The multiple channels seen in this image captured by NASA 2001 Mars Odyssey spacecraft dissect the northwestern margin of Alba Mons. The channels are called Rubicon Valles.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - The first set of Ogive panels for the Orion Launch Abort System arrives by truck at the Launch Abort System Facility at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. During processing, the Ogive panels will enclose and protect the Orion spacecraft and attach to the Launch Abort System. Orion is the exploration spacecraft designed to carry astronauts to destinations not yet explored by humans, including an asteroid and Mars. It will have emergency abort capability, sustain the crew during space travel and provide safe re-entry from deep space return velocities. The first unpiloted test flight of Orion is scheduled to launch in 2014 atop a Delta IV rocket and in 2017 on NASA’s Space Launch System rocket. For more information, visit www.nasa.gov/orion. Photo credit: Daniel Casper

Five images of comet Siding Spring taken within a 35-minute period as it passed near Mars on Oct. 19, 2014, provide information about the size of the comet nucleus. The images were acquired by the HiRISE camera on NASA Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter.

Interior view of the Solar Array Test Building

In the Kennedy Space Center’s Press Site auditorium, Mark Geyer, Orion program manager, was among agency and industry leaders who spoke to members of the news media as the Orion spacecraft and its Delta IV Heavy rocket were being prepared for launch. Orion is the exploration spacecraft designed to carry astronauts to destinations not yet explored by humans, including an asteroid and Mars. It will have emergency abort capability, sustain the crew during space travel and provide safe re-entry from deep space return velocities. The first unpiloted flight test of Orion is scheduled to launch Dec. 4, 2014 atop a United Launch Alliance Delta IV Heavy rocket, and in 2018 on NASA’s Space Launch System rocket.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- At NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, an agency helicopter flies past the Vehicle Assembly Building prior to landing for a training exercise. The activity taking place in Kennedy's Launch Complex 39 turn-basin parking lot was only one of several drills. It was part of a new training program that was developed by Kennedy's Fire Rescue department along with NASA Aircraft Operations to sharpen the skills needed to help rescue personnel learn how to collaborate with helicopter pilots in taking injured patients to hospitals as quickly as possible. Photo credit: NASA/Dan Casper

In the Kennedy Space Center’s Press Site auditorium, members of the news media listen as agency and industry leaders updated progress as the Orion spacecraft and its Delta IV Heavy rocket were being prepared for launch.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. – A Huey helicopter from the Aircraft Operations branch at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida flies over the Indian River Lagoon with a group of Emergency Response Team officers from the center's Protective Services branch during a training exercise. The training session focused on safely entering the water, something the ERT could be required to perform in certain situations at the center. Photo credit: NASA/ Dan Casper

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. – Inside the Neil Armstrong Operations and Checkout Building high bay at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, a Lockheed Martin technician dressed in a clean room suit works on the back shell tile panels on the Orion crew module. Preparations are underway for Orion's first flight test. Orion is the exploration spacecraft designed to carry astronauts to destinations not yet explored by humans, including an asteroid and Mars. It will have emergency abort capability, sustain the crew during space travel and provide safe re-entry from deep space return velocities. Orion's first flight test is scheduled to launch in December atop a United Launch Alliance Delta IV Heavy rocket from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida to an altitude of 3,600 miles above the Earth's surface. The two-orbit, four-hour flight test will help engineers evaluate the systems critical to crew safety including the heat shield, parachute system and launch abort system. For more information, visit http://www.nasa.gov/orion. Photo credit: NASA/Gianni Woods

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VANDENBERG AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. – NASA's Orbiting Carbon Observatory-2, or OCO-2, stands ready for launch aboard a United Launch Alliance Delta II rocket following rollback of the mobile service tower on Space Launch Complex 2 on Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. Launch of OCO-2 is scheduled for 5:56 a.m. EDT on July 2 following the repair of the pad's water suppression system, which failed on the first launch attempt July 1. OCO-2 is NASA’s first mission dedicated to studying atmospheric carbon dioxide, the leading human-produced greenhouse gas driving changes in Earth’s climate. OCO-2 will provide a new tool for understanding the human and natural sources of carbon dioxide emissions and the natural "sinks" that absorb carbon dioxide and help control its buildup. The observatory will measure the global geographic distribution of these sources and sinks and study their changes over time. To learn more about OCO-2, visit http://www.nasa.gov/oco2. Photo credit: NASA/Randy Beaudoin

