CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. – As the sun rises over the turn basin at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, the barge transporting the high-fidelity space shuttle model begins the journey from Kennedy to Johnson Space Center's visitor center in Houston. The model was built in Apopka, Fla., by Guard-Lee and installed at Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex in 1993.The model has been parked at the turn basin the past five months to allow the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex to begin building a new facility to display space shuttle Atlantis in 2013. For more information about Johnson’s visitor center, called Space Center Houston, visit http://www.spacecenter.org. Photo credit: NASA/Charisse Nahser

This image from NASA Dawn spacecraft of asteroid Vesta shows Helena crater, which is the crater that resembles the shape of a butterfly wings center, and Laelia crater bottom right.

Interior View of BOSU

Exterior view of the Operations & Checkout Building

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. – Cheryl Hurst, director of Education and External Relations at NASA's Kennedy Space Center, speaks during a ceremony marking the placement of a steel beam at the highest point of a new exhibit facility under construction at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex. The 90,000-square-foot facility will house space shuttle Atlantis and 62 shuttle program exhibits. Photo credit: NASA/Kim Shiflett

Shadowed Terraces

Tyagaraja, and Zeami, and Sophocles! Oh My!

The lava channels in this image from NASA 2001 Mars Odyssey spacecraft are located on the northern flank of Ascraeus Mons.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. – The Shuttle Carrier Aircraft, or SCA, rolls onto the ramp area at NASA Kennedy Space Center’s Shuttle Landing Facility in Florida. The SCA touched down at 5:05 p.m. EDT to prepare for shuttle Endeavour’s ferry flight to the Los Angeles International Airport on Sept. 17. The Mate/Demate Device, or MDD, is located at the ramp area and will be used to hoist and lower Endeavour onto the back of the SCA. Photo credit: NASA/Jim Grossmann

The two depression crossing this image are called Pavonis Fossae and are located just north of the volcano in this image captured by NASA 2001 Mars Odyssey spacecraft.

View of STS Atlantis

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. – At NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, a worker listens to a presentation by a RehabWorks staff member in the Operations and Checkout building during the center’s 2012 Innovation Expo. The center-wide event gave researchers a chance to show some of their work to others at the center and gave employees the opportunity to see facilities they hadn’t seen before. Photo credit: NASA/Kim Shiflett

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. – NASA's twin Radiation Belt Storm Probes, enclosed in protective shipping containers, have been secured on a flatbed truck at the Shuttle Landing Facility at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The spacecraft will be transported to the Astrotech payload processing facility near Kennedy Space Center where Applied Physics Laboratory technicians will begin spacecraft testing and prelaunch preparations. The spacecraft arrived at Kennedy in the cargo bay of the U.S. Air Force C-17 airplane at right. The RBSP mission will help us understand the sun’s influence on Earth and near-Earth space by studying the Earth’s radiation belts on various scales of space and time. The RBSP instruments will provide the measurements needed to characterize and quantify the plasma processes that produce very energetic ions and relativistic electrons. The mission is part of NASA’s broader Living With a Star Program that was conceived to explore fundamental processes that operate throughout the solar system, and in particular those that generate hazardous space weather effects in the vicinity of Earth and phenomena that could impact solar system exploration. RBSP is scheduled to begin its mission of exploration of Earth's Van Allen Radiation Belts and the extremes of space weather after launch. Launch aboard a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket is scheduled for August 23. For more information, visit http://www.nasa.gov/rbsp. Photo credit: NASA/Kim Shiflett

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - A mission science briefing was held at NASA Kennedy Space Center’s Press Site in Florida for the Radiation Belt Storm Probes, or RBSP, mission. From left, are George Diller, public affairs specialist and news conference moderator, Mona Kessel, RBSP program scientist from NASA Headquarters in Washington, Nicola Fox, RBSP deputy project scientist at Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory in Laurel, Md., Craig Kletzing, principal investigator from the University of Iowa, Harlan Spence, principal investigator from the University of New Hampshire, and Lou Lanzerotti, principal investigator from the New Jersey Institute of Technology. NASA’s RBSP mission will help us understand the sun’s influence on Earth and near-Earth space by studying the Earth’s radiation belts on various scales of space and time. RBSP will begin its mission of exploration of Earth’s Van Allen radiation belts and the extremes of space weather after its launch aboard an Atlas V rocket. Launch is targeted for Aug. 24. For more information, visit http://www.nasa.gov/rbsp. Photo credit: NASA/Glenn Benson

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- Space Launch Complex 40 on Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida is illuminated by a Falcon 9 rocket as it lifts off at 8:35 p.m. EDT carrying a Dragon capsule to orbit. Space Exploration Technologies Corp., or SpaceX, built both the rocket and capsule for NASA's first Commercial Resupply Services, or CRS-1, mission to the International Space Station. SpaceX CRS-1 is an important step toward making America’s microgravity research program self-sufficient by providing a way to deliver and return significant amounts of cargo, including science experiments, to and from the orbiting laboratory. NASA has contracted for 12 commercial resupply flights from SpaceX and eight from the Orbital Sciences Corp. For more information, visit http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/living/launch/index.html. Photo credit: NASA/Jim Grossmann

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. – Space shuttle Endeavour is seen inside the Mate-Demate Device, or MDD, at the Shuttle Landing Facility at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The Shuttle Carrier Aircraft, or SCA, is seen on the ramp. The SCA will carry Endeavour to Los Angeles where it will be placed on public display. The center's Vehicle Assembly Building, or VAB, and the mobile launcher built for the Space Launch System are also visible in the background. Photo credit: NASA/Kim Shiflett

