Titov also conducted a spacewalk while Atlantis and the Mir were docked

S82-E-5429 (15 Feb. 1997) --- Astronauts Gregory J. Harbaugh (left) and Joseph R. Tanner (right) during Multi Layer Insulation (MLI) inspection in Bay 10. This view was taken with an Electronic Still Camera (ESC).

STS082-326-020 (17 Feb. 1997) --- This wide shot of the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) in Discovery's cargo bay, backdropped against Australia, was taken during the fifth space walk added to complete servicing of the orbiting observatory. Astronauts Steven L. Smith (center frame) and Mark C. Lee (on robot arm) are conducting a survey of the hand rails on HST. In foreground is the hatchway that connects to Discovery's shirt sleeve environment of the crew cabin.

STS-84 Mission Specialist C. Michael Foale, who will become the fifth U.S. astronaut to live and work on the Russian Space Station Mir, arrives at KSC’s Shuttle Landing Facility for the STS-84 Terminal Countdown Demonstration Test (TCDT), a dress rehearsal for launch. Foale will be dropped off on Mir when the Space Shuttle Atlantis docks with Mir next month. He will become a member of the Mir 23 crew, replacing U.S. astronaut Jerry M. Linenger, who will return to Earth on Atlantis after about four months on the orbiting station. STS-84 will be the sixth Shuttle-Mir docking. Liftoff is targeted for May 15

Manufacturing Division (Code JM) Projects. Damon Flausburg, Mike Guerrero & Tom Glibertson working on STAR model in N-246; Metal Fabrications Br (Code JMF)

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. -- Some of the former Apollo program astronauts admire an Apollo Command and Service Module during a tour the new Apollo/Saturn V Center (ASVC) at KSC prior to the gala grand opening ceremony for the facility that was held Jan. 8, 1997. The astronauts were invited to participate in the event, which also featured NASA Administrator Dan Goldin and KSC Director Jay Honeycutt. The astronauts are (from left): Apollo 10 Command Module Pilot and Apollo 16 Commander John W. Young;. Apollo 11 Lunar Module Pilot Edwin E. "Buzz" Aldrin, Jr.; Apollo 17 Commander Eugene A. Cernan; and Apollo 10 Commander Thomas P. Stafford. The ASVC also features several other Apollo program spacecraft components, multimedia presentations and a simulated Apollo/Saturn V liftoff. The facility will be a part of the KSC bus tour that embarks from the KSC Visitor Center

The third stage of the Lockheed Martin Athena launch vehicle arrives at Launch Complex 46 at Cape Canaveral Air Station before it is mated to the second stage. The protective covering for safe transportation is removed before the third stage is lifted on the launch pad. Athena is scheduled to carry the Lunar Prospector spacecraft for an 18-month mission that will orbit the Earth’s moon to collect data from the lunar surface. Scientific experiments to be conducted by the Prospector include locating water ice that may exist near the lunar poles, gathering data to understand the evolution of the lunar highland crust and the lunar magnetic field, finding radon outgassing events, and describing the lunar gravity field by means of Doppler tracking. The launch is now scheduled for early-January 1998

First Image of Clouds over Mars

1 mm histone octamer crystal grown on STS-81. A very dynamic structure which functions in many aspects of gene regulation from control of gene activity to the more subtle mechanisms of genetic imprinting. Principle Investigator is Dan Carter of New Century Pharmaceuticals.

Flat

The Atlas 1 rocket which will launch the GOES-K advanced weather satellite is unloaded from an Air Force C-5 air cargo plane after arrival at the Skid Strip, Cape Canaveral Air Station (CCAS). The Lockheed Martin-built rocket and its Centaur upper stage will form the AC-79 vehicle, the final vehicle in the Atlas 1 series which began launches for NASA in 1962. Future launches of geostationary operational environmental satellites (GOES) in the current series will be on Atlas II vehicles. GOES-K will be the third spacecraft to be launched in the new advanced series of geostationary weather satellites built for NASA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). The spacecraft will be designated GOES-10 in orbit. The launch of AC-79/GOES-K is targeted for April 24 from Launch Pad 36B, CCAS

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, Fla. -- The Space Shuttle Atlantis arrives at Launch Pad 39A, the destination of its journey from the Vehicle Assembly Building, for final preparations for liftoff of the STS-84 mission. Atlantis and its crew of seven are targeted for a May 15 launch. STS-84 will be the sixth Shuttle docking with the Russian Space Station Mir as part of Phase 1 of the International Space Station program

STS084-727-053 (15-24 May 1997) --- This view of Lima, Peru is among a very few photographed by astronauts who have orbited Earth since the early 1960's. Francisco Pizarro founded the city of Lima in 1535. Lima is located 13 kilometers (8 miles) inland from the Peruvian coast and is surrounded by coastal desert and the Andes mountains. Suburbs of Lima extend in all directions except to the east, where the Andes prohibits growth. The three rivers, Chillion to the northeast of Lima, the Rimac which runs through the northern part of the city, and the Mala to the southeast, all drain the central Andes. The island off the coast is San Lorenzo.

The Space Shuttle Atlantis turns night into day for a few moments as it lifts off on May 15 at 4:07:48 a.m. EDT from Launch Pad 39A on the STS-84 mission. The fourth Shuttle mission of 1997 will be the sixth docking of the Space Shuttle with the Russian Space Station Mir. The commander is Charles J. Precourt. The pilot is Eileen Marie Collins. The five mission specialists are C. Michael Foale, Carlos I. Noriega, Edward Tsang Lu, Jean-Francois Clervoy of the European Space Agency and Elena V. Kondakova of the Russian Space Agency. The planned nine-day mission will include the exchange of Foale for U.S. astronaut and Mir 23 crew member Jerry M. Linenger, who has been on Mir since Jan. 15. Linenger transferred to Mir during the last docking mission, STS-81; he will return to Earth on Atlantis. Foale is slated to remain on Mir for about four months until he is replaced in September by STS-86 Mission Specialist Wendy B. Lawrence. During the five days Atlantis is scheduled to be docked with the Mir, the STS-84 crew and the Mir 23 crew, including two Russian cosmonauts, Commander Vasily Tsibliev and Flight Engineer Alexander Lazutkin, will participate in joint experiments. The STS-84 mission also will involve the transfer of more than 7,300 pounds of water, logistics and science equipment to and from the Mir. Atlantis is carrying a nearly 300-pound oxygen generator to replace one of two Mir units which have experienced malfunctions. The oxygen it generates is used for breathing by the Mir crew

