KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. - In the Vehicle Assembly Building at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center, workers inspect the newly installed liquid hydrogen bellows heater on External Tank 121. The new heater has been added to the feedline bellows to minimize the potential for ice and frost buildup. The tank has been designated to fly on Discovery for Return to Flight mission STS-114, which has a launch window extending from July 13 to July 31.

ISS010-E-20762 (21 March 2005) --- Astronaut Leroy Chiao, Expedition 10 commander and NASA ISS science officer, works with a Global Positioning System (GPS) Unit in the Zvezda Service Module of the International Space Station (ISS).

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. - Lynda Weatherman, president and CEO of the Economic Development Commission of Florida’s Space Coast, and Jim Kennedy, director of Kennedy Space Center, congratulate each other after signing a three-year Space Act Agreement for economic development cooperation in support of existing and future missions of NASA at KSC. The agreement underscores business development strategies to ensure KSC and Brevard County continue to be competitive and develop space-related initiatives.

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. - News media representatives arrive in the NASA Newsroom to cover the launch of Space Shuttle Discovery on Return to Flight mission STS-114. The countdown is under way for an anticipated liftoff at 3:51 p.m. EDT July 13. During its 12-day mission, Discovery’s seven-person crew will test new hardware and techniques to improve Shuttle safety, as well as deliver supplies to the International Space Station.

STS114-S-045 (9 August 2005) --- The STS-114 crewmembers gather for a crew photo in front of the Space Shuttle Discovery following landing at Edwards Air Force Base in California. From the left are astronauts Stephen K. Robinson, mission specialist; Eileen M. Collins, commander; Andrew S. W. Thomas, Wendy B. Lawrence, Soichi Noguchi representing Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), Charles J. Camarda, all mission specialists; and James M. Kelly, pilot. The landing concludes a historic 14-day, Return to Flight mission to the international space station.

Hyperion Nose

Studying the Heat Shield Seal

Gullied Wall

Icy Scars

Defrosting Patterns

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. - In the Payload Hazardous Servicing Facility, the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) has been lifted off the rotation stand and is being moved toward a Mars Orbit Insertion Thruster assembly stand for testing. In late July, the MRO will be transported to the Vertical Installation Facility. It will join the Atlas V for the final phase of launch preparations. The spacecraft is then scheduled to undergo a functional test, and a final week of integrated testing and closeouts. The MRO was built by Lockheed Martin for the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California. It is the next major step in Mars exploration and scheduled for launch from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in a window opening Aug. 10. The MRO is an important next step in fulfilling NASA’s vision of space exploration and ultimately sending human explorers to Mars and beyond.

Rep. Sherwood Boehlert, R-NY., questions NASA Administrator Michael Griffin during a House Science Committee hearing, Tuesday, June 28, 2005, Rayburn House Office building, Washington. Photo Credit: (NASA/Bill Ingalls)

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. - In the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center, Space Shuttle Discovery passes through the open doors as it begins its long, slow journey to Launch Pad 39B. First motion was at 2:04 p.m. EDT. The Shuttle comprises the orbiter, External Tank (ET) and twin Solid Rocket Boosters (SRBs). The Space Shuttle rests on the Mobile Launcher Platform, which is moved by the Crawler-Transporter underneath. The Crawler is 20 feet high, 131 feet long and 114 feet wide. It moves on eight tracks, each containing 57 shoes, or cleats, weighing one ton each. Loaded with the Space Shuttle, the Crawler can move at a maximum speed of approximately 1 mile an hour. A leveling system in the Crawler keeps the Shuttle vertical while negotiating the 5 percent grade leading to the top of the launch pad. Launch of Discovery on its Return to Flight mission, STS-114, is targeted for May 15 with a launch window that extends to June 3. During its 12-day mission, Discovery’s seven-person crew will test new hardware and techniques to improve Shuttle safety, as well as deliver supplies to the International Space Station. Discovery was moved on March 29 from the Orbiter Processing Facility to the VAB and attached to its propulsion elements, a redesigned ET and twin SRBs.

This video shows images taken through infrared range cameras during a recovery simulation at the Utah Test and Training Range on Dec 13, 2005. Infrared cameras will track the landing.

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. - In the Space Station Processing Facility, workers guide one of the hatches from the Node-2 module onto a shipping container. The hatches are being removed in preparation for shipment to the Marshall Space Flight Center, Ala., for re-balance certification. The Node-2 will launch on mission 10A, STS-120, to the International Space Station (ISS) currently scheduled for Fall 2006. The installation of the Node-2 on the ISS will signify the completion of the U.S. stage of assembly and increase the living and working space inside the Station to approximately 18,000 cubic feet. Under contract to the Italian Space Agency (ASI), Alenia Spazio in Turin, Italy, led a consortium of European subcontractors to build Node-2. The module was built for NASA under an agreement with the European Space Agency (ESA) in exchange for launch of the European Columbus Laboratory.