Revelations on Mercury

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- The tail cone for space shuttle Discovery’s three replica shuttle main engines (RSMEs) is being transported to Orbiter processing Facility-1 at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The tail cone will be installed around Discovery’s RSMEs for protection. The work is part of the Space Shuttle Program’s transition and retirement processing of shuttle Discovery. Discovery is being prepared for display at the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum, Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center in Chantilly, Va. For more information, visit http://www.nasa.gov/shuttle. Photo credit: NASA/Jim Grossmann

Maximum Surface Temperature near the North Pole

NASA, Department of Defense personnel from Detachment 3 out of Patrick Air Force Base, and the Mobile Diving Salvage Unit based in San Diego conduct a testing session at the Neutral Buoyancy Lab in Houston on Dec. 5, 2012 to evaluate procedures, mockups, and prototype hardware used to train personnel in recovery of the Orion crew module and the forward bay cover for Exploration Flight Test-1 (EFT-1). Part of Batch image transfer from Flickr.

DATE: 5-25-12 LOCATION: Bldg. 30 - FCR-1 (30M/231) SUBJECT: SpaceX Dragon capsule rendezvous and capture PHOTOGRAPHER: Lauren Harnett

ISS034-E-005218 (21 Nov. 2012) --- Russian cosmonaut Oleg Novitskiy, Expedition 34 flight engineer, eats a snack near the galley in the Zvezda Service Module of the International Space Station.

ISS030-E-210788 (3 April 2012) --- European Space Agency astronaut Andre Kuipers, Expedition 30 flight engineer, works with the advanced Resistive Exercise Device (aRED) in the Tranquility node of the International Space Station.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- NASA’s Freedom Star boat sets out for a day of testing after departing through Port Canaveral in Florida for the Atlantic Ocean with NASA’s Mobile Aerospace Reconnaissance System, or MARS, secured aboard. MARS, run by NASA’s Langley Research Center in Hampton, Va., with its spatial, hyperspectral, thermal, and directed energy capabilities will be used for thermal imaging testing for the upcoming SpaceX Falcon 9 and Dragon capsule test flight to the International Space Station. During today’s test, the MARS X-band radar and kineto tracking mount KTM were tested to ensure that they were synchronized to receive a rocket launch feed. The radar was used to identify an object to see if the KTM could lock on to and track it. The MARS team performed maintenance on the system, confirmed communications links, and tested the design of the mounting system and environmental enclosure. Photo credit: NASA/Jim Grossmann

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - At NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, Todd Lindner, senior manager of Aviation Planning and Spaceport Development for the Jacksonville Aviation Authority, addresses guests at a presentation during which XCOR Aerospace announced plans to open a manufacturing operation in Brevard. The company's suborbital Lynx Mark II spacecraft possibly will take off and land at Kennedy's shuttle landing facility. XCOR Aerospace is a small, privately held California corporation with focus on the research, development, project management and production of reusable launch vehicles, rocket engines and rocket propulsion systems. XCOR will focus on space tourism, experimental flights and launching satellites. Photo credit: NASA/ Frankie Martin

SPLASH P1 Test 7 Swing Test: Documentation of preparation, set up and results of full scale BTA (Boilerplate Test Article) vertical drop test series performed in 2012 at the LaRC Hydro Impact Basin (HIB)

The NASA Mars rover Curiosity used its Navigation Camera Navcam during the mission 120th Martian day, or sol Dec. 7, 2012, to record the seven images combined into this panoramic view.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. – As part of NASA's Ground Systems Development and Operations Program at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, a large space shuttle-era work platform is being lowered and removed from high bay 3 of the Vehicle Assembly Building, or VAB. The work is part of a center-wide modernization and refurbishment initiative to accommodate NASA’s Space Launch System and a variety of other spacecraft instead of the whole building supporting one design. The Ground Systems Development and Operations Program is developing the necessary ground systems, infrastructure and operational approaches required to safely process, assemble, transport and launch the next generation of rockets and spacecraft in support of NASA’s exploration objectives. Future work also will replace the antiquated communications, power and vehicle access resources with modern efficient systems. Some of the utilities and systems slated for replacement have been used since the VAB opened in 1965. For more information, visit http://www.nasa.gov/exploration/systems/ground/index.html Photo credit: NASA/Jim Grossmann

ISS033-E-007915 (28 Sept. 2012) --- European Space Agency's "Edoardo Amaldi" Automated Transfer Vehicle-3 (ATV-3) begins its relative separation from the International Space Station during the Expedition 33 mission. The ATV-3 undocked from the aft port of the Zvezda Service Module at 5:44 p.m. (EDT) on Sept. 28, 2012. The ATV-3 is scheduled to deorbit on Oct. 2 for a fiery re-entry over the Pacific Ocean that will destroy the trash-filled spacecraft. Inside the ATV-3 is the Re-Entry Breakup Recorder that will record various data such as temperature, pressure and speed as the resupply craft burns up during its return to Earth. Experts will use that data to design safer and more predictable destructive re-entry techniques.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. – As part of NASA's Ground Systems Development and Operations Program at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, a large space shuttle-era work platform is being removed from high bay 3 of the Vehicle Assembly Building, or VAB. The work is part of a center-wide modernization and refurbishment initiative to accommodate NASA’s Space Launch System and a variety of other spacecraft instead of the whole building supporting one design. The Ground Systems Development and Operations Program is developing the necessary ground systems, infrastructure and operational approaches required to safely process, assemble, transport and launch the next generation of rockets and spacecraft in support of NASA’s exploration objectives. Future work also will replace the antiquated communications, power and vehicle access resources with modern efficient systems. Some of the utilities and systems slated for replacement have been used since the VAB opened in 1965. For more information, visit http://www.nasa.gov/exploration/systems/ground/index.html Photo credit: NASA/Jim Grossmann

