Closeup View of Compacted Soil

In this artist's conception, a possible newfound planet spins through a clearing in a nearby star's dusty, planet-forming disc. This clearing was detected around the star CoKu Tau 4 by NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope. Astronomers believe that an orbiting massive body, like a planet, may have swept away the star's disc material, leaving a central hole. The possible planet is theorized to be at least as massive as Jupiter, and may have a similar appearance to what the giant planets in our own solar system looked like billions of years ago. A graceful ring, much like Saturn's, spins high above the planet's cloudy atmosphere. The ring is formed from countless small orbiting particles of dust and ice, leftovers from the initial gravitational collapse that formed the possible giant planet. If we were to visit a planet like this, we would have a very different view of the universe. The sky, instead of being the familiar dark expanse lit by distant stars, would be dominated by the thick disc of dust that fills this young planetary system. The view looking toward CoKu Tau 4 would be relatively clear, as the dust in the interior of the disc has fallen into the accreting star. A bright band would seem to surround the central star, caused by light scattered back by the dust in the disc. Looking away from CoKu Tau 4, the dusty disc would appear dark, blotting out light from all the stars in the sky except those which lie well above the plane of the disc. http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA05988

Parametric Inlet Model in 10x10 Wind Tunnel

NASA DC-8 Ground Support Technicians Mark Corlew and Mike Lakowski perform routine maintenance on the aircraft at Carlos Ibanez del Campo International Airport in Punta Arenas, Chile. AirSAR 2004 is a three-week expedition by an international team of scientists that is using an all-weather imaging tool, called the Airborne Synthetic Aperture Radar (AirSAR) which is located onboard NASA's DC-8 airborne laboratory. Scientists from many parts of the world including NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory are combining ground research done in several areas in Central and South America with NASA's AirSAR technology to improve and expand on the quality of research they are able to conduct. In South America and Antarctica, AirSAR will collect imagery and data to help determine the contribution of Southern Hemisphere glaciers to sea level rise due to climate change. In Patagonia, researchers found this contribution had more than doubled from 1995 to 2000, compared to the previous 25 years. AirSAR data will make it possible to determine whether that trend is decreasing, continuing or accelerating. AirSAR will also provide reliable information on ice shelf thickness to measure the contribution of the glaciers to sea level.

SMALL BUSINESS INNOVATIVE RESEARCH - SBIR - PARTNER DEFORMATION CONTROL TECHNOLOGIES INC

DC-8 Quality Inspector Scott Silver signs documents while Acting Crew Chief Mike Bereda looks on prior to a DC-8 AirSAR flight in Costa Rica. AirSAR 2004 Mesoamerica is a three-week expedition by an international team of scientists that uses an all-weather imaging tool, called the Airborne Synthetic Aperture Radar (AirSAR) which is located onboard NASA's DC-8 airborne laboratory. Scientists from many parts of the world including NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory are combining ground research done in several areas in Central America with NASA's AirSAR technology to improve and expand on the quality of research they are able to conduct. The radar, developed by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, can penetrate clouds and also collect data at night. Its high-resolution sensors operate at multiple wavelengths and modes, allowing AirSAR to see beneath treetops, through thin sand, and dry snow pack. AirSAR's 2004 campaign is a collaboration of many U.S. and Central American institutions and scientists, including NASA; the National Science Foundation; the Smithsonian Institution; National Geographic; Conservation International; the Organization of Tropical Studies; the Central American Commission for Environment and Development; and the Inter-American Development Bank.

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. -- After his presentation, Center Director Jim Kennedy signs a memento for a student at Howard A. Doolin Middle School, Miami, Fla. The school is one of 100 taking part in the NASA Explorer Schools (NES) program. Kennedy visited the school to share America’s new vision for space exploration with the next generation of explorers. He is talking with students in Florida and Georgia Explorer Schools about our destiny as explorers, NASA’s stepping stone approach to exploring Earth, the Moon, Mars and beyond, how space impacts our lives, and how people and machines rely on each other in space.

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. - At Pad 17-B, Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, the first Solid Rocket Booster (SRB) for the MESSENGER spacecraft launch is raised from the transporter. The SRB will be mated to the Boeing Delta II Heavy rocket for the Aug. 2 launch of MESSENGER to the planet Mercury. The spacecraft is expected to reach orbit around the planet in March 2011. MESSENGER was built for NASA by the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory in Laurel, Md.