The Space Shuttle Atlantis blazes through the night sky to begin the STS-86 mission, slated to be the seventh of nine planned dockings of the Space Shuttle with the Russian Space Station Mir. Liftoff on Sept. 25 from Launch Pad 39A was at 10:34:19 p.m. EDT, within seconds of the preferred time, during a six-minute, 45-second launch window. The 10-day flight will include the transfer of the sixth U.S. astronaut to live and work aboard the Mir. After the docking, STS-86 Mission Specialist David A. Wolf will become a member of the Mir 24 crew, replacing astronaut C. Michael Foale, who will return to Earth aboard Atlantis with the remainder of the STS-86 crew. Foale has been on the Russian Space Station since mid-May. Wolf is scheduled to remain there about four months. Besides Wolf (embarking to Mir) and Foale (returning), the STS-86 crew includes Commander James D. Wetherbee, Pilot Michael J. Bloomfield, and Mission Specialists Wendy B. Lawrence, Scott E. Parazynski, Vladimir Georgievich Titov of the Russian Space Agency, and Jean-Loup J.M. Chretien of the French Space Agency, CNES. Other primary objectives of the mission are a spacewalk by Parazynski and Titov, and the exchange of about three-and-a-half tons of science/logistical equipment and supplies between Atlantis and the Mir

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. – Official retirement portrait of Jay F. Honeycutt, Director of NASA's Kennedy Space Center. Photo credit: NASA

S82-E-5016 (12 Feb. 1997) --- Astronaut Steven A. Hawley, STS-82 mission specialist, controls Discovery's Remote Manipulation System (RMS), from the aft flight deck. Hawley and his crew mates are preparing for a scheduled Extravehicular Activity (EVA) with the Hubble Space Telescope (HST), which will be pulled into the Space Shuttle Discovery's cargo bay with the aid of the Remote Manipulator System (RMS). A series of EVA's will be required to properly service the giant telescope. Hawley served as a mission specialist on NASA's 1990 mission which was responsible for placing HST in Earth-orbit. This view was taken with an Electronic Still Camera (ESC).

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. -- The Space Shuttle Orbiter Columbia glides in for a touchdown on Runway 33 at KSC’s Shuttle Landing Facility that will conclude the Microgravity Science Laboratory-1 (MSL-1) mission. Columbia was scheduled to touch down at 2:33 p.m. EDT, April 8. The Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) is to the right, while the Mate/Demate Device (MDD) is to the left. A NASA Shuttle Training Aircraft (STA) that acts as a chase plane during landings passes by overhead. With Columbia’s on-time main gear touchdown, the STS-83 mission duration will be 3 days, 23 hours, 12 minutes. The planned 16-day mission was cut short by a faulty fuel cell. This is only the third time in Shuttle program history that an orbiter was brought home early due to mechanical problems. This was also the 36th KSC landing since the program began in 1981

NASA5-329-023 (26 Sept. 1997) --- The Space Shuttle Atlantis is seen from the point of view of Russia’s Mir Space Station in this 35mm frame exposed during rendezvous operations. The astronauts of STS-86 and the cosmonauts of Mir-24 went on to spend several days in joint activities while the spacecraft were docked. The American crew also changed out guest researchers aboard the Mir, replacing C. Michael Foale with David A. Wolf.

STS-94 Commander James D. Halsell, Jr., speaks to the media at the Shuttle Landing Facility after the crew arrived at Kennedy Space Center in preparation for the reflight of the Microgravity Science Laboratory-1 mission. Launch is scheduled for July 1, 1997, at 2:37 p.m. EDT. From left to right, the crew members are Payload Specialists Gregory T. Linteris and Roger K. Crouch; Mission Specialists Michael L. Gernhardt and Donald A. Thomas; Payload Commander Janice E. Voss; Pilot Susan Leigh Still and Commander James D. Halsell, Jr. One of the T-38 jets aboard which the crew arrived can be seen in the background. The laboratory was scheduled to fly again with the full complement of STS-83 experiments after that mission was cut short due to a faulty fuel cell. During the scheduled 16-day STS-94 mission, the experiments will be used to test some of the hardware, facilities and procedures that are planned for use on the International Space Station while the flight crew conducts combustion, protein crystal growth and materials processing experiments

Manufacturing Division (Code JM) Projects. Damon Flausburg working on STAR model in N-246 Metal Fabrications Br. (code-JMF)

This global view of Europa shows the location of a four-frame mosaic of images taken by NASA Galileo spacecraft in 1996, set into low-resolution data obtained by NASA Voyager spacecraft in 1979.

The STS-94 crew walks out of the Operations and Checkout Building and heads for the Astrovan that will transport them to Launch Pad 39A as KSC employees show their support. Waving to the crowd and leading the way are Mission Commander James D. Halsell, Jr. and Pilot Susan L. Still. Behind Still is Mission Specialist Donald A.Thomas, followed by Mission Specialist Michael L. Gernhardt , Payload Commander Janice Voss, and Payload Specialists Roger K.Crouch and Gregory T. Linteris. During the scheduled 16-day Microgravity Science Laboratory-1 (MSL-1) mission, the Spacelab module will be used to test some of the hardware, facilities and procedures that are planned for use on the International Space Station while the flight crew conducts combustion, protein crystal growth and materials processing experiments. Also onboard is the Hitchhiker Cryogenic Flexible Diode (CRYOFD) experiment payload, which is attached to the right side of Columbia’s payload bay.The Space Shuttle Columbia is scheduled to lift off when the launch window opens at 1:50 p.m. EDT, July 1. The launch window was opened 47 minutes early to improve the opportunity to lift off before Florida summer rain showers reached the space center