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. – Space shuttle Discovery makes its way to the Shuttle Landing Facility, or SLF, in darkness at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Its move from the Vehicle Assembly Building got under way at 5 a.m. EDT. At the SLF, Discovery will be hoisted onto a Shuttle Carrier Aircraft, or SCA, with the aid of a mate-demate device. The SCA, a modified Boeing 747 jet airliner, is scheduled to ferry Discovery to the Washington Dulles International Airport in Virginia on April 17, after which the shuttle will be placed on permanent public display in the Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center. For more information on shuttle transition and retirement activities, visit http://www.nasa.gov/transition. Photo credit: NASA/Dimitri Gerondidakis

PHOTO DATE: 11-30-12 LOCATION: Bldg. 9NW - ISS SRB Mockup SUBJECT: Expedition 40 crew members (Soyuz 39) Reid Wiseman and ESA astronaut Alexander Gerst with Soyuz 38 crew member Steve Swanson during DEPRESS CREW RESPONSE/B9 SRB. PHOTOGRAPHER: BILL STAFFORD

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. – At NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, NASA Administrator Charlie Bolden talks to agency social media followers during the second day of NASA Social activities revolving around NASA's Radiation Belt Storm Probes, or RBSP, mission. At left is performer Beth Nielson Chapman. At right is astronaut Leland Melvin, associate administrator of NASA Education. The probes are set to launch aboard a United Launch Alliance, or ULA, Atlas V rocket from nearby Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. About 40 followers were selected to participate in RBSP's prelaunch and launch activities. The RBSP mission will help us understand the sun’s influence on Earth and near-Earth space by studying the Earth’s radiation belts on various scales of space and time. RBSP will begin its mission of exploration of Earth’s Van Allen radiation belts and the extremes of space weather. For more information, visit http://www.nasa.gov/rbsp. Photo credit: NASA/Frankie Martin

T&R Endeavour Left Side Tail Cone Buildup

VANDENBERG AFB, Calif. -- NASA's Landsat Data Continuity Mission, or LDCM, satellite during post-arrival inspections at the Astrotech processing facility at Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif. The Landsat Data Continuity Mission LDCM is the future of Landsat satellites. It will continue to obtain valuable data and imagery to be used in agriculture, education, business, science, and government. The Landsat Program provides repetitive acquisition of high resolution multispectral data of the Earth's surface on a global basis. The data from the Landsat spacecraft constitute the longest record of the Earth's continental surfaces as seen from space. It is a record unmatched in quality, detail, coverage, and value. Launch is planned for Feb. 11, 2013. For more information, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/landsat/main/index.html Photo credit: NASA

Aerials of NASA Langley Research Center west area

JSC2012-E-238481 (14 Nov. 2012) --- Canadian Space Agency astronaut Chris Hadfield (right), Expedition 34 flight engineer and Expedition 35 commander; along with Russian cosmonaut Roman Romanenko (center) and NASA astronaut Tom Marshburn, both Expedition 34/35 flight engineers, attired in Russian Sokol launch and entry suits, take a break from training in Star City, Russia to pose for a portrait. Photo credit: Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center

View of STS Discovery

John C. Stennis Space Center hosted outreach activities at the Walmart Supercenter Store in Picayune on Nov. 3, focusing on helping area residents learn about NASA and Stennis' role in the future of space exploration. Visitors could learn about living and working in space, participate in hands-on educational activities, discover facts about the International Space Station, view images from NASA's latest rover mission to Mars and find out about rocket engine test work at Stennis Space Center.

SPLASH P1 Test 7 Swing Test: Documentation of preparation, set up and results of full scale BTA (Boilerplate Test Article) vertical drop test series performed in 2012 at the LaRC Hydro Impact Basin (HIB)

Mars has two small, asteroid-sized moons named Phobos and Deimos. This frame from an animation shows the point of view of the rover, located near the equator of Mars, as these moons occasionally pass in front of, or transit, the disk of the sun.

View of a Scarp

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- Mercury astronaut John Glenn, left, and NASA Administrator Charles Bolden share a laugh during the "50 Years of Americans in Orbit" presentation for employees at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. This year marks 50 years since Glenn and Carpenter became the first two Americans to orbit Earth. Photo credit: NASA/Kim Shiflett

The space shuttle Endeavour is seen as it traverses through the streest of Los Angeles on its way to its new home at the California Science Center, Friday, Oct. 12, 2012. Endeavour, built as a replacement for space shuttle Challenger, completed 25 missions, spent 299 days in orbit, and orbited Earth 4,671 times while traveling 122,883,151 miles. Beginning Oct. 30, the shuttle will be on display in the CSC's Samuel Oschin Space Shuttle Endeavour Display Pavilion, embarking on its new mission to commemorate past achievements in space and educate and inspire future generations of explorers. Photo Credit: (NASA/Carla Cioffi)

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. – An illustration on the nose of a NASA aircraft shows how it is used in weightless training. The aircraft arrived at the Shuttle Landing Facility at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida and will serve as a weather pathfinder, flying ahead of the space shuttle Endeavour, mounted atop NASA's Shuttle Carrier Aircraft, or SCA, during its ferry flight to California. The SCA, a modified 747 jetliner, will fly Endeavour to Los Angeles where it will be placed on public display at the California Science Center. This is the final ferry flight scheduled in the Space Shuttle Program era. For more information on the shuttles' transition and retirement, visit http://www.nasa.gov/transition. Photo credit: NASA/ Dimitri Gerondidakis

This view of the American flag medallion on NASA Mars rover Curiosity was taken by the rover MAHLI camera during the 44th Martian sol on Sept. 19, 2012. The flag is one of four mobility logos placed on the rover mobility rocker arms.