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. - In the mobile service tower on Pad 17-B, Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Fla., Boeing technicians prepare to remove the second stage from the Boeing Delta II rocket that will launch the Deep Impact spacecraft. Removal of the second stage will allow workers to then remove the rocket’s inter-stage adapter, which was found to be faulty during a review of launch vehicle hardware. It will be replaced and the second stage re-installed within a few days. Launch of Deep Impact is now scheduled no earlier than Jan. 12.

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. - On Launch Pad 17-B at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, the MESSENGER (Mercury Surface, Space Environment, Geochemistry and Ranging) spacecraft is seen atop the Delta II upper stage booster (middle) and the Delta II launch vehicle below. The spacecraft is ready for installation of the fairing, a molded structure that fits flush with the outside surface of the upper stage booster and forms an aerodynamically smooth joint, protecting the spacecraft during launch. Seen on the right is one of the solar panels on the spacecraft. On the left is the heat-resistant, ceramic-cloth sunshade that will protect the spacecraft’s instruments as MESSENGER orbits the Mercury where the surface reaches a high temperature near 840 degrees Fahrenheit and the solar intensity can be 11 times greater than on Earth. MESSENGER is scheduled to launch Aug. 2 and is expected to enter Mercury orbit in March 2011. MESSENGER was built for NASA by the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory in Laurel, Md.

Expedition 9 Commander Gennady Padalka trains on a Soyuz simulator at the Cosmonaut Hotel, Thursday, April 15, 2004, in Baikonur, Kazakhstan. Photo Credit: (NASA/Bill Ingalls)

X-45A in flight with F-18 #846 chase aircraft, during first GPS-guided weapon demonstration flight.

Moon and its Flock

NASA's F-15B Research Testbed aircraft flew instrumentation in June 2004 called the Local Mach Investigation (LMI), designed to gather local airflow data for future research projects using the aircraft's Propulsion Flight Test Fixture (PFTF). The PFTF is the black rectangular fixture attached to the aircraft's belly. The LMI package was located in the orange device attached to the PFTF.

The Soyuz TMA-4 capsule is prepared for mating with its booster rocket at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in preparation for a launch on April 19 of the Expedition 9 crew and a European astronaut to the International Space Station, Friday, April 16, 2004 in Baikonur, Kazakhstan. Photo Credit: (NASA/Bill Ingalls)

Morrison Motor

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. -- Damon Petty, with United Space Alliance, covers another insulation blanket in the “oven” prior to heat cleaning. The blankets fit inside the nose cap of an orbiter. They consist of layered, pure silica felt sandwiched between a layer of silica fabric (the hot side) and a layer of S-Glass fabric. The blanket is through-stitched with pure silica thread in a 1-inch grid pattern. After fabrication, the blanket is bonded directly to the vehicle structure and finally coated with a high purity silica coating that improves erosion resistance. The blankets are semi-rigid and can be made as large as 30 inches by 30 inches.

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. -- At the Astrotech Space Operations processing facilities, the attachment of NASA’s MESSENGER spacecraft to a test stand is complete. The spacecraft is now ready for employees of the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, builders of the spacecraft, to begin final processing for launch, including checkout of the power systems, communications systems and control systems. The thermal blankets will also be attached for flight. MESSENGER - short for MErcury Surface, Space ENvironment, GEochemistry and Ranging - will be launched aboard a Boeing Delta II rocket no earlier than July 30 on a six-year mission to study the planet Mercury.

Saturn from Far and Near

JSC2004-E-42291 (24 September 2004) --- Astronaut Charles J. Camarda (left) and JAXA astronaut Soichi Noguchi, both STS-114 mission specialists, attired in training versions of the shuttle launch and entry suit, await the start of a mission training session in the Space Vehicle Mockup Facility at Johnson Space Center (JSC).

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. - NASA Administrator Sean O’Keefe talks to the media at the Central Florida Research Park, near Orlando. He and government officials were at the park for a presentation about the assets of the research park as the site of NASA’s new Shared Services Center. Behind O’Keefe are (left to right) Pamella J. Dana, Ph.D., director, Office of Tourism, Trade, and Economic Development in Florida; and Florida Congressman Tom Feeney. Six sites around the U.S. are under consideration for location of the Center, which would centralize NASA’s payroll, accounting, human resources, facilities and procurement offices that are now handled at each field center. The consolidation is part of the One NASA focus. Others attending the presentation included U.S. U.S. Senator Bill Nelson, U.S. Representative Ric Keller, Congressman Dave Weldon and Center Director Jim Kennedy.