SAN DIEGO, Calif. – A mock-up of the Orion forward bay cover is being lifted by crane on the USS Anchorage during the second day of Orion Underway Recovery Test 3 in the Pacific Ocean. NASA, Lockheed Martin and U.S. Navy personnel are conducting the recovery test using the Orion boilerplate test vehicle and mock-up forward bay cover to prepare for recovery of the Orion crew module on its return from a deep space mission. The test allows the teams to demonstrate and evaluate the recovery processes, procedures, hardware and personnel in open waters. The Ground Systems Development and Operations Program is conducting the underway recovery tests. Orion is the exploration spacecraft designed to carry astronauts to destinations not yet explored by humans, including an asteroid and Mars. It will have emergency abort capability, sustain the crew during space travel and provide safe re-entry from deep space return velocities. The first unpiloted test flight of Orion is scheduled to launch in 2014 atop a United Launch Alliance Delta IV Heavy rocket and in 2018 on NASA’s Space Launch System rocket. For more information, visit http://www.nasa.gov/orion. Photo credit: NASA/Cory Huston

Groundbreaking for the new Central Campus will take place in the Industrial Area at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Kennedy Center Director Bob Cabana welcomes members of the media and guests to the ceremony. To his right is Nancy Bray, director of Kennedy's Center Operations Directorate. To his left is Kirk Hazen, southeast district manager and vice president of Hensel Phelps, the construction contractor. Kennedy is transforming into a multi-user, 21st century spaceport supporting both commercial and government users and operations. Central Campus Phase I includes construction of a new Headquarters Building as one of the major components of the strategy. The new Headquarters Building will be a seven-story, 200,000-square-foot facility that will house about 500 NASA civil service and contractor employees.

The last major assembly operation to prepare Orion for Exploration Flight Test-1 (EFT-1) is completed in the Launch Abort System Facility (LASF) at Kennedy Space Center on Oct. 11, 2014. The ogive panels, which protect the crew module from sound and vibration during ascent, were installed around the spacecraft just below the launch abort system tower. Part of Batch image transfer from Flickr.

NASA’s Administrator, Charles Bolden (left), President/CEO of Lockheed Martin, Marillyn Hewson (right), and astronaut Rex Walheim (back row) pose for a group photo with the winning high school team in the Exploration Design Challenge. Team ARES from the Governors School for Science and Technology in Hampton, Va. won the challenge with their radiation shield design, which will be built and flown aboard the Orion/EFT-1. The award was announced at the USA Science and Engineering Festival on April 25, 2014 at the Washington Convention Center. Photo Credit: (NASA/Aubrey Gemignani)

The United Launch Alliance barge Delta Mariner docks in Port Canaveral in Florida on March 6, 2014. The barge is carrying two of the booster stages for the Delta IV Heavy rocket slated for Orion's Exploration Flight Test-1, or EFT-1. Orion is the exploration spacecraft designed to carry astronauts to destinations not yet explored by humans. It will have emergency abort capability, sustain the crew during space travel and provide safe re-entry from deep-space return velocities.

The Soyuz TMA-13M spacecraft is rolled out to the launch pad by train on Monday, May 26, 2014, at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. Launch of the Soyuz rocket is scheduled for May 29 and will send Expedition 40 Soyuz Commander Maxim Suraev, of the Russian Federal Space Agency, Roscosmos, Flight Engineer Alexander Gerst, of the European Space Agency, ESA, and Flight Engineer Reid Wiseman of NASA on a five and a half month mission aboard the International Space Station. Photo Credit: (NASA/Joel Kowsky)