William Gerstenmaier, Associate Administrator, Human Exploration and Operations Mission Directorate, NASA Headquarters, testifies during a hearing before the House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology regarding access to and sustainability of the International Space Station, Wednesday, March 28, 2012 at the Rayburn House Office Building in Washington. Photo Credit: (NASA/Carla Cioffi)

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. – The gravel crawlerway is seen as if from a crawler transporter making the approach to Launch Complex 39 pad A at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The crawlerways are 130 feet wide, about the size of an 8-lane freeway. The river rock paths have been used since 1966 to move launch vehicles from the Vehicle Assembly Building, or VAB, along the 3.4-mile path to pad A and 6.8 miles to pad B. The crawlerways were originally built to support transporting Apollo Saturn V rockets to the launch pads. The crawlerways were again used during the Space Shuttle Program moving the 4.5 million-pound shuttles mounted on an 8-million-pound mobile launcher platform atop a six-million-pound crawler transporter -- totaling an 18.5-million-pound vehicle lumbering along to the pad. The paths are specially constructed with four layers. The top is eight inches thick on curves and four inches on straightaway sections. Then there is a four-foot layer of graded, crushed stone. Beneath that is 2.5 feet of fill, followed by one foot of compact fill. Plans call for the crawlerways to be used in the future for transporting launch vehicles from the VAB to pads A and B. For more information, visit http://www.nasa.gov/transition Photo credit: NASA/Kim Shiflett

DATE: 11-5-12 LOCATION: Bldg. 9 - VR Lab SUBJECT: Expedition 38 crew members Mike Hopkins, Rick Mastracchio and Koichi Wakata during ROBO/EVA VR LAB training with instructors Jason A. Campbell and Alex Kanelakos. PHOTOGRAPHER: Lauren Harnett

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. – A Centaur stage arrives the Atlas Spaceflight Operations Center, or ASOC, at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station to begin processing. The Centaur will be part of a launch vehicle that will boost the Tracking and Data Relay Satellite-K, or TDRS-K, into Earth orbit atop an Atlas V rocket. Lift off is scheduled for 11:57 p.m. on Dec. 13, 2012 from Space Launch Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral. The TDRS-K spacecraft is part of the next-generation series in the Tracking and Data Relay Satellite System, a constellation of space-based communication satellites providing tracking, telemetry, command and high-bandwidth data return services. For more information, visit http://tdrs.gsfc.nasa.gov/ Photo credit: NASA/Charisse Nahser

ISS032-E-025217 (5 Sept. 2012) --- Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency astronaut Aki Hoshide, Expedition 32 flight engineer, participates in the mission?s third session of extravehicular activity (EVA). During the six-hour, 28-minute spacewalk, Hoshide and NASA astronaut Sunita Williams (out of frame), flight engineer, completed the installation of a Main Bus Switching Unit (MBSU) that was hampered last week by a possible misalignment and damaged threads where a bolt must be placed. They also installed a camera on the International Space Station?s robotic arm, Canadarm2.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. – Sunrise at the Shuttle Landing Facility at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida finds space shuttle Endeavour secured atop NASA's Shuttle Carrier Aircraft, or SCA. Preparations are under way to roll them away from the mate-demate device surrounding them. The SCA, a modified 747 jetliner, will fly Endeavour to Los Angeles where it will be placed on public display at the California Science Center. This is the final ferry flight scheduled in the Space Shuttle Program era. For more information on the shuttles' transition and retirement, visit http://www.nasa.gov/transition. Photo credit: NASA/Dimitri Gerondidakis

DATE: 5-25-12 LOCATION: Bldg. 30 - FCR-1 (30M/231) SUBJECT: SpaceX Dragon capsule rendezvous and capture PHOTOGRAPHER: Lauren Harnett

Orion EFT-1 Crew Module Uncrating

VANDENBERG AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. -- Technicians pull a protective plastic cover over NASA's NuSTAR spacecraft and the tilt-rotation fixture inside Orbital Sciences' processing facility at Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif. The spacecraft will be rotated to horizontal for joining with the Pegasus XL rocket. The Orbital Sciences Pegasus will launch NASA's Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array NuSTAR into space. After the rocket and spacecraft are processed at Vandenberg, they will be flown on Orbital's L-1011 carrier aircraft to the Ronald Reagan Ballistic Missile Defense Test Site at the Pacific Ocean’s Kwajalein Atoll for launch. The high-energy x-ray telescope will conduct a census for black holes, map radioactive material in young supernovae remnants, and study the origins of cosmic rays and the extreme physics around collapsed stars. For more information, visit science.nasa.gov/missions/nustar/. Photo credit: NASA/Randy Beaudoin, VAFB