STS087-718-073 (19 November ? 5 December 1997) --- On the Space Shuttle Columbia's first ever spacewalk (EVA), astronaut Winston E. Scott works with a simulated battery and 156-pound crane carried onboard for the first time this trip of Columbia. The crane's inclusion and the work with it are part of a continuing preparation effort for future work on the International Space Station (ISS). The ongoing project allows for evaluation of tools and operating methods to be applied to the construction of the ISS. This crane device is designed to aid future spacewalkers in transporting Orbital Replacement Units (ORU), with a mass up to 600 pounds (like the simulated battery pictured here), from translating carts on the exterior of ISS to various worksites on the truss structure. Earlier, astronauts Takao Doi (at the base of the crane, out of frame at right), an international mission specialist representing Japan, and Winston E. Scott had installed the crane in a socket along the middle port side of Columbia's cargo bay for the evaluation. The two began the crane operations, long ago manifest for this mission, after completing a contingency spacewalk to snag the free-flying Spartan 201 and berth it in the payload bay (visible in the background).

At Launch Complex 40 on Cape Canaveral Air Station, workers are installing three Radioisotope Thermoelectric Generators (RTGs) on the Cassini spacecraft. RTGs are lightweight, compact spacecraft electrical power systems that have flown successfully on 23 previous U.S. missions over the past 37 years. These generators produce power by converting heat into electrical energy; the heat is provided by the natural radioactive decay of plutonium-238 dioxide, a non-weapons-grade material. RTGs enable spacecraft to operate at significant distances from the Sun where solar power systems would not be feasible. Cassini will travel two billion miles to reach Saturn and another 1.1 billion miles while in orbit around Saturn. Cassini is undergoing final preparations for liftoff on a Titan IVB/Centaur launch vehicle, with the launch window opening at 4:55 a.m. EDT, Oct. 13

N-243A Vertical Motion Simulator cab in Motion.

The Cassini spacecraft, protected by an environmentally controlled protective fairing, is sitting at Pad 40 at Cape Canaveral Air Station, awaiting its launch scheduled for mid-October atop a Titan IV/Centaur launch vehicle. A four-year, close-up study of the Saturnian system, the Cassini mission will take seven years for the spacecraft to reach Saturn. Scientific instruments carried aboard the spacecraft will study Saturn’s atmosphere, magnetic field, rings, and several moons. NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory is managing the Cassini project

STS-82 Mission Commander Kenneth D. Bowersox gets assistance from white room closeout members before entering the Space Shuttle Discovery at Launch Pad 39A. Making final adjustments to the commander’s launch and entry suit are James Davis, facing camera at left, and Jean Alexander

STS082-765-007 (21 Feb. 1997) --- This scene of the sun setting on the Space Shuttle Discovery's almost empty cargo bay symbolizes the successful conclusion of the mission, as the seven astronauts inside the crew cabin approach one of the final mission chores -- that of closing the cargo bay doors. The astronauts earlier completed five days of Extravehicular Activities (EVA) designed to service the giant Hubble Space Telescope (HST), now noticeably missing in the bay. At bottom center is part of the top of the exit airlock, making its first flight.

MGS Views of Labyrinthus Noctis

The Huygens probe is installed into the Cassini orbiter in the Payload Hazardous Servicing Facility (PHSF)

Workers rotate the Node 1, part of the primary payload of the first Space Shuttle launch of an International Space Station (ISS) element, during processing activities in the Space Station Processing Facility. Along with two Pressurized Mating Adapters, Node 1 is scheduled to be launched aboard the Space Shuttle Endeavour on Mission STS-88 in July 1998. The 22-foot-long module has a diameter of 18 feet. Node 1 will serve as a connecting passageway to the living and working areas of the ISS

Full Disk Views of Io Natural and Enhanced Color

NASA Ames Bldg N-243A Vertical Motion Simulator cab in Motion in motion.

STS-87 Commander Kevin Kregel participates in the Crew Equipment Integration Test (CEIT) in Kennedy Space Center’s (KSC's) Vertical Processing Facility. The CEIT gives astronauts an opportunity to get a hands-on look at the payloads with which they will be working on-orbit. STS-87 will be the fourth United States Microgravity Payload and flight of the Spartan-201 deployable satellite. STS-87 is scheduled for a Nov. 19 liftoff from KSC

This image of the Pacific Ocean was produced using sea surface height measurements taken by NASA U.S.-French TOPEX/Poseidon satellite.

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. -- STS-83 Pilot Susan L. Still greets KSC postlanding operations workers on Runway 33 at the Space Center’s Shuttle Landing Facility after the Space Shuttle Orbiter Columbia landed at 2:33:11 p. m. EDT, April 8, to conclude the Microgravity Science Laboratory-1 (MSL-1) mission. At main gear touchdown, the STS-83 mission duration was 3 days, 23 hours, 12 minutes. The planned 16-day mission was cut short by a faulty fuel cell. This is only the third time in Shuttle program history that an orbiter was brought home early due to mechanical problems. This was also the 36th KSC landing since the program began in 1981

Olympus Mons Volcano

STS-82 Pilot Scott J. "Doc" Horowitz prepares to enter the Space Shuttle Discovery at Launch Pad 39A, with the assistance of white room closeout crew member James Davis

Mars Pathfinder Landing Ellipses

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. -- The Space Shuttle orbiter Atlantis touches down on Runway 33 at 9:22:44 a.m. EST Jan. 22 to conclude the fifth Shuttle-Mir docking mission and return NASA astronaut John Blaha to Earth after four months in space. Blaha was replaced by STS-81 Mission Specialist Jerry Linenger during the five days of docked operations. At main gear touchdown, the STS-81 mission duration was 10 days, 4 hours, 55 minutes. This was the 34th KSC landing in Shuttle history. Mission Commander Michael A. Baker flew Atlantis to a perfect landing, with help from Pilot Brent W. Jett, Jr. Other returning STS-81 crew members are Mission Specialists John M. Grunsfeld, Peter J. K. "Jeff" Wisoff and Marsha S. Ivins. Atlantis also brought back experiment samples from the Russian space station for analysis on Earth, along with Russian logistics equipment