VANDENBERG AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. – Workers prepare the second stage of the Delta II rocket for NASA's Soil Moisture Active Passive mission, or SMAP, for its lift into the mobile service tower at Space Launch Complex 2 on Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. Operations are underway to install the second stage atop the rocket's first stage. SMAP will launch on a Delta II 7320 configuration vehicle featuring a United Launch Alliance first stage booster powered by an Aerojet Rocketdyne RS-27A main engine and three Alliant Techsystems, or ATK, strap-on solid rocket motors. Once on station in Earth orbit, SMAP will provide global measurements of soil moisture and its freeze/thaw state. These measurements will be used to enhance understanding of processes that link the water, energy and carbon cycles, and to extend the capabilities of weather and climate prediction models. SMAP data also will be used to quantify net carbon flux in boreal landscapes and to develop improved flood prediction and drought monitoring capabilities. Launch is scheduled for no earlier than November 2014. To learn more about SMAP, visit http://smap.jpl.nasa.gov. Photo credit: NASA/Randy Beaudoin

Cape Canaveral, Fla. – At Fire Station 1 at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, the American flag is at half-mast after a ceremony commemorating the 13th anniversary of 9/11 that included a minute of silence at 10:28 a.m., which was the moment of collapse of the north tower of the World Trade Center. Photo credit: Jim Grossmann

The Advanced Noise Control Fan shown here is located in NASA Glenn’s Aero-Acoustic Propulsion Laboratory. The 4-foot diameter fan is used to evaluate innovate aircraft engine noise reduction concepts less expensively and more quickly.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida hosts a Sustainability Fair in observance of Earth Day. The fair was held adjacent to the Pathfinder Fitness Trail across the street from the 525-foot-tall Vehicle Assembly Building in Launch Complex 39. Kennedy Earth Day events included booths by a dozen sustainable companies and environmental organizations, displays on organic gardening, recycling, sustainable materials, alternative fuels and wildlife, and test-drives of several alternative-fuel vehicles. In keeping with the national theme, "Green Cities," the fair provided employees with the opportunity to learn how to do their parts in securing a healthy and sustainable future for their cities and the planet. The space center's sustainability objective is to "promote, maintain and pioneer green practices in all aspects of our mission, striving to be an agency leader in everything we do." For more information on Kennedy's sustainability policy, visit http://www.nasa.gov/centers/kennedy/about/sustainability. Photo credit: NASA/Dimitri Gerondidakis

This image from NASA 2001 Mars Odyssey spacecraft shows a portion of Maadim Vallis, which is a large channel that enters Gusev Crater from the south.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. – Inside the Operations and Checkout Building high bay at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, NASA and Lockheed Martin technicians and engineers prepare to conduct a center of gravity, or CG, test on the Orion crew module. The CG tool will measure the exact location of the vehicle's center of gravity. This test is important as it affects the handling and control characteristics of the vehicle. The Orion crew module will be stacked on the service module in the Final Assembly and System Testing, or FAST, cell and then both modules will be put through their final system tests for Exploration Flight Test-1, or EFT-1, before rolling out of the facility for integration with the United Launch Alliance Delta IV Heavy rocket. Orion is the exploration spacecraft designed to carry astronauts to destinations not yet explored by humans, including an asteroid and Mars. It will have emergency abort capability, sustain the crew during space travel and provide safe re-entry from deep space return velocities. The first unpiloted test flight of Orion, EFT-1, is scheduled to launch later this year atop a Delta IV rocket from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida to an altitude of 3,600 miles above the Earth's surface. The two-orbit, four-hour flight test will help engineers evaluate the systems critical to crew safety including the heat shield, parachute system and launch abort system. For more information, visit http://www.nasa.gov/orion. Photo credit: NASA/Kim Shiflett

PHOTO DATE: 01-17-14 LOCATION: Bldg. 9NW - ISS Mockups SUBJECT: Expedition 40 6-person crew emergency scenarios. Crewmembers: 38S/Swanson, Skvortsov and Artemiev, along with 39S/Suraev, Wiseman and Gerst. PHOTOGRAPHER: BILL STAFFORD

ISS039-E-013481 (20 April 2014) --- This is one of an extensive series of still photos documenting the arrival and ultimate capture and berthing of the SpaceX Dragon at the International Space Station, as photographed by the Expedition 39 crew members onboard the orbital outpost. The spacecraft was captured by the space station and successfully berthed, following the April 20 arrival.