Three days after the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter Aug. 12, 2005, launch, the NASA spacecraft was pointed toward Earth and the Mars Color Imager camera was powered up to acquire a suite of color and ultraviolet images of Earth and the Moon.

Spirit 360-Degree View, Sol 388 vertical

This frame from an animation is made up from a sequence of images taken by the Descent Imager/Spectral Radiometer (DISR) instrument on board ESA's Huygens probe, during its successful descent to Titan on Jan. 14, 2005. The animation is available at http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA07234 It shows what a passenger riding on Huygens would have seen. The sequence starts from an altitude of 152 kilometers (about 95 miles) and initially only shows a hazy view looking into thick cloud. As the probe descends, ground features can be discerned and Huygens emerges from the clouds at around 30 kilometers (about 19 miles) altitude. The ground features seem to rotate as Huygens spins slowly underits parachute. The DISR consists of a downward-looking High Resolution Imager (HRI), a Medium Resolution Imager (MRI), which looks out at an angle, and a Side Looking Imager (SLI). For this animation, most images used were captured by the HRI and MRI. Once on the ground, the final landing scene was captured by the SLI. The Descent Imager/Spectral Radiometer is one of two NASA instruments on the probe.

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. - An aerial view of the Vertical Integration Facility, on Launch Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida, which holds the Lockheed Martin Atlas V rocket that will launch NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft. In the background is NASA Kennedy Space Center’s Vehicle Assembly Building.

ISS011-E-12743 (10 September 2005) --- This image of the Pascagoula, Mississippi area on the Central Gulf Coast was captured by the Expedition 11 crew aboard the International Space Station on the afternoon of September 10, 2005. A 400-mm lens was used on a digital still camera to record the image.

Russian technicians work, Tuesday, April 12, 2005, on mating the Soyuz TMA-6 spacecraft to the booster rocket inside the integration facility at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan as preparations continued for the April 15 launch of Expedition 11 with Commander Sergei Krikalev, Flight Engineer John Phillips and European Space Agency Astronaut Roberto Vittori, of Italy, to the International Space Station. The rocket mating operation occurred on the 44th anniversary of the launch of Yuri Gagarin from the same complex to become the first human in space. Photo Credit: (NASA/Bill Ingalls)

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. -In the Payload Hazardous Servicing Facility, workers from Lockheed Martin help guide the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) onto a Mars Orbit Insertion Thruster assembly stand for testing. In late July, the MRO will be transported to the Vertical Installation Facility. It will join the Atlas V for the final phase of launch preparations. The spacecraft is then scheduled to undergo a functional test, and a final week of integrated testing and closeouts. The MRO was built by Lockheed Martin for the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California. It is the next major step in Mars exploration and scheduled for launch from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in a window opening Aug. 10. The MRO is an important next step in fulfilling NASA’s vision of space exploration and ultimately sending human explorers to Mars and beyond.

converted PNM file

Expedition 11 Commander Sergei Krikalev enters the Soyuz TMA-6 spacecraft at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Baikonur, Kazakhstan, Sunday, April 10, 2005, during preparations for launch to the International Space Station. Krikalev, along with Flight Engineer John Phillips and European Space Agency astronaut Roberto Vittori will launch April 15 on the Soyuz TMA-6 spacecraft to the International Space Station. Krikalev and Phillips will spend six months in space and greet the first Shuttle crew to fly in more than two years when it arrives at the station, while Vittori spends eight days on the station under a commercial contract between ESA and the Russian Federal Space Agency. Photo Credit: (NASA/Bill Ingalls)

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. -- In the Payload Hazardous Servicing Facility, the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) is lifted off a workstand for transfer to the spin balance machine for testing. In late July, the MRO will be transported to the Vertical Installation Facility. It will join the Atlas V for the final phase of launch preparations. The spacecraft is then scheduled to undergo a functional test, and a final week of integrated testing and closeouts. The MRO was built by Lockheed Martin for the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California. It is the next major step in Mars exploration and scheduled for launch from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in a window opening Aug. 10. The MRO is an important next step in fulfilling NASA’s vision of space exploration and ultimately sending human explorers to Mars and beyond.

Russell Dune Gullies

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. - Space Shuttle Program managers, directors and engineers man the consoles in the Launch Control Center. They are taking part in an End-to-End (ETE) Mission Management Team (MMT) launch simulation at KSC. In Firing Room 1 at KSC, Shuttle launch team members put the Shuttle system through an integrated simulation. The control room is set up with software used to simulate flight and ground systems in the launch configuration. Seated in the center is Bob Sieck, a member of the Stafford-Covey Shuttle Return to Flight Task Group; at his left is Forrest McCartney, former Kennedy Space Center director. Sieck served as launch director and director of Shuttle Processing in the 80s and 90s. The ETE MMT simulation included L-2 and L-1 day Prelaunch MMT meetings, an external tanking_weather briefing, and a launch countdown. The ETE transitioned to the Johnson Space Center for the flight portion of the simulation, with the STS-114 crew in a simulator at JSC. Such simulations are common before a launch to keep the Shuttle launch team sharp and ready for liftoff.