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. - On Pad 17-B, Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, a second Solid Rocket Booster (SRB) is lifted up the mobile service tower. The SRB and eight others will be mated to the Boeing Delta II Heavy rocket for the Aug. 2 launch of the MESSENGER spacecraft to the planet Mercury. The spacecraft is expected to reach orbit around Mercury in March 2011. MESSENGER was built for NASA by the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory in Laurel, Md.

Ultra-Efficient Engine Technology - UEET - Proof of Concept Compressor, Two-stage Compressor

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. - On Launch Pad 39A, astronaut-suited workers take part in an emergency egress scenario. The four-hour exercise simulated normal launch countdown operations, with the added challenge of a fictitious event causing an evacuation of the vehicle and launch pad. It tested the team’s rescue approaches on the Fixed Service Structure, slidewire basket evacuation, triage care and transportation of injured personnel to hospitals, as well as communications and coordination.

In the Arabian Sea, sunlight and nutrients has fueled a startling occurrence of colorful phytoplankton and bacterial assemblages, which is captured in these natural color images from NASA Terra spacecraft October 2, 2004.

Eagle Crater Traverse Area

SILICON CARBIDE GROWTH FACILITY - CLEAN ROOM FACILITY AND SURFACE ANALYTICAL LABS

Hill and Depression

Close-up of Wopmay

Spirit Hardware Up Close on Mars

ISS008-E-21606 (15 April 2004) --- Astronaut C. Michael Foale, Expedition 8 commander and NASA ISS science officer, completes his third and final data collection with the Hand Posture Analysis (HPA) investigation in the Destiny laboratory on the International Space Station (ISS). After setting up the video tape recorder (VTR) for documenting the activities, Foale used the posture acquisition glove (PAG), which has delicate sensors attached to the tops of the fingers, to operate the handgrip dynamometer (HGD).

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. - KSC employees clean up inside the second floor of the Thermal Protection System Facility damaged by Hurricane Frances. The storm's path over Florida took it through Cape Canaveral and KSC property during Labor Day weekend. Located in Launch Complex 39, the facility is used to manufacture both internal and external insulation products for the Space Shuttle orbiters.

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. -- In the Space Shuttle Main Engine Shop at KSC, Boeing Product Support Director Dan Hausman (left) talks with STS-114 Mission Commander Eileen Collins. Behind them is one of the main engines. Crew members are touring several areas on Center. The STS-114 mission is Logistics Flight 1, which is scheduled to deliver supplies and equipment plus the external stowage platform to the International Space Station.

Fretted Terrain Valley Floor

A Russian made all terrain vehicle waits to transport crew members from the inflatable medical tent to their helicopters, Friday, April 30, 2004, following the landing of Expedition 8 in north central Kazakhstan. Commander Michael Foale, Soyuz Flight Engineer Alexander Kaleri and European Space Agency astronaut Andre Kuipers, of the Netherlands landed in a Soyuz TMA-3 capsule. Foale and Kaleri completed 195 days in space aboard the International Space Station, while Kuipers returned after an 11-day research mission as part of a commercial agreement between ESA and the Russian Federal Space Agency. Photo Credit: (NASA/Bill Ingalls)

Mars Exploration Rover MER-A Spirit Landing Site

Dunes in Twilight

Cassini Captures the Cassini Division

HYBRID POWER MANAGEMENT PROGRAM EU GLOBAL E BIKE

The Laminar Soot Processes (LSP) Experiment Mounting Structure (EMS) was used to conduct the LSP experiment on Combustion Module-1. The EMS was inserted into the nozzle on the EMS and ignited by a hot wire igniter. The flame and its soot emitting properties were studied.

Aero Acoustic Propulsion Laboratory (AAPL); Williams Engine test for business class jet aircraft

his view of the interior slope and rim of "Endurance Crater" comes from the navigation camera on NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity with an assist from the European Space Agency's Mars Express orbiter. Opportunity took the three frames that make up this image on the rover's 188th martian day (Aug. 4, 2004), before transmitting this and other data to Mars Express. The orbiter then relayed the data to Earth. Rover wheel tracks are visible in the foreground. http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA06758

This image represents a view of NASA Kepler supernova remnant taken in X-rays, visible light, and infrared radiation, indicating that the bubble of gas that makes up the supernova remnant appears different in various types of light. http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA06909

ISS009-E-23121 (16 September 2004) --- Hurricane Ivan moves inland as photographed by astronaut Edward M. (Mike) Fincke aboard the International Space Station on Thursday afternoon (22:21:34 GMT, Sept. 16). Ivan made landfall early Thursday near Pensacola, Fla. and the Florida-Alabama border.