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. -- The STS-85 flight crew greets a crowd of well-wishers as they walk out of the Operations and Checkout (O&C) Building for their ride to Launch Pad 39A, where they will take their places aboard the Space Shuttle Discovery. Waving to the crowd is Commander Curtis L. Brown, Jr.(right). Directly behind him are Mission Specialist Robert L. Curbeam, Jr. and Payload Specialist Bjarni V. Tryggvason. To Brown’s right is Payload Commander N. Jan Davis. Directly behind her are Pilot Kent V. Rominger and Mission Specialist Stephen K. Robinson. The primary payload aboard the Space Shuttle orbiter Discovery is the Cryogenic Infrared Spectrometers and Telescopes for the AtmosphereShuttle Pallet Satellite-2 (CRISTA-SPAS-2) free-flyer. Other payloads on the 11-day mission include the Manipulator Flight Demonstration (MFD), and Technology Applications and Science-1 (TAS-1) and International Extreme Ultraviolet Hitchhiker-2 (IEH-2) experiments

Applied Physics Laboratory Engineer Cliff Willey (kneeling) and Engineering Assistant Jim Hutcheson from Johns Hopkins University install solar array panels on the Advanced Composition Explorer (ACE) in KSC’s Spacecraft Assembly and Encapsulation Facility-II. Scheduled for launch on a Delta II rocket from Cape Canaveral Air Station on Aug. 25, ACE will study low-energy particles of solar origin and high-energy galactic particles for a better understanding of the formation and evolution of the solar system as well as the astrophysical processes involved. The ACE observatory will be placed into an orbit almost a million miles (1.5 million kilometers) away from the Earth, about 1/100 the distance from the Earth to the Sun. The collecting power of instrumentation aboard ACE is at least 100 times more sensitive than anything previously flown to collect similar data by NASA

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. - Workers in KSC's Vertical Processing Facility inspect the Near Infrared Camera and Multi-Object Spectrometer (NICMOS) on its handling fixture. NICMOS is one of two new scientific instruments that will replace two outdated instruments on the Hubble Space Telescope (HST). NICMOS will provide HST with the capability for infrared imaging and spectroscopic observations of astronomical targets. The refrigerator-sized NICMOS also is HST's first cryogenic instrument — its sensitive infrared detectors must operate at very cold temperatures of minus 355 degrees Fahrenheit or 58 degrees Kelvin. NICMOS will be installed in Hubble during STS-82, the second Hubble Space Telescope servicing mission. Liftoff is targeted Feb. 11 aboard Discovery with a crew of seven.

The Space Shuttle Atlantis blazes through the night sky to begin the STS-86 mission, slated to be the seventh of nine planned dockings of the Space Shuttle with the Russian Space Station Mir. Liftoff on Sept. 25 from Launch Pad 39A was at 10:34:19 p.m. EDT, within seconds of the preferred time, during a six-minute, 45-second launch window. The 10-day flight will include the transfer of the sixth U.S. astronaut to live and work aboard the Mir. After the docking, STS-86 Mission Specialist David A. Wolf will become a member of the Mir 24 crew, replacing astronaut C. Michael Foale, who will return to Earth aboard Atlantis with the remainder of the STS-86 crew. Foale has been on the Russian Space Station since mid-May. Wolf is scheduled to remain there about four months. Besides Wolf (embarking to Mir) and Foale (returning), the STS-86 crew includes Commander James D. Wetherbee, Pilot Michael J. Bloomfield, and Mission Specialists Wendy B. Lawrence, Scott E. Parazynski, Vladimir Georgievich Titov of the Russian Space Agency, and Jean-Loup J.M. Chretien of the French Space Agency, CNES. Other primary objectives of the mission are a spacewalk by Parazynski and Titov, and the exchange of about three-and-a-half tons of science/logistical equipment and supplies between Atlantis and the Mir

STS-87 Mission Specialist Takao Doi, Ph.D., of the National Space Development Agency of Japan, gives a ‘thumbs up’ in his launch and entry suit in the Operations and Checkout Building. He and the five other crew members will depart shortly for Launch Pad 39B, where the Space Shuttle Columbia awaits liftoff on a 16-day mission to perform microgravity and solar research. Dr. Doi is scheduled to perform an extravehicular activity spacewalk with Mission Specialist Winston Scott during STS-87

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, Fla. -- The Space Shuttle orbiter Discovery touches down in darkness on Runway 15 of the KSC Shuttle Landing Facility, bringing to a close the 10-day STS-82 mission to service the Hubble Space Telescope (HST). Main gear touchdown was at 3:32:26 a.m. EST on February 21, 1997. It was the ninth nighttime landing in the history of the Shuttle program and the 35th landing at KSC. The first landing opportunity at KSC was waved off because of low clouds in the area. The seven-member crew performed a record-tying five back-to-back extravehicular activities (EVAs) or spacewalks to service the telescope, which has been in orbit for nearly seven years. Two new scientific instruments were installed, replacing two outdated instruments. Five spacewalks also were performed on the first servicing mission, STS-61, in December 1993. Only four spacewalks were scheduled for STS-82, but a fifth one was added during the flight to install several thermal blankets over some aging insulation covering three HST compartments containing key data processing, electronics and scientific instrument telemetry packages. Crew members are Mission Commander Kenneth D. Bowersox, Pilot Scott J. "Doc" Horowitz, Payload Commander Mark C. Lee, and Mission Specialists Steven L. Smith, Gregory J. Harbaugh, Joseph R. "Joe" Tanner and Steven A. Hawley. STS-82 was the 82nd Space Shuttle flight and the second mission of 1997

STS-86 Commander James D. Wetherbee, at right, and Mission Specialist Vladimir Georgievich Titov prepare to leave from KSC’s Shuttle Landing Facility after participating in Terminal Countdown Demonstration Test (TCDT) activities. They are returning to Johnson Space Center, Houston, Texas, for final prelaunch training. Wetherbee will make his fourth spaceflight on STS-86, and his third as commander. Titov is a cosmonaut with the Russian Space Agency. He will make his fifth spaceflight, and second on the Space Shuttle. STS-86 will be the seventh docking of the Space Shuttle with the Russian Space Station Mir. Liftoff aboard Atlantis is targeted for Sept. 25 from Launch Pad 39A

The Great Red Spot GRS of Jupiter as seen by NASA Galileo imaging system. The image is a mosaic of six images taken over an 80 second interval during the first GRS observing sequence on June 26, 1996.