A Face in the Dark...?

ISS041-E-067002 (7 Oct. 2014) --- NASA astronaut Reid Wiseman, Expedition 41 flight engineer, participates in a session of extravehicular activity (EVA) as work continues on the International Space Station. During the six-hour, 13-minute spacewalk, Wiseman and European Space Agency astronaut Alexander Gerst (out of frame), flight engineer, worked outside the space station's Quest airlock relocating a failed cooling pump to external stowage and installing gear that provides back up power to external robotics equipment.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. – Inside the Vehicle Assembly Building at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, engineers and technicians prepare the ground test article Launch Abort System, or LAS, ogive panel and an Orion crew module simulator for a GIZMO demonstration test. The GIZMO is a pneumatically-balanced manipulator that will be used for installation of the crew module and LAS flight hatches for the uncrewed Exploration Flight Test-1 and Exploration Mission-1. The Ground Systems Development and Operations Program is running the test to demonstrate that the GIZMO can meet the reach and handling requirements for the task. Orion is the exploration spacecraft designed to carry astronauts to destinations not yet explored by humans, including an asteroid and Mars. It will have emergency abort capability, sustain the crew during space travel and provide safe re-entry from deep space return velocities. The first unpiloted test flight of the Orion is scheduled to launch later this year atop a Delta IV rocket and in 2017 on NASA’s Space Launch System rocket. For more information, visit http://www.nasa.gov/orion. Photo credit: NASA/Daniel Casper

A range of supermassive black holes lights up this new image from NASA NuSTAR. All of the dots are active black holes tucked inside the hearts of galaxies, with colors representing different energies of X-ray light.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. – A crane brings the umbilical swing arm for Exploration Flight Test 1, or EFT-1, closer for installation on the fixed umbilical tower at Space Launch Complex 37 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. The swing arm is the uppermost of three swing arms that will be attached to the fixed umbilical tower. The swing arm will carry umbilicals that will be mated to Orion's launch abort system and environmental control system. During launch, the umbilicals will pull away from Orion and the United Launch Alliance Delta IV Heavy rocket at T-0. During the EFT-1 mission, Orion will travel farther into space than any human spacecraft has gone in more than 40 years. The data gathered during the flight will influence design decisions, validate existing computer models and innovative new approaches to space systems development, as well as reduce overall mission risks and costs for later Orion flights. Liftoff of Orion on its first flight test is planned for fall 2014. Photo credit: NASA/Jim Grossmann

The Soyuz TMA-14M spacecraft is rolled out to the launch pad by train on Tuesday, Sept. 23, 2014 at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. Launch of the Soyuz rocket is scheduled for Sept. 26 and will carry Expedition 41 Soyuz Commander Alexander Samokutyaev of the Russian Federal Space Agency (Roscosmos), Flight Engineer Barry Wilmore of NASA, and Flight Engineer Elena Serova of Roscosmos into orbit to begin their five and a half month mission on the International Space Station. Photo Credit: (NASA/Aubrey Gemignani)

ISS038-E-035123 (21 Jan. 2014) --- Apoyeque Volcano, Nicaragua is featured in this image photographed by an Expedition 38 crew member on the International Space Station. The Chiltepe Peninsula, highlighted in this photograph, extends into Lake Managua in west-central Nicaragua. The peninsula is formed from part of a large ignimbrite shield, a geologic structure created by deposition of primarily low density materials (such as pumice) ejected during violent, explosive eruptive activity. Ignimbrite deposits are most commonly emplaced during large pyroclastic flows - gravity-driven mixtures of rock, ash, and volcanic gases that can cover hundreds of kilometers at speeds of hundreds of kilometers per hour - with ignimbrite shields formed over geologic time by successive flows. The Apoyeque caldera, filled with a 2.8-kilometer-wide and 400-meter-deep lake, dominates the center of the peninsula. Geological evidence indicates that Apoyeque last erupted around 50 BCE (plus or minus 100 years). The Laguna Xiloa maar - a volcanic crater formed by the explosive interaction of magma and groundwater - is located immediately to the southeast of Apoyeque and is also filled with a lake. According to scientists, Laguna Xiloa last erupted approximately 6,100 years ago. More recently, a swarm of small earthquakes was detected near Apoyeque in 2012. These seismic swarms, when detected in volcanically active areas, may indicate movement of magma prior to an eruption. The capital city of Managua, not visible in the image, is located approximately 15 kilometers to the southeast of Apoyeque, while the town of Bosques de Xiloa is considerably closer (approximately four kilometers).