Gordii Fossae Troughs

L to R; NASA Dryden Mission Manager Walter Klein (in tan flight suit), JPL AirSAR Scientist Tim Miller, and Mission Manager David Bushman briefing press in Santiago, Chile, for NASA's AirSAR 2004 mission. AirSAR 2004 is a three-week expedition by an international team of scientists that uses an all-weather imaging tool, called the Airborne Synthetic Aperture Radar (AirSAR) which is located onboard NASA's DC-8 airborne laboratory. Scientists from many parts of the world including NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory are combining ground research done in several areas in Central and South America with NASA's AirSAR technology to improve and expand on the quality of research they are able to conduct. In South America and Antarctica, AirSAR collected imagery and data to help determine the contribution of Southern Hemisphere glaciers to sea level rise due to climate change. In Patagonia, researchers found this contribution had more than doubled from 1995 to 2000, compared to the previous 25 years. AirSAR data will make it possible to determine whether that trend is continuing or accelerating. AirSAR will also provide reliable information on ice shelf thickness to measure the contribution of the glaciers to sea level.

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. - Wrapped in clouds of smoke, the Boeing Delta II rocket with its MESSENGER spacecraft on top climbs free as it lifts off on time at 2:15:56 a.m. EDT from Launch Pad 17-B, Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. MESSENGER (Mercury Surface, Space Environment, Geochemistry and Ranging) is on a seven-year, 4.9-billion-mile journey to the planet Mercury. The spacecraft will fly by Earth, Venus and Mercury several times, as well as circling the sun 15 times, to burn off energy before making its final approach to the inner planet on March 18, 2011. MESSENGER was built for NASA by the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory in Laurel, Md.

Sirenum Fossae Troughs

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. - In the water for a practice dive in the ocean offshore from Key Largo are the NASA Extreme Environment Mission Operations 6 (NEEMO-6) mission team: (left to right) Tara Ruttley, a biomedical engineer, and astronauts Nick Patrick, John Herrington and Doug Wheelock. The NEEMO-6 mission involves exposing an astronaut/scientist crew to a real mission experience in an extreme environment - the NOAA undersea station Aquarius - to prepare for future space flight. Spacewalk-like diving excursions and field-tests on a variety of biomedical equipment are designed to help astronauts living aboard the International Space Station. To prepare for their 10-day stay, the team had dive training twice a day at the Life Support Buoy, anchored above Aquarius.

Boulder Rings

Two Holes in Wooly Patch

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. - After removal from the Boeing Delta II rocket, the second stage is lowered to the ground. It will be stored temporarily until the inter-stage adapter on the rocket can be replaced. Removal of the second stage will allow workers to then remove the rocket’s inter-stage adapter, which was found to be faulty during a review of launch vehicle hardware. It will be replaced and the second stage re-installed within a few days. Launch of Deep Impact is now scheduled no earlier than Jan. 12.

Gullies in Crater

Beyond the Rings: Mimas

Clovis in Color

Phoebe in Ultraviolet

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. - Two student teams vie for points during a match at the 2004 Florida Regional FIRST competition, held at the University of Central Florida. The annual event is hosting 41 teams from Canada, Brazil, Great Britain and the United States. FIRST is a nonprofit organization, For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology, that sponsors the event pitting robots against each other in an athletic-style competition. The FIRST robotics competition is designed to provide students with a hands-on, inside look at engineering and other professional careers, pairing high school students with engineer mentors and corporations.

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. - At Astrotech in Titusville, Fla., technicians with The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) prepare one of two solar array panels on the MESSENGER spacecraft for deployment. The panels will provide MESSENGER’s power on its journey to Mercury. MESSENGER is scheduled to launch Aug. 2 aboard a Boeing Delta II rocket from Pad 17-B, Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Fla. It will return to Earth for a gravity boost in July 2005, then fly past Venus twice, in October 2006 and June 2007. The spacecraft uses the tug of Venus’ gravity to resize and rotate its trajectory closer to Mercury’s orbit. Three Mercury flybys, each followed about two months later by a course-correction maneuver, put MESSENGER in position to enter Mercury orbit in March 2011. During the flybys, MESSENGER will map nearly the entire planet in color, image most of the areas unseen by Mariner 10, and measure the composition of the surface, atmosphere and magnetosphere. It will be the first new data from Mercury in more than 30 years - and invaluable for planning MESSENGER’s year-long orbital mission. MESSENGER was built for NASA by APL in Laurel, Md.