The Advanced Composition Explorer (ACE) spacecraft undergoes a spin test in KSC’s Spacecraft Assembly and Encapsulation Facility-II (SAEF-II). Scheduled for launch on a Delta II rocket from Cape Canaveral Air Station on Aug. 25, ACE will study low-energy particles of solar origin and high-energy galactic particles. The collecting power of instruments aboard ACE is 10 to 1,000 times greater than anything previously flown to collect similar data by NASA

STS087-357-019 (19 November - 5 December 1997) --- Astronaut Kalpana Chawla, mission specialist, operates Columbia's Remote Manipulator System (RMS) on the aft flight deck during operations with the Spartan 201 satellite. Chawla joined four other astronauts and a Ukrainian payload specialist for 16-days of research in Earth-orbit in support of the United States Microgravity Payload 4 (USMP-4) mission.

With the Vehicle Assembly Building looming in the background, Warner Bros.' cast and crew are filming scenes for the movie "Contact" at Kennedy Space Center's Launch Complex 39 Press Site on January 29. The screenplay for "Contact" is based on the best-selling novel by the late astronomer Carl Sagan. The cast includes Jodie Foster, Matthew McConaughey, John Hurt, James Woods, Tom Skerritt, David Morse, William Fichtner, Rob Lowe and Angela Bassett. Described by Warner Bros. as a science fiction drama, "Contact" will depict humankind's first encounter with evidence of extraterrestrial life

N-258 NAS (Numerical Aerodynamic Simulation) Computers - Silicon Graphics Power Challenge

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. -- Some of the former Apollo program astronauts tour the new Apollo/Saturn V Center (ASVC) at KSC prior to the gala grand opening ceremony for the facility that was held Jan. 8, 1997. The astronauts were invited to participate in the event, which also featured NASA Administrator Dan Goldin and KSC Director Jay Honeycutt. Discussing old times are (from left) Apollo 10 Lunar Module Pilot and Apollo 17 Commander Eugene A. Cernan; Apollo 10 Commander Thomas P. Stafford and Apollo 16 Commander John W. Young. The ASVC also features several other Apollo program spacecraft components, multimedia presentations and a simulated Apollo/ Saturn V liftoff. The facility will be a part of the KSC bus tour that embarks from the KSC Visitor Center

S97-00254 (17 Dec 1996) --- The STS-81 flight crew goes over pre-flight checklists on the flight deck of the Space Shuttle Atlantis during the final phase of the Terminal Countdown Demonstration Test (TCDT) exercises for the January 1997 mission. Crew members pictured, are (from the left) Brent W. Jett, Jr., pilot; Peter J. K. (Jeff) Wisoff and John M. Grunsfeld, mission specialists; along with Michael A. Baker, mission commander. The TCDT represents a simulated final countdown until just before main engine ignition. The astronauts are in their flight positions with the Orbiter in a vertical attitude at Launch Pad 39B, with the camera pointed down from the forward cabin. This angle creates the illusion that astronaut Pam Melroy (in lab suit), mission support assistant, is floating in space. On the mid-deck and out of frame are astronauts Marsha S. Ivins and Jerry M. Linenger. The six will visit Russia?s Mir Space Station, from which they will retrieve John M. Blaha who has been aboard the Mir since September of 1996. Linenger is to replace Blaha, as cosmonaut guest researcher.

Gliding parachute test in 40x80 foot Wind Tunnel, mounted on main strut flying horizontally.

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. -- The Space Shuttle Atlantis transforms the early morning at KSC into near-daylight as its more than 7 million pounds of rocket thrust propels it from Launch Pad 39B at 4:27:23 a.m. EST Jan. 12 on its way to dock with the Mir space station for the fifth time.The 10-day mission will feature the transfer of Mission Specialist Jerry Linenger to Mir to replace astronaut John Blaha, who has been on the orbital laboratory since Sept. 19, 1996. The other STS-81 crew members include Mission Commander Michael A. Baker; Pilot Brent W. Jett, Jr.; and Mission Specialists John M. Grunsfeld, Peter J. K. "Jeff" Wisoff and Marsha S. Ivins. During the five-day docking operations, the Shuttle and Mir crews will conduct risk mitigation, human life science, microgravity and materials processing experiments that will provide data for the design, development and operation of the International Space Station. The primary payload is the SPACEHAB-DM double module that will provide space for more than 2,000 pounds of hardware, food and water that will be transferred into the Russian space station. The SPACEHAB will also be used to return experiment samples from the Mir to Earth for analysis and for microgravity experiments during the mission

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. -- The Space Shuttle orbiter Columbia touches down on Runway 33 at KSC’s Shuttle Landing Facility at 6:46:34 a.m. EDT with Mission Commander James D. Halsell Jr. and Pilot Susan L. Still at the controls to complete the STS-94 mission. Also on board are Mission Specialist Donald A. Thomas, Mission Specialist Michael L. Gernhardt, Payload Commander Janice Voss, and Payload Specialists Roger K. Crouch and Gregory T. Linteris. During the Microgravity Science Laboratory-1 (MSL-1) mission, the Spacelab module was used to test some of the hardware, facilities and procedures that are planned for use on the International Space Station while the flight crew conducted combustion, protein crystal growth and materials processing experiments. This mission was a reflight of the STS-83 mission that lifted off from KSC in April of this year. That space flight was cut short due to indications of a faulty fuel cell. This was Columbia’s 11th landing at KSC and the 38th landing at the space center in the history of the Shuttle program

S82-E-5242 (14 Feb. 1997) --- Astronaut Steven L. Smith, STS-82 mission specialist, prepares to open aft shroud of Hubble Space Telescope (HST) for repair. This view was taken with an Electronic Still Camera (ESC).