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. – The newly arrived Shuttle Carrier Aircraft is framed by a grappling fixture on the mate-demate device at the Shuttle Landing Facility at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The aircraft, known as an SCA, arrived at 5:35 p.m. EDT to prepare for shuttle Discovery’s ferry flight to the Washington Dulles International Airport in Sterling, Va., on April 17. This SCA, designated NASA 905, is a modified Boeing 747 jet airliner, originally manufactured for commercial use. One of two SCAs employed over the course of the Space Shuttle Program, NASA 905 is assigned to the remaining ferry missions, delivering the shuttles to their permanent public display sites. NASA 911 was decommissioned at the NASA Dryden Flight Research Center in California in February. Discovery will be placed on permanent public display in the Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center in Chantilly, Va. For more information on the SCA, visit http://www.nasa.gov/centers/dryden/news/FactSheets/FS-013-DFRC.html. For more information on shuttle transition and retirement activities, visit http://www.nasa.gov/shuttle. Photo credit: NASA/Kim Shiflett

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. – Launch Pads 39A, right, and 39B, left, are seen in the distance during a field-guided boat tour of NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. As part of the center's first-ever Innovation Expo, the tour, called "Living Outdoor Laboratory for Environmental Sustainability," is giving employees the opportunity to see the unique estuarine ecosystems that are protected from development by the presence of Kennedy and the Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge. The diverse and healthy area encompassing about 140,000 acres of central Florida's east coast has been closed to the public for 50 years, allowing the coastal dunes, saltwater estuaries and marshes, freshwater impoundments, scrub, pine flatwoods, and hardwood hammocks to provide habitats for more than 1,000 species of plants and animals. Innovation Expo is showcasing the innovative work taking place throughout the center's facilities and labs to encourage employees to work together to solve future challenges. For more information, visit http://www.nasa.gov/kennedy. Photo credit: NASA

An Orion parachute development test takes place at U.S. Army Yuma Proving Ground in Yuma, Arizona, on April 17, 2012. Part of Batch image transfer from Flickr.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. – In Orbiter Processing Facility-2 at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, technicians prepare to lift the forward reaction control system (FRCS) for installation on space shuttle Endeavour. The work is part of the Space Shuttle Program transition and retirement processing of Endeavour. The FRCS helped maneuver a shuttle while it was in orbit. The FRCS was removed from Endeavour and sent to White Sands Test Facility in N.M. to be cleaned of its toxic propellants. Endeavour is being prepared for display at the California Science Center in Los Angeles. Photo credit: NASA/Dimitri Gerondidakis

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. – Charles Duke, chairman of the board of directors for the Astronaut Scholarship Foundation welcomes guests who have gathered for the organization's dinner at the Radisson Resort at the Port in Cape Canaveral celebrating the 40th anniversary of Apollo 17. The gala commemorating the anniversary of Apollo 17 included mission commander Eugene Cernan and other astronauts who flew Apollo missions. Launched Dec. 7, 1972, Cernan and lunar module pilot Harrison Schmitt landed in the moon's Taurus-Littrow highlands while command module pilot Ronald Evans remained in lunar orbit operating a scientific instrument module. For more information, visit http://www-pao.ksc.nasa.gov/history/apollo/apollo-17/apollo-17.htm Photo credit: NASA/Kim Shiflett

RBSP, B Canister removal, unbagging, into workstand, final solar panels into work stands

This image captured by NASA 2001 Mars Odyssey spacecraft shows part of the southern flank of Pavonis Mons. Visible at the bottom of the image are collapse features and lava channels.

The Smoothness of Schubert

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. – Employees watch as the United Launch Alliance Atlas V first stage booster for NASA's Radiation Belt Storm Probes mission arrives at the Atlas Spaceflight Operations Center, or ASOC, at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. The Radiation Belt Storm Probes, or RBSP, mission will help us understand the sun’s influence on Earth and near-Earth space by studying the Earth’s radiation belts on various scales of space and time. For more information, visit http://www.nasa.gov/rbsp. Photo credit: NASA/Jim Grossmann

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. – Former space shuttle astronaut Richard Covey was among guests gathering for the Astronaut Scholarship Foundation's dinner at the Radisson Resort at the Port in Cape Canaveral celebrating the 40th anniversary of Apollo 17. The gala commemorating the anniversary of Apollo 17 included mission commander Eugene Cernan and other astronauts who flew Apollo missions. Launched Dec. 7, 1972, Cernan and lunar module pilot Harrison Schmitt landed in the moon's Taurus-Littrow highlands while command module pilot Ronald Evans remained in lunar orbit operating a scientific instrument module. For more information, visit http://www-pao.ksc.nasa.gov/history/apollo/apollo-17/apollo-17.htm Photo credit: NASA/Kim Shiflett

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. – In Orbiter Processing Facility-2 at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, United Space Alliance technicians prepare a crane to remove the airlock from space shuttle Endeavour’s payload bay. The airlock was the connecting point between the shuttle and the International Space Station. Endeavour is being prepared for public display at the California Science Center in Los Angeles. Over the course of its 19-year career, Endeavour spent 299 days in space during 25 missions. For more information, visit http://www.nasa.gov/transition. Photo credit: NASA/Frankie Martin