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. - In the Vehicle Assembly Building, a technician monitors Space Shuttle Atlantis as it is lowered into the transfer aisle after being demated from its External Tank_Solid Rocket Booster stack. The orbiter will be rolled back to Orbiter Processing Facility bay 1 where processing will begin for mission STS-115, the 19th flight to the International Space Station. The tank, ET-120, is the first redesigned ET to arrive at KSC and will undergo further testing before Return to Flight mission STS-121 next year.

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. - In NASA Kennedy Space Center’s Payload Hazardous Servicing Facility, workers begin installing the radioisotope thermoelectric generator (RTG) onto the New Horizons spacecraft for a fit check. The RTG is the baseline power supply for New Horizons, scheduled to launch in January 2006 on a journey to Pluto and its moon, Charon. It is expected to reach Pluto in July 2015.

Mottled Rhea

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. - At NASA’s Kennedy Space Center, the 2004 class of astronaut candidates tour the Orbiter Processing Facility bay 1 where Atlantis (overhead) is being processed for Return to Flight mission STS-121 in July. NASA Vehicle Manager for Atlantis, Scott Thurston talks to them about the orbiter. The astronaut candidates are at KSC to participate in firefighting training and familiarization tours. The class of 14 candidates includes three candidates from the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency as well as three educator astronauts, who were school teachers chosen from thousands of applicants.

ISS011-E-11269 (28 July 2005) --- Space Shuttle Discovery was about 600 feet from the International Space Station when cosmonaut Sergei K. Krikalev, Expedition 11 commander, and astronaut John L. Phillips, NASA Space Station science officer and flight engineer, photographed the spacecraft as it approached the Station and performed a backflip to allow photography of its heat shield. Astronaut Eileen M. Collins, STS-114 commander, guided the Shuttle through the flip. The photos will be analyzed by engineers on the ground as additional data to evaluate the condition of Discovery’;s heat shield.

ISS010-E-22442 (2 April 2005) --- Pyramids at Giza are featured in this image photographed by an Expedition 10 crewmember on the International Space Station.

Director General of the National Space Agency of Ukraine Yuriy Sergiyovych Alekseyev, left, NASA Administrator Michael Griffin, center, and Prime Minister of Ukraine Yuriy Yekhanurov pose for a photograph prior to their meeting at NASA Headquarters, Tuesday, Nov. 1, 2005, in Washington. Photo Credit: (NASA/Bill Ingalls)

VANDENBERG AIR FORCE BASE, CALIF. — Inside the Astrotech Payload Processing Facility on Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, the CALIPSO spacecraft is being prepared for mating with the upper Delta Payload Attach Fitting (UDPAF). Later the UDPAF will be mated with the lower Delta Payload Attach Fitting, which contains the CloudSat satellite. The PAF is the interface between the spacecraft and the second stage of the rocket. CALIPSO stands for Cloud-Aerosol Lidar and Infrared Pathfinder Satellite Observation. CALIPSO and CloudSat are highly complementary satellites that will provide never-before-seen 3-D perspectives of how clouds and aerosols form, evolve, and affect weather and climate. CALIPSO and CloudSat will fly in formation with three other satellites in the A-train constellation to enhance understanding of our climate system. Launch of CALIPSO_CloudSat aboard a Boeing Delta II rocket is scheduled for 3:01 a.m. PDT Sept. 29.

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. - At Kennedy Space Center's Shuttle Landing Facility, the second of two containers with the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) equipment is lifted onto a flatbed truck for transport to the Payload Hazardous Servicing Facility. The MRO was built by Lockheed Martin for NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California. It is the next major step in Mars exploration and scheduled for launch from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in a window opening Aug. 10. The MRO carries six primary instruments: the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment, Context Camera, Mars Color Imager, Compact Reconnaissance Imaging Spectrometer for Mars, Mars Climate Sounder and Shallow Radar. By 2007, the MRO will begin a series of global mapping, regional survey and targeted observations from a near-polar, low-altitude Mars orbit. It will observe the atmosphere and surface of Mars while probing its shallow subsurface as part of a “follow the water” strategy.

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. - Dr. Thomas Howard, chief medical officer at the V.A. Outpatient Clinic in Viera, Fla., speaks to guests during the dedication of a hospital wing in honor of space shuttle Discovery, to be known as the Discovery wing. Joining in the dedication are, seated at left, STS-114 Mission Commander Eileen Collins, Norris Gray and Center Director Jim Kennedy. Gray was a long-time employee of Kennedy Space Center, in charge of fire safety from 1949 until his retirement in 1984. Collins and her crew have returned to Florida especially for a celebration in the KSC Visitor Complex of the successful return to flight mission that launched July 26 of this year.

Artist rendering of NASA Stardust spacecraft. The spacecraft was launched on February 7, 1999, from Cape Canaveral Air Station, Florida, aboard a Delta II rocket.