A montage of Cassini images, taken in four different regions of the spectrum from ultraviolet to near-infrared, demonstrates that there is more to Saturn than meets the eye. The pictures show the effects of absorption and scattering of light at different wavelengths by both atmospheric gas and clouds of differing heights and thicknesses. They also show absorption of light by colored particles mixed with white ammonia clouds in the planet's atmosphere. Contrast has been enhanced to aid visibility of the atmosphere. Cassini's narrow-angle camera took these four images over a period of 20 minutes on April 3, 2004, when the spacecraft was 44.5 million kilometers (27.7 million miles) from the planet. The image scale is approximately 267 kilometers (166 miles) per pixel. All four images show the same face of Saturn. In the upper left image, Saturn is seen in ultraviolet wavelengths (298 nanometers); at upper right, in visible blue wavelengths (440 nanometers); at lower left, in far red wavelengths just beyond the visible-light spectrum (727 nanometers; and at lower right, in near-infrared wavelengths (930 nanometers). The sliver of light seen in the northern hemisphere appears bright in the ultraviolet and blue (top images) and is nearly invisible at longer wavelengths (bottom images). The clouds in this part of the northern hemisphere are deep, and sunlight is illuminating only the cloud-free upper atmosphere. The shorter wavelengths are consequently scattered by the gas and make the illuminated atmosphere bright, while the longer wavelengths are absorbed by methane. Saturn's rings also appear noticeably different from image to image, whose exposure times range from two to 46 seconds. The rings appear dark in the 46-second ultraviolet image because they inherently reflect little light at these wavelengths. The differences at other wavelengths are mostly due to the differences in exposure times. http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA05388

Riding the Rim of Endurance

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. - At the Beach House, Congressman Tom Feeney (right) talks with Bruce Melnick (left), vice president for Boeing Florida Operations at KSC. Feeney conducted a walk down the coastline of Florida’s 24th District on several days during January and February, concluding March 1 at Kennedy Space Center. On his walks, Feeney met with constituents and community leaders to discuss legislative issues that will be addressed by the 108th Congress.

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. - On Launch Pad 17-B, Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Fla., a second Solid Rocket Booster (SRB) is raised off a transporter to be lifted up the mobile service tower. It will be attached to the Boeing Delta II launch vehicle for launch of the Deep Impact spacecraft. A NASA Discovery mission, Deep Impact will probe beneath the surface of Comet Tempel 1 on July 4, 2005, when the comet is 83 million miles from Earth, and reveal the secrets of its interior. After releasing a 3- by 3-foot projectile to crash onto the surface, Deep Impact’s flyby spacecraft will collect pictures and data of how the crater forms, measuring the crater’s depth and diameter, as well as the composition of the interior of the crater and any material thrown out, and determining the changes in natural outgassing produced by the impact. It will send the data back to Earth through the antennas of the Deep Space Network. Deep Impact project management is handled by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif. The spacecraft is scheduled to launch Dec. 30, 2004.

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. - Inside a tent, employees at KSC look over an exhibit of safety equipment during Spaceport Super Safety and Health Day. Vendors’ exhibits were set up in the parking areas outside the Vehicle Assembly Building and the OandC Building. The day-long event also featured presentations by guest speakers Dr. Pamela Peeke, Navy Com. Stephen E. Iwanowicz, NASA’s Dr. Kristine Calderon and Olympic-great Bruce Jenner. Super Safety and Health Day was initiated at KSC in 1998 to increase awareness of the importance of safety and health among the government and contractor workforce. The theme for this year’s event was “Safety and Health: A Winning Combination.”

Dwarfed by Storms

NASA Mars Exploration Rover Spirit looked up at the Columbia Hills from its location on the 265th martian day, or sol, of its mission Sept. 30, 2004 and captured this 3-D view. 3D glasses are necessary to view this image.