T&R Enterprise Demated from SCA

ISS031-E-071547 (25 May 2012) --- The SpaceX Dragon commercial cargo craft is berthed to the Earth-facing side of the International Space Station’s Harmony node. Expedition 31 Flight Engineers Don Pettit and Andre Kuipers grappled Dragon at 9:56 a.m. (EDT) with the Canadarm2 robotic arm and used it to berth Dragon to the at 12:02 p.m. May 25, 2012. Dragon became the first commercially developed space vehicle to be launched to the station to join Russian, European and Japanese resupply craft that service the complex while restoring a U.S. capability to deliver cargo to the orbital laboratory. Dragon is scheduled to spend about a week docked with the station before returning to Earth on May 31 for retrieval.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. – The Shuttle Carrier Aircraft carrying space shuttle Discovery backs out of the Shuttle Landing Facility's mate-demate device at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The device, known as the MDD, is a large gantry-like steel structure used to hoist a shuttle off the ground and position it onto the back of the aircraft, or SCA. The SCA is a Boeing 747 jet that was originally manufactured for commercial use and modified by NASA to transport the shuttles between destinations on Earth. This SCA, designated NASA 905, is assigned to the remaining ferry missions, delivering the shuttles to their permanent public display sites. NASA 905 is scheduled to ferry Discovery to the Washington Dulles International Airport in Virginia on April 17, after which the shuttle will be placed on display in the Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center. For more information on the SCA, visit http://www.nasa.gov/centers/dryden/news/FactSheets/FS-013-DFRC.html. For more information on shuttle transition and retirement activities, visit http://www.nasa.gov/transition. Photo credit: NASA/Kim Shiflett

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. – NASA's Shuttle Carrier Aircraft, or SCA, maneuvers into position on the runway at the Shuttle Landing at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida with space shuttle Endeavour secured on top. Takeoff came at 7:22 a.m. EDT. The SCA, a modified 747 jetliner, will fly Endeavour to Los Angeles where it will be placed on public display at the California Science Center. This is the final ferry flight scheduled in the Space Shuttle Program era. For more information on the shuttles' transition and retirement, visit http://www.nasa.gov/transition. Photo credit: NASA/Kim Shiflett

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- Inside Orbiter Processing Facility-2 at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, technicians inspect the top emergency escape window that was removed from space shuttle Atlantis. The window is being removed in order to gain access to remove hazardous pyrotechnics from the shuttle. The window will be shipped to Johnson Space Center in Houston for inspections and a replacement outer pane will be installed in its place. The work is part of the Space Shuttle Program’s transition and retirement processing of shuttle Atlantis. The shuttle is being prepared for display at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex in Florida. Photo credit: NASA/Kim Shiflett

VANDENBERG AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. – The Miami Air International Boeing 737 airplane, at right, accompanying Orbital Sciences’ L-1011 carrier aircraft, takes off from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California for the U.S. Army's Ronald Reagan Ballistic Missile Defense Test Site on Kwajalein Atoll, part of the Marshall Islands in the Pacific Ocean. Forty-nine passengers, including the launch team, are traveling to Kwajalein aboard the charter flight. The launch team is made up of employees of NASA, Orbital Sciences and a.i. solutions. Orbital’s L-1011, at left, transporting their Pegasus rocket and NASA’s Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array, or NuSTAR, will follow close behind. The Pegasus, mated to its NuSTAR payload, will be launched from the carrier aircraft 117 nautical miles south of Kwajalein at latitude 6.75 degrees north of the equator. The high-energy X-ray telescope will conduct a census of black holes, map radioactive material in young supernovae remnants, and study the origins of cosmic rays and the extreme physics around collapsed stars. Launch is scheduled for June 13. For more information, visit http://www.nasa.gov/nustar. Photo credit: NASA/Randy Beaudoin, VAFB

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. – NASA Deputy Director Lori Garver, left, participates in an event marking the arrival of NASA's first space-bound Orion capsule at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Talking to Garver in Kennedy's Operations and Checkout Building Mission Briefing Room are, from left, Brig. Gen. Anthony J. Cotton, commander of the 45th Space Wing, and Florida Senator Thad Altman. Slated for Exploration Flight Test-1, an uncrewed mission planned for 2014, the capsule will travel farther into space than any human spacecraft has gone in more than 40 years. The capsule was shipped to Kennedy from NASA's Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans where the crew module pressure vessel was built. The Orion production team will prepare the module for flight at Kennedy by installing heat-shielding thermal protection systems, avionics and other subsystems. For more information, visit http://www.nasa.gov/orion. Photo credit: NASA/Kim Shiflett

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. – A test version of NASA’s Orion spacecraft completed a cross-country journey at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Feb. 8, after giving residents in three states the chance to see a full scale mockup of the craft that will take humans into deep space. The capsule will be stored in Kennedy’s Multi-Payload Processing Facility. The test vehicle was used by ground crews in advance of the launch abort system flight test that took place in New Mexico in 2010. Photo Credit: NASA/Jim Grossmann

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. – The swing structure in Orbiter Processing Facility-1 moves from around the aft of space shuttle Atlantis so the orbital maneuvering system pod can be placed on the shuttle. The shuttle is being prepared for public display. Photo credit: NASA/Kim Shiflett

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - At the north end of the Shuttle Landing Facility, or SLF, at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, NASA's Morpheus lander, a vertical test bed vehicle, is being prepared for further assessment. A rock and crater-filled planetary scape, seen in the foreground, has been built so engineers can test the Autonomous Landing and Hazard Avoidance Technology, or ALHAT, system on the Project Morpheus lander. Checkout of the prototype lander has been ongoing at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston in preparation for its first free flight. The SLF site will provide the lander with the kind of field necessary for realistic testing. Project Morpheus is one of 20 small projects comprising the Advanced Exploration Systems, or AES, program in NASA’s Human Exploration and Operations Mission Directorate. AES projects pioneer new approaches for rapidly developing prototype systems, demonstrating key capabilities and validating operational concepts for future human missions beyond Earth orbit. For more information on Project Morpheus, visit http://www.nasa.gov/centers/johnson/exploration/morpheus/index.html Photo credit: NASA/Kim Shiflett

Date: 03-08-12 Location: Bldg 5, SSTF Subject: Expedition 32 (Soyuz 31) crew membesr Aki Hoshide, Sunita Williams and Joseph Acaba during JAXA's HTV sim, FE Rendezvous/Deployment in building 5's space station training facility with Robo instructor Melanie Miller. Photographer: James Blair