STS-84 Mission Specialists C. Michael Foale, at left, and Elena V. Kondakova, of the Russian Space Agency, find a moment to communicate one-on-one, perhaps about upcoming and past experiences living on the Russian Space Station Mir, during a busy training session at Launch Pad 39A. They and the other five crew members are participating in the Terminal Countdown Demonstration Test (TCDT), a dress rehearsal for launch. STS-84 aboard Atlantis will be the sixth docking of the Space Shuttle with the Mir. Kondakova spent 169 days in space as the cosmonaut flight engineer of the 17th main mission to Mir from Oct. 4, 1994, to March 9, 1995. After Atlantis docks with Mir on STS-84, Foale will transfer to the space station and become a member of the Mir 23 crew, replacing U.S. astronaut Jerry M. Linenger, who will return to Earth aboard Atlantis. Foale will live and work on Mir until mid-September when his replacement is expected to arrive on the STS-86 mission. STS-84 is targeted for a May 15 liftoff.

Cassini in the Payload Hazardous Servicing Facilit

Sunset at the Viking Lander 1 Site

Avrocar Annular Jet VTOL Airplane in Ames 40x80 foot Wind Tunnel.

(11/12/1971) 3/4 Scale swept augmentor wing Quest model being installed into the test section of the ames 40 x 80 foot wind tunnel, overhead doors open.

Workers hoist the first stage of a Lockheed Martin Launch Vehicle-2 (LMLV-2) for placement at Launch Complex 46 at Cape Canaveral Air Station (CCAS), Fla. The Lunar Prospector spacecraft is scheduled to launch aboard the LMLV-2 from CCAS in October for an 18-month mission that will orbit the Earth’s Moon to collect data from the lunar surface. Information gathered during the mission will allow construction of a detailed map of the surface composition of the Moon and will improve our understanding of its origin, evolution, current state, and resources

This NASA Voyager 1 image was taken of Jupiter darkside on March 5, 1979 when the spacecraft was in Jupiter shadow, about 6 hours after closest approach to the planet at a distance of 320,000 miles. http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA00204

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. -- Seen carrying a spent solid rocket booster (SRB) from the STS-87 launch on Nov. 19 is the solid rocket booster recovery ship Liberty Star as it reenters the Hangar AF area at Cape Canaveral Air Station. Hangar AF is a building originally used for Project Mercury, the first U.S. manned space program. The SRBs are the largest solid propellant motors ever flown and the first designed for reuse. After a Shuttle is launched, the SRBs are jettisoned at two minutes, seven seconds into the flight. At six minutes and 44 seconds after liftoff, the spent SRBs, weighing about 165,000 lb., have slowed their descent speed to about 62 mph and splashdown takes place in a predetermined area. They are retrieved from the Atlantic Ocean by special recovery vessels and returned for refurbishment and eventual reuse on future Shuttle flights. Once at Hangar AF, the SRBs are unloaded onto a hoisting slip and mobile gantry cranes lift them onto tracked dollies where they are safed and undergo their first washing

The Huygens probe, which will study the clouds, atmosphere and surface of Saturn's moon, Titan, as part of the Cassini mission to Saturn, arrives in a cargo plane at the Skid Strip, Cape Canaveral Air Station (CCAS). The probe was designed and developed for the European Space Agency (ESA) by a European industrial consortium led by Aerospatiale as prime contractor. Over the past year, it was integrated and tested at the facilities of Daimler Benz Aerospace Dornier Satellitensysteme in Germany. The probe will be mated to the Cassini orbiter, which was designed and assembled at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California. The Cassini launch is targeted for October 6 from CCAS aboard a Titan IVB/Centaur expendable launch vehicle. After arrival at Saturn in 2004, the probe will be released from the Cassini orbiter to enter the Titan atmosphere

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. -- STS-87: Columbia

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, Fla. -- STS-86 Mission Specialist Jean-Loup J.M. Chretien of the French Space Agency, CNES, prepares to join his fellow crew members, Mission Specialists Wendy B. Lawrence and David A. Wolf, at far left, in a slidewire basket during emergency egress training at Launch Pad 39A. The crew is at KSC to participate in the Terminal Countdown Demonstration Test (TCDT), a dress rehearsal for launch. STS-86 will be the seventh docking of the Space Shuttle with the Russian Space Station Mir. Liftoff of the Space Shuttle Atlantis on Mission STS-86 is targeted for Sept. 25

This area of terrain near the Sagan Memorial Station was taken by NASA Mars Pathfinder. The curved rock dubbed Couch. 3D glasses are necessary to identify surface detail.

STS081-717-096 (12-22 Jan. 1997) --- The crewmembers, like astronauts 30 years ago, found the Nile River and its conspicuous delta an irresistible photo target from space, in this case from the Space Shuttle Atlantis' overhead windows. The majority of people living in Egypt reside in the city of Cairo. One of the most intensely cultivated lands in the world, the Nile delta can lay claim to some of the highest levels of soil salinity, as well as to being one of the highest users of fertilizer. The majority of Egypt's arable land is located in the delta. Cairo is "young" when compared to Egypt's long history, and has been a city since the Roman Empire. Although the city itself is relatively young, a site on the eastern bank of the Nile became the first capital of Egypt around 4225 BC. The city was called "Oun", but later was renamed Heliopolis by the Greeks. In 1991 the population of Cairo was estimated to be 54,600,000. The Pyramids of Gizai, one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, can be seen on the western edge of the Nile delta and Cairo. The smallest and youngest of three Old Kingdom pyramids, Menkaure, is hard to distinguish because of its small size which casts a small shadow. Khafre is located between Menkaure and the Great Pyramid, and was originally 143 meters high. From the ground it appears that Khafre is taller than the other pyramids but this is an illusion caused by Khafre being built on higher ground. Khufu, or the Great Pyramid, was the first of the three to be built, and at an original height of 147 meters, is the tallest pyramid.