PULSED EJECTOR WAVE PROPAGATION TEST RIG

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. - During a simulated launch countdown_emergency simulation on Launch Pad 39A, M-113 armored personnel carriers transport workers away from the pad. In the background are the Fixed (tall) and Rotating Service Structures. To the left is the water tower that holds 300,000 gallons used during liftoffs.The four-hour exercise simulated normal launch countdown operations, with the added challenge of a fictitious event causing an evacuation of the vehicle and launch pad. It tested the team’s rescue approaches on the Fixed Service Structure, slidewire basket evacuation, triage care and transportation of injured personnel to hospitals, as well as communications and coordination.

JSC2004-E-41402 (17 September 2004) --- Astronaut Soichi Noguchi, STS-114 mission specialist representing the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), attired in a training version of the shuttle launch and entry suit, floats in a small life raft during an emergency egress training session in the Neutral Buoyancy Laboratory (NBL) near the Johnson Space Center (JSC).

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. -- Endeavour backs out of the Orbiter Processing Facility for temporary transfer to the Vehicle Assembly Building. The move allows work to be performed in the OPF that can only be accomplished while the bay is empty. Work scheduled in the OPF includes annual validation of the bay’s cranes, work platforms, lifting mechanisms and jack stands. Endeavour will remain in the VAB for approximately 12 days, then return to the OPF.

Model of Ares I Crew Launch Vehicle Photographed 10-22-2008

Nicole Schultheiss, a fourth-grader at Ulrich Elementary School in California City, "flew" an F/A-18 simulator with NASA engineer Byron Simpson's coaching during Take Your Children to Work Day June 22 at NASA Dryden Flight Research Center.

Wind-polished rocks

Humphrey on the Inside

Hyperion From Afar

A tree frog photographed in the La Selva region of the Costa Rican rain forest as part of NASA's AirSAR 2004 Mesoamerica campaign. AirSAR 2004 Mesoamerica is a three-week expedition by an international team of scientists that will use an all-weather imaging tool, called the Airborne Synthetic Aperture Radar (AirSAR) which is located onboard NASA's DC-8 airborne laboratory. Scientists from many parts of the world including NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory are combining ground research done in several areas in Central America with NASA's AirSAR technology to improve and expand on the quality of research they are able to do. NASA's AIRSAR technolgy provides two essential elements to the ground-based scientists. First, it tests and provides accurate measurements of the forest structure. Secondly, AirSAR can study a larger area of the forest versus the smaller area that can be tested and plotted by the ground scientists. It also provides a unique one-of-a-kind system of measurement that obtains important information for the scientists, such as where forests are located and what exactly is in them.

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. - In the Orbiter Processing Facility, from left, United Space Alliance workers Loyd Turner, Craig Meyer and Erik Visser prepare to conduct a fit check of an External Tank (ET) digital still camera in the right-hand liquid oxygen umbilical well on Space Shuttle Atlantis. NASA is pursuing use of the camera, beginning with the Shuttle’s Return To Flight, to obtain and downlink high-resolution images of the ET following separation of the ET from the orbiter after launch. The Kodak camera will record 24 images, at one frame per 1.5 seconds, on a flash memory card. After orbital insertion, the crew will transfer the images from the memory card to a laptop computer. The files will then be downloaded through the Ku-band system to the Mission Control Center in Houston for analysis.

Expedition 10 Soyuz Commander Salizhan Sharipov, left and Expedition 10 Commander Leroy Chiao don their flight suits prior to their launch on board the Soyuz TMA-5 spacecraft to the International Space Station, Thursday, Oct. 14, in Baikonur, Kazakhstan. The crew will dock to the Station on October 16, and Chiao and Sharipov will replace the current Station crew members, Gennady Padalka and Mike Fincke, who will return to Earth October 24 with Shargin. Photo Credit: (NASA/Bill Ingalls)

Musical Rings

Signs of Soft-Sediment Deformation at Slickrock

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. -- Dr. Woodrow Whitlow, KSC deputy director, greets a student outside Trojan Intermediate School in Potosi, Mo. Students from three area schools — Potosi High School, John Evans Middle School and Trojan — are on a team taking part in NASA’s Explorer Schools program. Whitlow visited the school to share America’s new vision for space exploration with the next generation of explorers. He is talking with students about our destiny as explorers, NASA’s stepping stone approach to exploring Earth, the Moon, Mars and beyond, how space impacts our lives, and how people and machines rely on each other in space.