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. - Rey More, senior vice president and general manager of Motorola’s iDEN® Subscriber Group, and Kennedy Space Center Director Jim Kennedy (right) get together at the 2005 FIRST Robotics Regional Competition held at the University of Central Florida March 10-12. Motorola sponsored the SigmaC@T team, from Ft. Lauderdale and was a major sponsor of the competition. NASA sponsored the Pink Team, Roccobot, from Rockledge and Cocoa Beach.

Expedition 11 Flight Engineer John Phillips, left, and backup American Dan Tani stay limber during an exercise session, Monday, April 11, 2005, in Baikonur, Kazakhstan as Philips prepares for the April 15 launch to the International Space Station with Expedition 11 Commander Sergei Krikalev and European Space Agency Astronaut Roberto Vittori, of Italy. Krikalev and Phillips will spend six months in space and greet the first Shuttle crew to fly in more than two years when arrive at the station, while Vittori spends eight days on the station under a commercial contract between ESA and the Russian Federal Space Agency. Photo Credit: (NASA/Bill Ingalls)

JSC2005-E-40334 (2 October 2005) --- Members of the crew that returned the Space Shuttle to flight earlier this year aboard Discovery, from left, astronaut Soichi Noguchi of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) and NASA astronauts Charles J. Camarda, Stephen K. Robinson and Andrew S.W. Thomas participate in a parade welcoming Noguchi to his hometown of Chigasaki, Kanagawa, Japan on Oct. 2. The Discovery crew visited Japan this week as guests of JAXA, participating in a variety of public events. Photo Credit: Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. - - With workers accompanying it, the orbiter Endeavour is being towed to Florida Space Authority’s Reusable Launch Vehicle hangar for temporary storage. Endeavour is being moved from the Orbiter Processing Facility (OPF) to allow work to be performed in the OPF that can only be accomplished while the bay is empty. Work scheduled in the OPF includes modifications to the bay and platform validation in the bay. Endeavour will remain in the hangar for approximately 30 days, then return to the OPF. Endeavour was pulled out of service in December 2003 for Orbiter Major Modification (OMM). OMMs are scheduled at regular intervals to enhance safety and performance, infuse new technology, and, in this case, perform RTF modifications.

Naming New Lands - September Flyby annotated

The Atmospheric Turbulence Measurement System booms are clearly evident in this view of the Pathfinder-Plus solar aircraft as it flies over Rogers Dry Lake.

Broad Western Flows from Arsia Mons

Pandora on a String

Expedition 11 Commander Sergei Krikalev, seated center, Flight Engineer and NASA Science Officer John Phillips, seated left and European Space Agency Astronaut Roberto Vittori, of Italy, seated right, relax prior to launch aboard the Soyuz TMA-6 spacecraft from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, Friday, April 15, 2005 for a two-day trip to the International Space Station. Photo Credit: (NASA/Bill Ingalls)

John H. Marburger, Science Adviser to the President and Director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP), left, talks with NASA Administrator Michael Griffin, center, while his wife Rebecca and daughter Katie look on following his swearing-in, Thursday, April 14, 2005, in Washington. Photo Credit: (NASA/Renee Bouchard)

NASA Dryden Operations co-op student Shannon Kolensky holds one of the APV-3 UAVs flown in the Networked UAV Teaming Experiment steady during an engine runup.

Rep. Ken Calvert, (R-Calif.), chairman of the House Subcommittee on Space and Aeronautics, received an update on the mission of NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center during a visit on June 2, 2005. Rep. Calvert, accompanied by several staff members, was briefed by center management on the Dryden's role as a flight research institution, and then reviewed some of the center's recent, current and upcoming flight research projects during a tour of the facility. During the afternoon, Rep. Calvert received similar briefings on a variety of projects at several aerospace development firms at the Civilian Flight Test Center in Mojave. Rep. Calvert's tour of NASA Dryden was the second in a series of visits to all 10 NASA field centers to better acquaint him with the roles and responsibilities of each center.

This plateau borders Echus Chasma. The surface of the plateau has been dissected by shallow channels of unknown origin. This image is from NASA 2001 Mars Odyssey spacecraft.

The Soyuz TMA-6 sits on the pad ready for launch, Thursday, April 14, 2005, at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. Expedition 11 crew Commander Sergei Krikalev along with Flight Engineer and NASA Science Officer John Phillips and European Space Agency Astronaut Roberto Vittori, of Italy, will launch April 15, 2005. Krikalev and Phillips will spend six months on the station, replacing Expedition 10 Commander Leroy Chiao and Flight Engineer Salizhan Sharipov, while Vittori will spend eight days on the Station under a commerical contract between ESA and the Russian Federal Space Agency, returning to Earth with Chiao and Sharipov on April 25. Photo Credit: (NASA/Bill Ingalls)

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. - Space Shuttle Discovery makes its way along the crawlerway to Launch Pad 39B. First motion for the 4-mile, 6-hour journey was at 1:58 a.m. EDT. The Space Shuttle rests on a Mobile Launcher Platform that sits atop a Crawler-Transporter. This is the second rollout of Discovery after being returned to the Vehicle Assembly Building for connection to an improved External Tank. Launch of Discovery on its Return to Flight mission STS-114 is targeted for a launch window extending from July 13 to July 31.