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - At the Shuttle Landing Facility SLF at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, a special plaque marks the nose gear wheel stop of space shuttle Atlantis. The 16-by-28-inch black granite plaque is the third to be permanently mounted, commemorating the final landings of each of the three orbiters. Atlantis completed the STS-135 mission by landing at the SLF on July 21, 2011, at 5:57 a.m. Atlantis flew 33 missions, completed 4,848 orbits of the Earth, traveled nearly 126 million miles and spent 307 days in space. Atlantis carried 207 astronauts to space. Photo credit: NASA/Charisse Nahser

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. – Space shuttle Endeavour, mounted atop NASA's Shuttle Carrier Aircraft or SCA, taxis at the Shuttle Landing Facility at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The SCA, a modified 747 jetliner, will fly Endeavour to Los Angeles where it will be placed on public display at the California Science Center. This is the final ferry flight scheduled in the Space Shuttle Program era. For more information on the shuttles' transition and retirement, visit http://www.nasa.gov/transition. Photo credit: NASA/Rick Wetherington

ISS032-E-025163 (5 Sept. 2012) --- Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency astronaut Aki Hoshide, Expedition 32 flight engineer, participates in the mission?s third session of extravehicular activity (EVA). During the six-hour, 28-minute spacewalk, Hoshide and NASA astronaut Sunita Williams (visible in the reflections of Hoshide?s helmet visor), flight engineer, completed the installation of a Main Bus Switching Unit (MBSU) that was hampered last week by a possible misalignment and damaged threads where a bolt must be placed. They also installed a camera on the International Space Station?s robotic arm, Canadarm2.

ISS030-E-079955 (16 Feb. 2012) --- Russian cosmonaut Anton Shkaplerov, Expedition 30 flight engineer, participates in a session of extravehicular activity (EVA) to continue outfitting the International Space Station. During the six-hour, 15-minute spacewalk, Shkaplerov and Russian cosmonaut Oleg Kononenko (out of frame), flight engineer, moved the Strela-1 crane from the Pirs Docking Compartment to begin preparing the Pirs for its replacement next year with a new laboratory and docking module. The duo used another boom, the Strela-2, to move the hand-operated crane to the Poisk module for future assembly and maintenance work. Both telescoping booms extend like fishing rods and are used to move massive components outside the station. On the exterior of the Poisk Mini-Research Module 2 (MRM2), they also installed the Vinoslivost Materials Sample Experiment, which will investigate the influence of space on the mechanical properties of the materials. The spacewalkers also collected a test sample from underneath the insulation on the Zvezda Service Module to search for any signs of living organisms. Both spacewalkers wore Russian Orlan spacesuits bearing blue stripes and equipped with NASA helmet cameras.

Hybrid Wing Body Acoustic Test in 14x22 Tunnel ERA HWB Test -Acoustic

PORT CANAVERAL, Fla. – Local business representatives attended NASA's Historically Underutilized Business Zone, or HUBZone, Industry Day and Expo 2012 on Oct. 16. Exhibitors included vendors from product and service areas, such as engineering services, computer technology, communication equipment and services, and construction and safety products. The event was hosted for business leaders who are interested in learning about government contracting opportunities and what local and national vendors have to offer. The expo was held in Cruise Terminal 4 at Port Canaveral, Fla. The annual trade show is sponsored by Kennedy's Prime Contractor Board, the U.S. Air Force 45th Space Wing and the Canaveral Port Authority. It featured about 175 large and small businesses and government exhibitors from Brevard County and across the nation. Photo credit: NASA/ Kim Shiflett

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- The Space Exploration Technologies, or SpaceX, Falcon 9 rocket rolls out of its processing hangar toward Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida for a wet dress rehearsal. During the rehearsal, the rocket will be fully fueled and launch controllers will perform a countdown demonstration. The rehearsal is in preparation for the company's first Commercial Resupply Services, or CRS, mission to the International Space Station aboard the Dragon capsule. The SpaceX CRS contract with NASA provides for 12 cargo resupply missions to the station through 2015, the first of which is targeted to launch in October 2012.SpaceX became the first private company to berth a spacecraft with the space station in 2012 during its final demonstration flight under the Commercial Orbital Transportation Services, or COTS, program managed by NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston. Photo credit: NASA/Jim Grossmann

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. – Inside the Operations and Checkout Building at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, the Orion Exploration Flight Test 1 crew module has been moved onto the base of a birdcage tool. The birdcage will be used to continue installation of external components in preparation for Orion’s first uncrewed test flight in 2014 atop a Delta IV rocket. Orion is the exploration spacecraft designed to carry crews to space beyond low Earth orbit. It will provide emergency abort capability, sustain the crew during the space travel and provide safe re-entry from deep space return velocities. A second uncrewed flight test is scheduled for 2017 on NASA’s Space Launch System rocket. For more information, visit http://www.nasa.gov/orion. Photo credit: NASA/Kim Shiflett

Expedition 33 Flight Engineer Evgeny Tarelkin answers a reporters question during a press conference held at the Cosmonaut Hotel, on Monday, October 22, 2012, in Baikonur, Kazakhstan. Launch of the Soyuz rocket is scheduled for October 23 and will send Expedition 33/34 Flight Engineer Kevin Ford of NASA, Soyuz Commander Oleg Novitskiy and Flight Engineer Evgeny Tarelkin of ROSCOSMOS on a five-month mission aboard the International Space Station. Photo Credit: (NASA/Bill Ingalls)

This image captured by NASA 2001 Mars Odyssey spacecraft shows a small portion of Olympia Undae, the largest dune field near the north polar cap.