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. – The umbilical swing arm for Orion's Exploration Flight Test 1, or EFT-1, has been attached to the uppermost location on the fixed umbilical tower at Space Launch Complex 37 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. All three swing arms on the tower are undergoing tests to confirm that they are operating correctly. They are being swung out and closer to the Vertical Integration Facility at the pad. The uppermost swing arm will carry umbilicals that will be mated to Orion's launch abort system and environmental control system. During launch, all three umbilicals will pull away from Orion and the United Launch Alliance Delta IV Heavy rocket at T-0. During the EFT-1 mission, Orion will travel farther into space than any human spacecraft has gone in more than 40 years. The data gathered during the flight will influence design decisions, validate existing computer models and innovative new approaches to space systems development, as well as reduce overall mission risks and costs for later Orion flights. Liftoff of Orion on its first flight test is planned for fall 2014. Photo credit: NASA/Daniel Casper

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- Sunrise is reflected in the water abundant on NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. In the background are Launch Pad 39A and the Rotation/Processing Facility, which supported solid rocket booster preparations during the Space Shuttle Program. On this particular morning, preparations are underway for a launch from Space Launch Complex-41 on Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, a part of the spaceport which neighbors Kennedy Space Center. For more information, visit http://www.nasa.gov/centers/kennedy. Photo credit: NASA/Ben Smegelsky

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. – In the Kennedy Space Center’s Press Site auditorium, members of the news media are briefed on the upcoming Orion flight test by Mark Geyer, NASA Orion Program manager. Also participating in the news conference are Bill Hill, NASA deputy associate administrator for Exploration Systems Development, left, and Bryan Austin, Lockheed Martin mission manager. Orion is the exploration spacecraft designed to carry astronauts to destinations not yet explored by humans, including an asteroid and Mars. It will have emergency abort capability, sustain the crew during space travel and provide safe re-entry from deep space return velocities. The first unpiloted flight test of Orion is scheduled to launch Dec. 4, 2014 atop a United Launch Alliance Delta IV Heavy rocket, and in 2018 on NASA’s Space Launch System rocket. For more information, visit www.nasa.gov/orion Photo credit: NASA/Kim Shiflett

VANDENBERG AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. – Workers prepare to inspect instrument and optics covers on NASA's Soil Moisture Active Passive, or SMAP, spacecraft in the Astrotech payload processing facility on Vandenberg Air Force Base in California during a post-shipment inspection. The spacecraft was delivered to the launch site today from NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California. SMAP will launch on a Delta II 7320 configuration vehicle featuring a United Launch Alliance first stage booster powered by an Aerojet Rocketdyne RS-27A main engine and three Alliant Techsystems, or ATK, strap-on solid rocket motors. Once on station in Earth orbit, SMAP will provide global measurements of soil moisture and its freeze/thaw state. These measurements will be used to enhance understanding of processes that link the water, energy and carbon cycles, and to extend the capabilities of weather and climate prediction models. SMAP data also will be used to quantify net carbon flux in boreal landscapes and to develop improved flood prediction and drought monitoring capabilities. Launch from Space Launch Complex 2 is targeted for Jan. 29, 2015. To learn more about SMAP, visit http://smap.jpl.nasa.gov. Photo credit: NASA/Robert Rasmison