The Manipulator Flight Demonstration (MFD) payload is installed into the payload bay of the Space Shuttle Orbiter Discovery in Orbiter Processing Facility 2. The MFD is one of several payloads that will fly on the STS-85 mission. This payload is designed to test the operational capability of the Japanese Experiment Module Remote Manipulator System (JEM RMS) Small Fine Arm (SFA), which can be seen atop its Multi-Purpose Experiment Support Structure (MPESS) carrier that will serve as a platform in the payload bay for the robotic arm experiment. The arm, which will be a part of the JEM element of the International Space Station, will be operated from the orbiter’s aft flight deck during the 11-day mission. Other payloads that will be aboard Discovery on this space flight include the Cryogenic Infrared Spectrometers and Telescopes for the Atmosphere-Shuttle Pallet Satellite-2 (CRISTA- SPAS-2), Technology Applications and Science-1 (TAS-1) and International Extreme Ultraviolet Hitchhiker (IEH-2) experiments

The Lower Equipment Module of the Cassini spacecraft is lifted into a workstand in the Payload Hazardous Servicing Facility (PHSF). Cassini will explore the Saturnian system, including the planet’s rings and its moon, Titan. Launch of the Cassini mission to Saturn is scheduled for Oct. 6 from Launch Complex 40, Cape Canaveral Air Station, aboard a Titan IVB unmanned vehicle

Surface Sampler Arm http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA00398

The Space Shuttle orbiter Atlantis touches down on Runway 33 of the KSC Shuttle Landing Facility, bringing to an end the nine-day STS-84 mission. Main gear touchdown was at 9:27:44 EDT on May 24, 1997. The first landing opportunity was waved off because of low cloud cover. It was the 37th landing at KSC since the Shuttle program began in 1981, and the eighth consecutive landing at KSC. STS-84 was the sixth of nine planned dockings of the Space Shuttle with the Russian Space Station Mir. Atlantis was docked with the Mir for five days. STS-84 Mission Specialist C. Michael Foale replaced astronaut and Mir 23 crew member Jerry M. Linenger, who has been on the Russian space station since Jan. 15. Linenger returned to Earth on Atlantis with the rest of the STS-84 crew, Mission Commander Charles J. Precourt, Pilot Eileen Marie Collins, and Mission Specialists Carlos I. Noriega, Edward Tsang Lu, Elena V. Kondakova of the Russian Space Agency and JeanFrancois Clervoy of the European Space Agency. Foale is scheduled to remain on the Mir for approximately four months, until he is replaced by STS-86 crew member Wendy B. Lawrence in September. Besides the docking and crew exchange, STS-84 included the transfer of more than 7,300 pounds of water, logistics and science experiments and hardware to and from the Mir. Scientific experiments conducted during the STS-84 mission, and scheduled for Foale’s stay on the Mir, are in the fields of advanced technology, Earth sciences, fundamental biology, human life sciences, International Space Station risk mitigation, microgravity sciences and space sciences

STS-84 Mission Specialist C. Michael Foale, at center, exhibits great enthusiasm for the upcoming Space Shuttle mission to onlookers during the dress rehearsal of the crew’s walkout from the Operations and Checkout Building. He and the other six STS-84 crew members are participating in an abbreviated practice countdown to launch called the Terminal Countdown Demonstration Test (TCDT). In front of Foale is Mission Specialist Elena V. Kondakova, a Russian cosmonaut. Behind Foale, from left, are Mission Specialist Jean-Francois Clervoy, an astronaut with the European Space Agency; and U.S. astronauts and STS-84 Mission Specialists Edward Tsang Lu and Carlos I. Noriega. Already out of camera view are Pilot Eileen Marie Collins and Commander Charles J. Precourt. During the sixth ShuttleMir docking, Foale will take his place aboard the Russian Space Station Mir as a member of the Mir 23 crew, replacing U.S. astronaut Jerry M. Linenger, who will return to Earth on Atlantis. Launch of STS-84 is targeted for May 15

Topographic detail is seen in this stereoscopic view of the Galileo Regio region of Jupiter moon Ganymede. The picture is a computer reconstruction from two images taken by NASA Galileo during 1996.

STS-86 crew members get a ride in, and learn to operate, an M-113 armored personnel carrier as part of training exercises during the Terminal Countdown Demonstration Test (TCDT), a dress rehearsal for launch. George Hoggard, in back at left, a training officer with KSC Fire Services, provides this part of the training to Mission Specialists David A. Wolf, to the right of Hoggard; Jean-Loup J.M. Chretien of the French Space Agency; and Vladimir Georgievich Titov, in foreground, of the Russian Space Agency. STS-86 will be the seventh docking of the Space Shuttle with the Russian Space Station Mir. During the docking, Wolf will transfer to the orbiting Russian station and become a member of the Mir 24 crew, replacing U.S. astronaut C. Michael Foale, who has been on the Mir since the last docking mission, STS-84, in May. Launch of Mission STS-86 aboard the Space Shuttle Atlantis is targeted for Sept. 25 from Launch Pad 39A

This 360 degree "monster" panorama was taken by the deployed Imager for Mars Pathfinder (IMP) on Sol 3. All three petals, the perimeter of the deflated airbags, deployed rover Sojourner, forward and backward ramps and prominent surface features are visible. The IMP stands 1.8 meters over the Martian surface. The curvature and misalignment of several sections are due to image parallax. http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA00662

STS084-714-007 (15-24 May 1997) --- This 70mm image of the island of Corsica was photographed from the Space Shuttle Atlantis during the STS-84 mission. Birthplace of Napoleon Bonaparte, Corsica is the fourth largest island (after Sicily, Sardinia, and Cyprus) in the Mediterranean. Two-thirds of the island is mountainous with the majority of the population (1990-249, 737) living on the east coast (the "handle on the island points north). French is the official language.

Middle school students across the country photographed the fires and smoke over southern Sumatra from a camera aboard the Space Shuttle Atlantis September 27, 1997.

S82-E-5420 (15 Feb. 1997) --- Astronauts Gregory J. Harbaugh (left) and Joseph R. Tanner (right) during Mobile Foot Restraint (MFR) exchange. This view was taken with an Electronic Still Camera (ESC).