NASA Terra spacecraft acquired this image on June 2, 2012 of Sheveluch, one of the most active volcanoes on the Kamchatka peninsula, with frequent explosive events that can disrupt air traffic over the northern Pacific.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - Inside the Vehicle Assembly Building at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, United Space Alliance workers monitor the progress as the container holding the remote manipulator system, or RMS, is lifted. The RMS will be placed on a flatbed truck for shipment back to the Canadian Space Agency. The RMS, also called the Canadarm, was manufactured for NASA’s Space Shuttle Program by SPAR Aerospace Ltd., which later became a part of MD Robotics in Ontario, Canada. During shuttle missions, the RMS was attached in the payload bay. Mission specialists operated the arm to remove payloads from the payload bay and hand them off to the larger Canadarm 2 on the International Space Station. The shuttle arm also was used during astronaut spacewalks. Photo credit: NASA/Kim Shiflett

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. – As part of NASA's Ground Systems Development and Operations Program at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, a large work platform is being removed from the Vehicle Assembly Building, or VAB. As part of a modernization effort, flexible settings are being designed for multiple launch vehicles instead of the whole building supporting one design. The Ground Systems Development and Operations Program is developing the necessary ground systems, infrastructure and operational approaches required to safely process, assemble, transport and launch the next generation of rockets and spacecraft in support of NASA’s exploration objectives. Future work also will replace the antiquated communications, power and vehicle access resources with modern efficient systems. Some of the utilities and systems slated for replacement have been used since the VAB opened in 1965. For more information, visit http://www.nasa.gov/exploration/systems/ground/index.html Photo credit: NASA/Jim Grossmann

Dr. Ronald M. Berkman, CSU President gives remarks while former Astronaut Steve Lindsey, left, Sen. John Glenn, NASA Administrator Charles Bolden, and NASA Glenn Research Center Director Ray Lugo, seated right, look on at an event celebrating John Glenn's legacy and 50 years of americans in orbit held at the Cleveland State University Wolstein Center on Friday, March 3, 2012 in Cleveland, Ohio. Glenn became the first American to orbit Earth in 1962. Photo Credit: (NASA/Bill Ingalls)

Transit of Venus as seen at 762nm in the CO Module.

This image from NASA 2001 Mars Odyssey spacecraft shows a portion of Nanedi Valles in Xanthe Terra.

ISS030-E-241403 (22 April 2012) --- Russian cosmonauts Anton Shkaplerov (center) and Oleg Kononenko (left foreground); along with NASA astronaut Don Pettit, all Expedition 30 flight engineers, monitor data at the manual TORU docking system controls in the Zvezda Service Module of the International Space Station during approach and docking operations of the unpiloted ISS Progress 47 resupply vehicle. Progress 47 docked automatically to the Pirs Docking Compartment via the Kurs automated rendezvous system at 10:39 a.m. (EDT) on April 22, 2012.

Aerial view of KSC Headquarters Building

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. – Space shuttle Endeavour, mounted atop NASA's Shuttle Carrier Aircraft or SCA, takes off from the Shuttle Landing Facility at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The SCA, a modified 747 jetliner, will fly Endeavour to Los Angeles where it will be placed on public display at the California Science Center. This is the final ferry flight scheduled in the Space Shuttle Program era. For more information on the shuttles' transition and retirement, visit http://www.nasa.gov/transition. Photo credit: NASA/Tony Gray and Robert Murray

Date: 03-09-12 Location: Ellington Field Subject: Expedition 35 (Soyuz 33S) crew member Tom Marshburn preparing for his T-38 fligh with NASA pilot Thomas Parent. Photographer: James Blair

Autonomous wave gliders are seen onboard the the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution research vessel Knorr on Tuesday, Sept. 4, 2012, in Woods Hole, Mass. The autonomous gliders will be deployed in the Atlantic Ocean as part of the Salinity Processes in the Upper Ocean Regional Study (SPURS) which is set to sail on Sept. 6. The NASA-sponsored expedition will sail to the North Atlantic's saltiest spot to get a detailed, 3-D picture of how salt content fluctuates in the ocean's upper layers and how these variations are related to shifts in rainfall patterns around the planet. Photo Credit: (NASA/Bill Ingalls)

At the Baikonur Cosmodrome’s Integration Facility in Kazakhstan, Expedition 34/35 Flight Engineer Chris Hadfield of the Canadian Space Agency (left), Soyuz Commander Roman Romanenko (center) and Flight Engineer Tom Marshburn (right) depart the test stand housing their Soyuz TMA-07M spacecraft Dec. 7, 2012 following a “fit check” dress rehearsal. The trio is preparing for launch Dec. 19 for a five-month mission on the International Space Station. Photo Credit: NASA/Victor Zelentsov

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. – Near the Shuttle Landing Facility at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, a space agency team installed and tested hazard avoidance instrumentation on a Huey helicopter. Led by the Johnson Space Center and supported by Jet Propulsion Laboratory and Langley Research Center, the Autonomous Landing Hazard Avoidance Technology, or ALHAT, laser system provides a planetary lander the ability to precisely land safely on a surface while detecting any dangerous obstacles such as rocks, holes and slopes. Just north of Kennedy's Shuttle Landing Facility runway, a rock- and crater-filled planetary scape has been built so engineers can test the ability to negotiate away from risks. Photo credit: NASA_Dmitri Gerondidakis