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. – Inside the Vehicle Assembly Building at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, a ground support technician applies heat to a casing that contains an old bearing on the B truck tread of crawler-transporter 2, or CT-2, as other technicians monitor the progress. The bearing will separate and out for removal. New roller bearing assemblies will be installed on CT-2. Work continues in high bay 2 to upgrade CT-2. The modifications are designed to ensure CT-2’s ability to transport launch vehicles currently in development, such as the agency’s Space Launch System, to the launch pad. The Ground Systems Development and Operations Program office at Kennedy is overseeing the upgrades. For more than 45 years the crawler-transporters were used to transport the mobile launcher platform and the Apollo-Saturn V rockets and, later, space shuttles to Launch Pads 39A and B. For more information, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/exploration/systems/ground/crawler-transporter. Photo credit: NASA/Dimitri Gerondidakis

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. – Inside the Vehicle Assembly Building, or VAB, at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, preparations are underway to lower the 175-ton crane. The crane is being lowered from Level 16 down to the floor of the transfer aisle to perform upgrades to its 45-year-old controls in order to improve reliability, precision and safety. The Ground Systems Development and Operations Program is overseeing upgrades and modifications to the VAB. The crane will be upgraded so that it can support lifting needs for NASA and other exploration vehicles, including the agency's Space Launch System and Orion spacecraft. Photo credit: NASA/Daniel Casper

The track left by an oblong boulder as it tumbled down a slope on Mars runs from upper left to right center of this image taken by NASA Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter.

TITUSVILLE, Fla. – Inside the Astrotech payload processing facility in Titusville, a crane is disengaged from ground support equipment used to mount NASA's Tracking and Data Relay Satellite, or TDRS-L, spacecraft on a transporter for its trip to Launch Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. The TDRS-L satellite will be a part of the second of three next-generation spacecraft designed to ensure vital operational continuity for the NASA Space Network. It is scheduled to launch from Cape Canaveral's Space Launch Complex 41 atop a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket on January 23, 2014. The current Tracking and Data Relay Satellite system consists of eight in-orbit satellites distributed to provide near continuous information relay contact with orbiting spacecraft ranging from the International Space Station and Hubble Space Telescope to the array of scientific observatories. For more information, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/tdrs/home/index.html Photo credit: NASA/Kim Shiflett

ISS040-E-087418 (3 Aug. 2014) --- 09:37:29 GMT

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- The port booster for the United Launch Alliance Delta IV Heavy for Exploration Flight Test-1, or EFT-1, is being offloaded from the barge at the U.S. Army Outpost wharf at Port Canaveral in Florida and will be transported to the Horizontal Integration Facility, or HIF, at Space Launch Complex 37 on Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. The upper stage and spacecraft adapter arrived with the booster and were transported to the HIF on May 6. At the HIF, all three booster stages will be processed and checked out before being moved to the nearby launch pad and hoisted into position. The spacecraft adapter will connect Orion to the ULA Delta IV, and also will connect Orion to NASA's new rocket, the Space Launch System, on its first mission in 2017. During the EFT-1 mission, Orion will travel farther into space than any human spacecraft has gone in more than 40 years. The data gathered during the flight will influence design decisions, validate existing computer models and innovative new approaches to space systems development, as well as reduce overall mission risks and costs for later Orion flights. Liftoff of Orion on EFT-1 is planned for fall 2014. Photo credit: NASA/Kim Shiflett

Jascha Little of team Survey is seen as he follows the teams robot as it conducts a demonstration of the level two challenge during the 2014 NASA Centennial Challenges Sample Return Robot Challenge, Thursday, June 12, 2014, at the Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI) in Worcester, Mass. Eighteen teams are competing for a $1.5 million NASA prize purse. Teams will be required to demonstrate autonomous robots that can locate and collect samples from a wide and varied terrain, operating without human control. The objective of this NASA-WPI Centennial Challenge is to encourage innovations in autonomous navigation and robotics technologies. Innovations stemming from the challenge may improve NASA's capability to explore a variety of destinations in space, as well as enhance the nation's robotic technology for use in industries and applications on Earth. Photo Credit: (NASA/Joel Kowsky)

ISS038-E-053250 (18 Feb. 2014) --- NASA astronaut Rick Mastracchio, Expedition 38 flight engineer, works with the Burning and Suppression of Solids (BASS-II) experiment in the Microgravity Science Glovebox (MSG) located in the Destiny laboratory of the International Space Station. BASS-II explores how different substances burn in microgravity with benefits for combustion on Earth and fire safety in space.