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. - Outside the MILA Spaceflight Tracking and Data Network Station during a visit to Kennedy, members of the STS-114 crew pause for a photo with Anthony Ippolito (far left), current director of MILA_PDL. (MILA refers to Merritt Island Launch Area; PDL designates the Ponce De Leon Inlet site.). The crew members are (left to right) commander Eileen Collins, Mission Specialists Stephen Robinson, Wendy Lawrence and Andrew Thomas; and Pilot James Kelly. Between Lawrence and Thomas is Gary Morse (left), incumbent MILA_PDL station director. Between Thomas and Kelly is Melissa Blizzard, MILA operations manager. The tracking station serves as the primary voice, data and telemetry communications link between the Shuttle and the ground from launch until 7-1_2 minutes into the flight. Millions of clues about the performance of the Space Shuttle’s main engines and other components are communicated to launch managers, technicians and engineers on the ground, who must keep their fingers on the pulse of the Space Shuttle during the critical ascent period. In a typical year, MILA provides through KSC more than 10,000 hours of data between spacecraft and data users. MILA is also used during a Space Shuttle landing at KSC and provides communications beginning about 13 minutes before touchdown. Also, MILA can be called upon to provide data transfer support for NASA’s Expendable Launch Vehicle missions and orbiting scientific satellites.

Martian Magnets Under the Microscope

Behold Endurance! 3-D

North Polar Slope

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. -- Bob Sieck, former Director of Space Shuttle Processing at KSC addresses KSC employees assembled in the Training Auditorium for a Culture Change Process All Hands Meeting. The purpose of the meeting was for employees to gain further insight into the Agency’s Vision for Space Exploration and the direction cultural change will take at KSC in order to assume its role within this vision. Other participants included James W. Kennedy, KSC director; Jim Jennings, Deputy Associate Administrator for Institutions and Asset Management; Lynn Cline, Deputy Associate Administrator for Space Flight; and Jim Wetherbee, astronaut and Technical Assistant to the Director of Safety and Mission Assurance at Johnson Space Center. Following their remarks, members of the panel entertained questions and comments from the audience.

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. - At the Turn Basin in Launch Complex 39, External Tank 118 (ET-118) enters the barge that will transport it to NASA’s Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans. It had been stored in the Vehicle Assembly Building. The tank is being installed with an improved bipod fitting, which connects the external fuel tank to the Shuttle during launch. The new design, a significant milestone in the effort to return the Shuttle to safe flight, replaces the foam that was used to prevent ice buildup on the tank’s bipod fittings with four rod-shaped heaters. The heaters are being retrofitted on the 11 existing tanks and incorporated into the manufacture of all new tanks.

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. - In the Rotation Processing and Surge Facility, an SRB solid segment is being rotated to horizontal for placement on a rail car. The segment is being shipped to Utah for testing. The segment was part of the STS-114 stack. It is the first time actual flight segments that had been stacked for flight in the VAB are being returned to Utah for testing. It will undergo firing, which will enable inspectors to check the viability of the solid and verify the life expectancy for stacked segments.

This 3-D cylindrical-perspective mosaic was created from navigation camera images that NASA Mars Exploration Rover Spirit captured on on sol 123. 3D glasses are necessary to view this image.

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. - This view from inside the mobile service tower on Launch Pad 17-B, Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, shows the Boeing Delta II second stage as it reaches the top. The component will be reattached to the interstage adapter on the Delta II. The rocket is the launch vehicle for the Deep Impact spacecraft, scheduled for liftoff no earlier than Jan. 12. A NASA Discovery mission, Deep Impact will probe beneath the surface of Comet Tempel 1 on July 4, 2005, when the comet is 83 million miles from Earth, and reveal the secrets of its interior. After releasing a 3- by 3-foot projectile to crash onto the surface, Deep Impact’s flyby spacecraft will collect pictures and data of how the crater forms, measuring the crater’s depth and diameter, as well as the composition of the interior of the crater and any material thrown out, and determining the changes in natural outgassing produced by the impact. It will send the data back to Earth through the antennas of the Deep Space Network.

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. - Equipment from the Thermal Protection System Facility (TPSF), damaged by Hurricane Frances, is moved into a hangar and storage facility near the KSC Shuttle Landing Facility. Previously, this hangar was used to house the Space Shuttle Columbia debris. Located in Launch Complex 39, the TPSF is used to manufacture both internal and external insulation products for the Space Shuttle orbiters. The storm's path over Florida took it through Cape Canaveral and KSC property during Labor Day weekend.