A Boeing Delta II expendable launch vehicle lifts off with NASA’s Advanced Composition Explorer (ACE) observatory at 10:39 a.m. EDT, on Aug. 25, 1997, from Launch Complex 17A, Cape Canaveral Air Station. This is the second Delta launch under the Boeing name and the first from Cape Canaveral. Launch was scrubbed one day by Air Force range safety personnel because two commercial fishing vessels were within the Delta’s launch danger area. The ACE spacecraft will study low-energy particles of solar origin and high-energy galactic particles on its one-million-mile journey. The collecting power of instruments aboard ACE is 10 to 1,000 times greater than anything previously flown to collect similar data by NASA. Study of these energetic particles may contribute to our understanding of the formation and evolution of the solar system. ACE has a two-year minimum mission lifetime and a goal of five years of service. ACE was built for NASA by the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory and is managed by the Explorer Project Office at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center. The lead scientific institution is the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) in Pasadena, Calif

ER-2 tail number 706, was one of two Airborne Science ER-2s used as science platforms by Dryden. The aircraft were platforms for a variety of high-altitude science missions flown over various parts of the world. They were also used for earth science and atmospheric sensor research and development, satellite calibration and data validation.

SIGB (Standard Interface Glove Box) & MRS (Middeck Rack Structure).

NASA's Lunar Prospector is taken out of its crate at Astrotech, a commercial payload processing facility, in Titusville, Fla. The small robotic spacecraft, to be launched for NASA on an Athena 2 rocket by Lockheed Martin, is designed to provide the first global maps of the Moon's surface compositional elements and its gravitational and magnetic fields. While at Astrotech, Lunar Prospector will be fueled with its attitude control propellant and then mated to a Trans-Lunar Injection Stage which is a solid propellant upper stage motor. The combination will next be spin tested to verify proper balance, then encapsulated into an Athena nose fairing. Then the Lunar Prospector will be transported from Astrotech to Cape Canaveral Air Station and mated to an Athena rocket. The launch of Lunar Prospector is scheduled for Jan. 5, 1998 at 8:31 p.m

The cover on the Cassini Propulsion Module is installed, and the module is moved to the Payload Hazardous Servicing Facility

STS-85 Pilot Kent V. Rominger is assisted with his ascent/reentry flight suit in the Operations and Checkout (O&C) Building. He is a commander in the Navy and is on his third Shuttle mission. Rominger previously flew in this capacity on STS-73 and STS-80. He holds a master’s degree in aeronautical engineering and has more than 4,500 hours of flight time and 685 carrier landings. Rominger will assist Commander Curtis L. Brown, Jr. with all phases of the space flight and during the test of International Space Station rendezvous procedures during the Cryogenic Infrared Spectrometers and Telescopes for the Atmosphere-Shuttle Pallet Satellite-2 (CRISTA-SPAS-2) free-flyer retrieval. He will also be busy with the many and varied tasks associated with monitoring and maintaining the orbiter. In addition, Rominger will operate the Solid Surface Combustion Middeck Experiment. The primary payload aboard the Space Shuttle orbiter Discovery is the CRISTA-SPAS-2. Other payloads on the 11-day mission include the Manipulator Flight Demonstration (MFD), and Technology Applications and Science-1 (TAS-1) and International Extreme Ultraviolet Hitchhiker-2 (IEH-2) experiments

F-18 Systems Research Aircraft (SRA) in flight

STS082-742-047 (11-21 Feb. 1997) --- On Flight Day 5, astronaut Joseph R. Tanner (left) holds a 500 pound piece of hardware as he stands on the end of the Space Shuttle Discovery's Remote Manipulator System (RMS) arm, as tethered astronaut Gregory J. Harbaugh works nearby. The piano-shaped object held aloft by Tanner is actually the Fine Guidance Sensor 1 (FGS-1), which Tanner had just removed from the Hubble Space Telescope (HST). Harbaugh is inspecting the FGS' bay to set the stage for the two to insert the replacement hardware. EDITOR'S NOTE: For orientation purposes, the picture should be held with Space Shuttle's OMS pods at top.

Large boulders are visible in this enlargement of pictures taken by the Imager for Mars Pathfinder (IMP) lander camera on July 4, 1997. The landing site is in the dry flood channel named Ares Valles. The boulders probably represent deposits from one of the catastrophic floods that carved the ancient channel. Between the rocks is brownish windblown soil. The gray-tan sky results from dust particles in the atmosphere. http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA00609

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. – Official portrait of Roy D. Bridges, Jr., Director of Kennedy Space Center. Photo credit: NASA

This picture contains two images of Jupiter moon Io and its surrounding sky. This image was taken by NASA Galileo spacecraft in 1996.

The Space Shuttle Columbia (STS-94) soared from Launch Pad 39A begirning its 16-day Microgravity Science Laboratory -1 (MSL-1) mission. The launch window was opened 47 minutes earlier than the originally scheduled time to improve the opportunity to lift off before Florida summer rain showers reached the space center. During the space flight, the MSL-1 was used to test some of the hardware, facilities and procedures that were planned for use on the International Space Station which were managed by scientists and engineers from the Marshall Space Flight Center, while the flight crew conducted combustion, protein crystal growth and materials processing experiments. Also onboard was the Hitchhiker Cryogenic Flexible Diode (CRYOFD) experiment payload, which was attached to the right side of Columbia's payload bay. These payloads had previously flown on the STS-83 mission in April, which was cut short after nearly four days because of indications of a faulty fuel cell. STS-94 was a reflight of that mission.

STS081-711-009 (12-22 Jan. 1997) --- As photographed with a 70mm handheld camera from the Earth-orbiting Space Shuttle Atlantis, this image provides a northeastward panorama of the Florida peninsula, the northern Bahamas and Cuba as well as a synoptic view of the northern Caribbean region. Lake Okeechobee and the urban region around Miami are the two key visual points in Florida. The turquoise shallow water platforms around the Florida Keys, the Bahamas, and south of Cuba contrast with the deep blue color of the deeper channels which separate Florida from Cuba and the Bahamas. Offshore breezes keep the coastal areas clear of clouds.

The CRISTA-SPAS payload, manifested on Space Shuttle Mission STS-85, is placed in the transport canister

Laser Altimeter Profiles Across Amazonis Planitia