Isidis Planitia Central Peak

Sedimentary Rock in Candor

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. - Space Shuttle Discovery remains on the pad the day after the Shuttle’s launch on Return to Flight mission STS-114 was scrubbed. In the foreground is the liquid hydrogen storage tank. At right is the 290-foot-tall water tower that holds 300,000 gallons of water, part of the sound suppression system during a launch. The July 13 mission was scrubbed when a low-level fuel cut-off sensor for the liquid hydrogen tank inside the External Tank failed a routine prelaunch check during the countdown July 13, causing mission managers to scrub Discovery's first launch attempt. The sensor protects the Shuttle's main engines by triggering their shutdown in the event fuel runs unexpectedly low. The sensor is one of four inside the liquid hydrogen section of the External Tank (ET).

This animation shows the return capsule separating from the Stardust spacecraft.

JOHNSON SPACE CENTER, TEXAS -- JSC2005-E-20603 -- Official portrait of astronaut Mark E. Kelly, commander.

Valley Near Moreux

STS114-E-5240 (27 July 2005) --- JAXA astronaut Soichi Noguchi, STS-114 mission specialist, on Discovery's mid deck.

VANDENBERG AIR FORCE BASE, CALIF. - At Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, the suspended CALIPSO spacecraft is moved toward a specially modified container (lower right) where LIDAR (LIght Detection And Ranging) laser testing will take place. CALIPSO stands for Cloud-Aerosol LIDAR and Infrared Pathfinder Satellite Observation. LIDAR measures distance, speed, rotation, chemical composition and concentration. CALIPSO and CloudSat will fly in formation with three other satellites in the A-train constellation to enhance understanding of our climate system. They are highly complementary satellites and together they will provide never-before-seen 3-D perspectives of how clouds and aerosols form, evolve, and affect weather and climate. Launch of CALIPSO_CloudSat aboard a Boeing Delta II rocket is scheduled for 3:01 a.m. PDT Sept. 29.

A Beech T-34C mission support aircraft flown by NASA Dryden Flight Research Center shows off its classic lines as it soars over the desert near Edwards Air Force Base.

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. - On its transporter, the Boeing Delta IV second stage is moved into the Horizontal Integration Facility (HIF) for further processing. It was transferred from the Delta Operations Center in Cape Canaveral, Fla. The Delta IV is the launch vehicle for the GOES-N satellite. Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellites (GOES) are sponsored by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). GOES-N is the first in the next series of GOES satellites, N-P. The multi-mission GOES series N-P will be a vital contributor to weather, solar and space operations and science. The GOES N-P series will aid activities ranging from severe storm warnings to resource management and advances in science. GOES-N is scheduled to launch May 4 from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Fla.

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. - A newly redesigned External Tank (ET-119) approaches a turn on the road leading from the Turn Basin in Launch Complex 39 Area at Kennedy Space Center, Florida. The tank, which will be used on a future Space Shuttle launch, is being transported to the Vehicle Assembly Building, seen at right. The barge was towed on a 900-mile journey at sea from the Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans by one of NASA’s Solid Rocket Booster Retrieval Ships.

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. - In the Orbiter Processing Facility high bay, technicians check the crane that will lift the Orbiter Boom Sensor System (OBSS) from its transporter. The OBSS will be installed on the starboard side of the payload bay in the orbiter Discovery. The 50-foot-long OBSS attaches to the Remote Manipulator System, or Shuttle robotic arm, and is one of the new safety measures for Return to Flight, equipping the orbiter with cameras and laser systems to inspect the Shuttle’s Thermal Protection System while in space. The Return to Flight mission, STS-114, has a launch window of May 12 to June 3, 2005.

Details in the Dark

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. - At the Astronaut Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony, Chairman Owen Garriott (center) places a medal around the neck of new inductee Gordon Fullerton. At right is Hall of Famer Fred Haise. Other Hall of Famers are gathered on stage for the ceremony, which is being held in the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex’s Apollo_Saturn V Center. Recognized for their individual flight accomplishments and contributions to the success and future success of the U.S. space program, this elite group of inductees is among only 60 astronauts to be honored in the Hall of Fame and the fourth group of Space Shuttle astronauts named.

ISS012-E-06035 (21 October 2005) --- Astronaut William S. McArthur Jr., Expedition 12 commander and NASA science officer, holds a Hand Control Module (HCM) while looking at laptop computer graphics during a Simplified Aid for EVA Rescue (SAFER) training session in the Unity node of the international space station.