1521: With the statue of Vladimir Lenin in the background at the Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center in Star City, Russia, Expedition 40/41 Flight Engineer Alexander Gerst of the European Space Agency (left), Soyuz Commander Max Suraev of the Russian Federal Space Agency (Roscosmos, center) and NASA Flight Engineer Reid Wiseman (right) pose for pictures May 15 prior to their departure for the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan for final pre-launch training. Wiseman, Suraev and Gerst will launch on May 29, Kazakh time, in the Soyuz TMA-13M spacecraft from Baikonur for a 5 ½ month mission on the International Space Station. NASA/Stephanie Stoll

ISS038-E-036094 (27 Jan. 2014) --- Russian cosmonauts Oleg Kotov (right), Expedition 38 commander, and Sergey Ryazanskiy, flight engineer, attired in Russian Orlan spacesuits, participate in a session of extravehicular activity (EVA) in support of assembly and maintenance on the International Space Station. During the six-hour, eight-minute spacewalk, Kotov and Ryazanskiy completed the installation of a pair of high fidelity cameras that experienced connectivity issues during the Dec. 27 spacewalk, and retrieved scientific gear outside the station's Russian segment.

Earth observation taken by the Expedition 39 crew aboard the ISS. Image was released by astronaut on Twitter and downlinked in folder: Japan, etc.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. – During a news conference at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, agency and contractor officials discussed preparations for the launch of the SpaceX-3 Commercial Resupply Services mission to the International Space Station. Participating in the briefing is Hans Koenigsmann, SpaceX vice president of Mission Assurance. Scheduled for launch on April 14, 2014 atop a Falcon 9 rocket, Dragon spacecraft will be marking its fourth trip to the space station. The SpaceX-3 mission carrying almost 2.5 tons of supplies, technology and science experiments is the third of 12 flights contracted by NASA to resupply the orbiting laboratory. For more information, visit http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/structure/launch/index.html Photo credit: NASA/Kim Shiflett

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. – Members of NASA’s International Space Station science team brief news media representatives in the Kennedy Space Center’s Press Site auditorium in preparation for the launch of the SpaceX CRS-4 mission to resupply the International Space Station. From left are Sam Scimemi, International Space Station Division director of Human Exploration and Operation Mission Directorate, Jeff Sheehy, senior technologist for the Space Technology Mission Directorate, and Ellen Stofan, NASA’s Chief Scientist. The mission is the fourth of 12 SpaceX flights NASA contracted with the company to resupply the space station. It will be the fifth trip by a Dragon spacecraft to the orbiting laboratory. The spacecraft’s 2.5 tons of supplies, science experiments, and technology demonstrations include critical materials to support 255 science and research investigations that will occur during the station's Expeditions 41 and 42. Liftoff is targeted for an instantaneous window at 2:14 a.m. EDT. To learn more about the mission, visit http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/structure/launch/index.html Photo credit: NASA/Jim Grossmann

Ralph Basilio, OCO-2 project manager, JPL, discusses the Orbiting Carbon Observatory-2 (OCO-2), NASA’s first spacecraft dedicated to studying carbon dioxide, during a press briefing, Sunday, June 29, 2014, at the Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif. OCO-2 will measure the global distribution of carbon dioxide, the leading human-produced greenhouse gas driving changes in Earth’s climate. OCO-2 is set to launch on July 1, 2014 at 2:59 a.m. PDT. Photo Credit: (NASA/Bill Ingalls)

The New Three-Color Mosaic

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. – At NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, the agency's completed Orion spacecraft begins its trip from the Launch Abort System Facility to Launch Complex 37 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. After arrival at the launch pad, United Launch Alliance engineers and technicians will lift Orion and mount it atop its Delta IV Heavy rocket. Orion is the exploration spacecraft designed to carry astronauts to destinations not yet explored by humans, including an asteroid and Mars. It will have emergency abort capability, sustain the crew during space travel and provide safe re-entry from deep space return velocities. The first unpiloted flight test of Orion is scheduled to launch Dec. 4, 2014 atop a United Launch Alliance Delta IV Heavy rocket, and in 2018 on NASA’s Space Launch System rocket. For more information, visit www.nasa.gov/orion Photo credit: NASA/Kim Shiflett