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. - NASA astronaut Patrick Forrester addresses a group of educators assembled for the kickoff of 'The Science in Space Challenge' at the Doubletree Hotel in Orlando, Fla. The national challenge program is sponsored by NASA and Pearson Scott Foresman, publisher of pre-K through grade six educational books. To participate in the challenge, teachers may submit proposals, on behalf of their students, for a science and technology investigation. Astronauts will conduct the winning projects on a Space Shuttle mission or on the International Space Station, while teachers and students follow along via television or the Web. For more information about the announcement, see the news release at http:__www.nasa.gov_home_hqnews_2004_oct_HQ_04341_publication.html.

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. -- Florida Gov. Jeb Bush expresses his support for the design of the new Florida quarter at its launch ceremony, held at the KSC Visitor Complex. The quarter celebrates Florida as the gateway to discovery -- a destination for explorers in the past, a launch site for space explorers of the future, and an inviting place for visitors today.

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. - In the Space Station Processing Facility, Node 2 undergoes testing. Known as the Traveled Work Systems Test (TWST), it executes open work that traveled with the Node 2 from Italy and simulates the on-orbit activation sequence. Node 2 was powered up Aug. 19 for the testing. The second of three Station connecting modules, the Node 2 attaches to the end of the U.S. Lab and provides attach locations for several other elements. Node 2 is scheduled to launch on mission STS-120, assembly flight 10A to the International Space Station.

ISS009-E-22471 (13 September 2004) --- Hurricane Ivan was photographed as it entered the Gulf of Mexico late Monday (22:36:49 GMT, Sept. 13) by astronaut Edward M. (Mike) Fincke aboard the International Space Station, 230 miles above Earth. At the time, Ivan was a category 5 hurricane with winds of 160 mph. Fincke, the NASA Station Science Officer, and Station Commander Gennady Padalka are in the final month of a six-month mission aboard the research platform.

Expedition 9 Commander Gennady Padalka, left, NASA Science Officer Mike Fincke, center and Flight Engineer and European Space Agency astronaut Andre Kuipers of the Netherlands climb the workstand around the Soyuz capsule for their final fit check at building 254 at the Baikonur Cosmodrome, Wednesday, April 14, 2004, in Baikonur, Kazakhstan. Photo Credit: (NASA/Bill Ingalls)

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. - On Launch Pad 17-B at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, the second stage of the Boeing Delta II rocket arrives at the top of the mobile service tower. The element will be mated to the Delta II, which will launch NASA’s Deep Impact spacecraft. A NASA Discovery mission, Deep Impact will probe beneath the surface of Comet Tempel 1 on July 4, 2005, when the comet is 83 million miles from Earth, and reveal the secrets of its interior. After releasing an impactor on a course to hit the comet’s sunlit side, Deep Impact’s flyby spacecraft will collect pictures and data of how the crater forms, measure the crater’s depth and diameter, as well as the composition of the interior of the crater and any material thrown out, and determine the changes in natural outgassing produced by the impact. It will send the data back to Earth through the antennas of the Deep Space Network.

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. - The doors on the 39-year-0ld Vehicle Assembly Building are getting a needed face-lift to repair the damage caused by prolonged exposure to the Florida environment - one of the most corrosive in the nation. The North Transfer Aisle and the High Bay 3 Vertical and Horizontal doors have entered a 13-month restoration period. Extensive corrosion damage exists on the interior of the framework of the existing doors in both locations. All exterior siding is to be replaced, as well as all the hardware. The work contributes to the ongoing safety and infrastructure upgrade efforts at Kennedy Space Center.

Columbiana County Port Authority, Wellsville Intermodal Facility Wellsville, Ohio USA. Ares 1-X

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. - - U.S. Representative Ric Keller talks to the media at the Central Florida Research Park, near Orlando. He, NASA Administrator Sean O’Keefe and government officials were at the park for a presentation about the assets of the research park as the site of NASA’s new Shared Services Center. Behind Keller are (left to right) U.S. Senator Bill Nelson; Pamella J. Dana, Ph.D., director, Office of Tourism, Trade, and Economic Development in Florida; Florida Congressman Tom Feeney; Congressman Dave Weldon; and O’Keefe. Six sites around the U.S. are under consideration for location of the Center, which would centralize NASA’s payroll, accounting, human resources, facilities and procurement offices that are now handled at each field center. The consolidation is part of the One NASA focus. Center Director Jim Kennedy also attended the presentation.

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