ISS012-E-05172 (14 October 2005) --- Navajo Mountain, Utah is featured in this image photographed by an Expedition 12 crewmember on the international space station. According to scientists, the Colorado Plateau of Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico, and Utah is characterized by mostly flat-lying sedimentary layers that record paleoclimate extremes ranging from oceans to widespread deserts over the last 1.8 billion years. Navajo Mountain is formed by a dome-shaped body of igneous rock (called a laccolith by geologists), one of several in southeast Utah that intrude and uplift the surrounding sedimentary layers of the Plateau. This oblique image highlights Navajo Mountain in the center of the image, surrounded by light red-brown Navajo Sandstone (also visible in canyons at bottom of image). Scientists believe the peak of Navajo Mountain, at approximately 3148 meters (10,388 feet) elevation, is comprised of uplifted Dakota Sandstone deposited during the Cretaceous Period. The establishment of Rainbow Bridge National Monument (1910), and the filling of Glen Canyon by Lake Powell in 1963 (upper right), have facilitated tourism and aesthetic appreciation of this previously remote region. Access to Navajo Mountain is still regulated by the sovereign Navajo Nation, and the process of permitting is required to hike in the region.

Bicyclist on West Area Road in the Fall

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. - In the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center, Space Shuttle Discovery is beginning its long, slow journey to Launch Pad 39B. First motion was at 2:04 p.m. EDT. The Shuttle comprises the orbiter, External Tank (ET) and twin Solid Rocket Boosters (SRBs). The Space Shuttle rests on the Mobile Launcher Platform, which is moved by the Crawler-Transporter underneath. The Crawler is 20 feet high, 131 feet long and 114 feet wide. It moves on eight tracks, each containing 57 shoes, or cleats, weighing one ton each. Loaded with the Space Shuttle, the Crawler can move at a maximum speed of approximately 1 mile an hour. A leveling system in the Crawler keeps the Shuttle vertical while negotiating the 5 percent grade leading to the top of the launch pad. Launch of Discovery on its Return to Flight mission, STS-114, is targeted for May 15 with a launch window that extends to June 3. During its 12-day mission, Discovery’s seven-person crew will test new hardware and techniques to improve Shuttle safety, as well as deliver supplies to the International Space Station. Discovery was moved on March 29 from the Orbiter Processing Facility to the VAB and attached to its propulsion elements, a redesigned ET and twin SRBs.

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. - The Deep Impact spacecraft leaves Astrotech Space Operations in Titusville, Fla., in the pre-dawn hours on a journey to Launch Pad 17-B at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Fla. There the spacecraft will be attached to the second stage of the Boeing Delta II rocket. Next the fairing will be installed around the spacecraft. The fairing is a molded structure that fits flush with the outside surface of the Delta II upper stage booster and forms an aerodynamically smooth joint, protecting the spacecraft during launch and ascent. Scheduled for liftoff Jan. 12, Deep Impact will probe beneath the surface of Comet Tempel 1 on July 4, 2005, when the comet is 83 million miles from Earth. After releasing a 3- by 3-foot projectile to crash onto the surface, Deep Impact’s flyby spacecraft will reveal the secrets of its interior by collecting 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 is a NASA Discovery mission.

STS114-E-05470 (28 July 2005) --- Astronauts James M. Kelly, left, at pilot's station on Discovery, looks toward the aft cabin area during rendezvous and docking operations with International Space Station (ISS).

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. - Near midnight, lights from the mate_demate device at NASA Kennedy Space Center’s Shuttle Landing Facility shine on the orbiter Discovery on top of the Shuttle Carrier Aircraft, a modified Boeing 747. Discovery was returned to Kennedy Space Center on a ferry flight from Edwards Air Force Base in California, where it landed Aug. 9 after 13 days in space on mission STS-114. In the mate_demate device, a horizontal structure mounted at the 80-foot level between two towers controls and guides a large lift beam that attaches to the orbiter to raise and lower it. Once Discovery is lifted off the back of the SCA, the 747 can then roll away and the orbiter will be lowered to the ground. It will then be towed from the SLF to the Orbiter Processing Facility. Once inside the OPF, the payload bay doors will be opened and the MPLM Raffaello brought back from the International Space Station will be unloaded and transferred to the Space Station Processing Facility. This concludes mission STS-114.

ISS012-E-09767 (30 November 2005) --- Astronaut William S. (Bill) McArthur Jr., Expedition 12 commander and NASA space station science officer, performs preventive maintenance and cleaning of the Russian segment SOTR ventilation systems in the Zvezda Service Module of the international space station.

Mars at Ls 288°: Elysium/Mare Cimmerium

Lockheed Martin S-3B Viking Aircraft #N601NA, Preparation for Icing Research Instrumentation Installation

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. - The redesigned External Tank is being raised off its transporter. It will be lifted to a vertical position and into the 'checkout cell' of the Vehicle Assembly Building where the tank’s mechanical, electrical and thermal protection systems are inspected. The tank will also undergo new processes resulting from its redesign, including inspection of the bipod heater and External Tank separation camera. The tank will be prepared for 'mating' to the Shuttle’s Solid Rocket Boosters. When preparations are complete, the tank will be lifted from the checkout cell, moved across the transfer aisle and into High Bay 1. It will be lowered and attached to the boosters, which are sitting on the Mobile Launch Platform. The SRBs and ET will be flying with Shuttle Discovery for the Return to Flight mission STS-114. The launch planning window is May 12 to June 3, 2005.

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. -- In the Payload Hazardous Servicing Facility at NASA Kennedy Space Center, workers in clean room suits attach an overhead crane to NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft. The spacecraft will be lifted and moved for mating with the third stage, or upper booster, a Boeing STAR 48 solid-propellant kick motor. The launch vehicle for New Horizons is the Atlas V rocket, scheduled to launch from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Fla., during a 35-day window that opens Jan. 11, and fly through the Pluto system as early as summer 2015.

NASA Administrator Michael Griffin testifies at a hearing before the House Science Committee, Tuesday, June 28, 2005, Rayburn House Office building, Washington. Photo Credit: (NASA/Bill Ingalls)

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. - Inside NASA Kennedy Space Center’s Vehicle Assembly Building, External Tank 119 is lowered to a point just above the transfer aisle. There it will be lowered horizontally and placed on a transporter in the transfer aisle to be moved to the barge at the Turn Basin. The tank will embark on a voyage around the Florida peninsula to the Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans. Delivered to KSC in June, ET-119 is the third newly redesigned tank.

Todd Viddle; APU advanced systems technician, Robert 'Skip' Garrett; main propulsion advanced systems technician, and Dan McGrath; main propulsion systems engineer technician, remove a servicing unit from the Space Shuttle Discovery as part of it's post-flight processing at NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center. The Space Shuttles receive post-flight servicing in the Mate-Demate Device (MDD) following landings at NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center, Edwards, California. The gantry-like MDD structure is used for servicing the shuttle orbiters in preparation for their ferry flight back to the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, including mounting the shuttle atop NASA's modified Boeing 747 Shuttle Carrier Aircraft. Space Shuttle Discovery landed safely at NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center at Edwards Air Force Base in California at 5:11:22 a.m. PDT, August 9, 2005, following the very successful 14-day STS-114 return to flight mission. During their two weeks in space, Commander Eileen Collins and her six crewmates tested out new safety procedures and delivered supplies and equipment the International Space Station. Discovery spent two weeks in space, where the crew demonstrated new methods to inspect and repair the Shuttle in orbit. The crew also delivered supplies, outfitted and performed maintenance on the International Space Station. A number of these tasks were conducted during three spacewalks. In an unprecedented event, spacewalkers were called upon to remove protruding gap fillers from the heat shield on Discovery's underbelly. In other spacewalk activities, astronauts installed an external platform onto the Station's Quest Airlock and replaced one of the orbital outpost's Control Moment Gyroscopes. Inside the Station, the STS-114 crew conducted joint operations with the Expedition 11 crew. They unloaded fresh supplies from the Shuttle and the Raffaello Multi-Purpose Logistics Module. Before Discovery undocked, the crews filled Raffeallo with unneeded items

During its time in orbit, Cassini has spotted many beautiful cat's eye-shaped patterns like the ones visible here. These patterns occur in places where the winds and the atmospheric density at one latitude are different from those at another latitude. The opposing east-west flowing cloud bands are the dominant patterns seen here and elsewhere in Saturn's atmosphere. Contrast in the image was enhanced to aid the visibility of atmospheric features. The image was taken with the Cassini spacecraft wide-angle camera on Aug. 20, 2005. http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA07600

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. - In the Space Station Processing Facility at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center, the P3_P4 Truss is prepared to be rotated to the upper deck position in preparation for installation of the upper deck solar array wing. The truss is scheduled to launch on mission 12A, STS-115, to the International Space Station. The wing was removed to replace aging flight batteries. New batteries are being installed to ensure that the batteries do not exceed their lifetime expectancy prior to their planned logistics resupply on-orbit. The new batteries have a lifetime expectancy of approximately 7 years.

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. - Space Shuttle Discovery, atop a Mobile Launcher Platform, nears the opening to high bay 1 in the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center. The view is across the Turn Basin. Docked at right is the barge that transports External Tanks from the Michoud Assembly Facility near New Orleans to Kennedy. The Shuttle is being rolled back from Launch Pad 39B. Once inside the VAB, Discovery will be demated from its External Tank and lifted into the transfer aisle. On or about June 7, Discovery will be lifted and attached to its new tank and Solid Rocket Boosters, which are already in the VAB. Only the 15th rollback in Space Shuttle Program history, the 4.2-mile journey allows additional modifications to be made to the External Tank prior to a safe Return to Flight. Discovery is expected to be rolled back to the launch pad in mid-June for Return to Flight mission STS-114. The launch window extends from July 13 to July 31.

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. - On Orbiter Atlantis in NASA’s Orbiter Processing Facility, bay 1, Scott Minnick, lead inspector for micro inspection team, inspects the area where the retract link assembly would be installed on the right-hand main landing gear. Last week a small crack was found on the right-hand assembly. To lower the main landing gear, a mechanical linkage released by each gear actuates the doors to the open position. The landing gear reach the full-down and extended position with 10 seconds and are locked in the down position by spring-loaded downlock bungees Atlantis is scheduled to launch in September 2005 on the second Return to Flight mission, STS-121.

Solar-Panel Dust Accumulation and Cleanings

JSC2005-E-31292 (28 July 2005) --- An unidentified member of the STS-116 crew simulates an ejection from a troubled shuttle into a body of water during an emergency bailout training session in the Neutral Buoyancy Laboratory (NBL) near the Johnson Space Center.

Artist concept compares a hypothetical solar system centered around a tiny un to a known solar system centered around a star 55 Cancri.

Altitude Wind Tunnel (AWT) construction: cutting tunnel

Zooming In On Enceladus Movie

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. - With the Closeout Crew looking on in the White Room on Launch Pad 39B, STS-114 Mission Specialist Andrew Thomas has donned his launch suit before entering Space Shuttle Discovery. The crew is taking part in a full dress rehearsal for launch, including countdown and culminating in main engine cutoff. The rehearsal is the final part of Terminal Countdown Demonstration Test (TCDT) activities that the crew has been involved in for three days. TCDT provides the crew of each mission an opportunity to participate in various simulated countdown activities, including equipment familiarization and emergency egress training. STS-114 is the first Return to Flight mission to the International Space Station. The launch window extends July 13 through July 31.

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. - Across the Turn Basin at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center looms the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB). In front of the massive doors is Space Shuttle Discovery, atop the Mobile Launcher Platform, wending its way slowly to Launch Pad 39B. First motion out of the VAB was at 2:04 p.m. EDT. The Mobile Launcher Platform is moved by the Crawler-Transporter underneath. The Crawler is 20 feet high, 131 feet long and 114 feet wide. It moves on eight tracks, each containing 57 shoes, or cleats, weighing one ton each. Loaded with the Space Shuttle, the Crawler can move at a maximum speed of approximately 1 mile an hour. A leveling system in the Crawler keeps the Shuttle vertical while negotiating the 5 percent grade leading to the top of the launch pad. Launch of Discovery on its Return to Flight mission, STS-114, is targeted for May 15 with a launch window that extends to June 3. During its 12-day mission, Discovery’s seven-person crew will test new hardware and techniques to improve Shuttle safety, as well as deliver supplies to the International Space Station. Discovery was moved on March 29 from the Orbiter Processing Facility to the VAB and attached to its propulsion elements, a redesigned ET and twin SRBs.

Dr. Michael Griffin testifies, Tuesday, April 12, 2005, during his confirmation hearing before the U.S. Senate Commerce Committee at the Russell Senate Office Building in Washington. If confirmed, Griffin, who currently heads the space department at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory will become NASA's 11th administrator. Photo Credit (NASA/Renee Bouchard)

Technicians work on the Russian Sokol suit of European Space Agency astronaut Roberto Vittori, of Italy, prior to launch aboard the Soyuz TMA-6 spacecraft at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Baikonur, Kazakhstan, Friday, April 15, 2005 for a two-day trip to the International Space Station. Photo Credit: (NASA/Bill Ingalls)

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. - A pristine view to Launch Pad 39B at NASA Kennedy Space Center shows the Space Shuttle Discovery as it waits for launch.Discovery is scheduled to lift off on the historic Return to Flight mission STS-114 at 10:39 a.m. EDT July 26 with a crew of seven. On the mission to the International Space Station the crew will perform inspections on orbit for the first time of all of the Reinforced Carbon-Carbon (RCC) panels on the leading edge of the wings and the Thermal Protection System tiles using the new Canadian-built Orbiter Boom Sensor System and the data from 176 impact and temperature sensors. Mission Specialists will also practice repair techniques on RCC and tile samples during a spacewalk in the payload bay. During two additional spacewalks, the crew will install the External Stowage Platform-2, equipped with spare part assemblies, and a replacement Control Moment Gyroscope contained in the Lightweight Multi-Purpose Experiment Support Structure.

ISS011-E-09649 (27 June 2005) --- Lightning was the suspected cause of this giant wildfire, raging through an area northeast of Phoenix on Monday. This picture, taken shortly after 9 a.m. (CDT), is one of a series of images photographed by Astronaut John Phillips, Expedition 11 flight engineer and NASA ISS science officer, aboard the orbiting complex, flying at an altitude of 220 miles.

Rhea: Polar View

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. - In NASA Kennedy Space Center’s Orbiter Processing Facility Bay 3, technicians install a remote manipulator system, or space shuttle arm, previously installed on the orbiter Atlantis, in Discovery’s payload bay. The arms were switched because the arm that was installed on Atlantis has special instrumentation to gather loads data from the second return-to-flight mission, STS-121. Discovery is the designated orbiter to fly on STS-121. scheduled to launch no earlier than May 2006.

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