SAN DIEGO, Calif. – NASA, Lockheed Martin and U.S. Navy personnel stand on the deck of the USS Anchorage as the ship departs Naval Base San Diego on the first day of Orion Underway Recovery Test 3. The ship will head out to sea, off the coast of San Diego, in search of conditions to support test needs for a full dress rehearsal of recovery operations. NASA, Lockheed Martin and U.S. Navy personnel will conduct tests in the Pacific Ocean to prepare for recovery of the Orion crew module on its return from a deep space mission. The test will allow the teams to demonstrate and evaluate the recovery processes, procedures, hardware and personnel in open waters. The Ground Systems Development and Operations Program is conducting the underway recovery tests. Orion is the exploration spacecraft designed to carry astronauts to destinations not yet explored by humans, including an asteroid and Mars. It will have emergency abort capability, sustain the crew during space travel and provide safe re-entry from deep space return velocities. The first unpiloted test flight of Orion is scheduled to launch in 2014 atop a United Launch Alliance Delta IV Heavy rocket and in 2018 on NASA’s Space Launch System rocket. For more information, visit http://www.nasa.gov/orion. Photo credit: NASA/Cory Huston

A plaque affixed to the side of a Magnetospheric Multiscale, or MMS, observatory dedicates the mission to Richard “Richy” D’Antonio, now deceased, in grateful appreciation for his dedicated service to NASA’s MMS mission. MMS, led by a team from NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, is a Solar Terrestrial Probes mission consisting of four identically instrumented spacecraft that will use Earth’s magnetosphere as a laboratory to study the microphysics of three fundamental plasma processes: magnetic reconnection, energetic particle acceleration and turbulence. Launch aboard a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket from Space Launch Complex 41 on Cape Canaveral Air Force Station is targeted for March 12, 2015.

Michael Suffredini, NASA's International Space Station Program Manager participates via phone, in a press conference with Rachel Kraft, NASA public affairs officer, seated left, Frank Culbertson, Executive Vice President and General Manager of Advanced Program Group at Orbital Sciences Corp., center, and Bill Wrobel, director of NASA's Wallops Flight Facility, after a mishap occurred during the launch of the Antares rocket, with the Cygnus cargo spacecraft aboard, Tuesday, Oct. 28, 2014, NASA Wallops Flight Facility, Virginia. William Gerstenmaier, associate administrator of NASA's Human Exploration and Operations Mission Directorate also participated via phone. Cygnus was on its way to rendezvous with the space station. The Antares rocket lifted off to start its third resupply mission to the International Space Station, but suffered a catastrophic anomaly shortly after liftoff at 6:22 p.m. EDT. Photo Credit: (NASA/Joel Kowsky)

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. – Inside the Delta Operations Center near Space Launch Complex 37 on Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida, the second stage for the United Launch Alliance Delta IV Heavy for Exploration Flight Test-1, or EFT-1, is being lifted by crane in its cradle for the move to a test cell. At the Horizontal Integration Facility, all three booster stages will be processed and checked out before being moved to the nearby launch pad and hoisted into position. During the EFT-1 mission, Orion will travel farther into space than any human spacecraft has gone in more than 40 years. The data gathered during the flight will influence design decisions, validate existing computer models and innovative new approaches to space systems development, as well as reduce overall mission risks and costs for later Orion flights. Liftoff of Orion on EFT-1 is planned for fall 2014. Photo credit: NASA/Frankie Martin

ISS040-E-007423 (4 June 2014) --- A close-up view of a Soyuz spacecraft docked to the International Space Station is featured in this image photographed by an Expedition 40 crew member on the station.

Guests and members of the media watch as the Soyuz TMA-13M spacecraft is rolled out to the launch pad by train on Monday, May 26, 2014, at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. Launch of the Soyuz rocket is scheduled for May 29 and will send Expedition 40 Soyuz Commander Maxim Suraev, of the Russian Federal Space Agency, Roscosmos, Flight Engineer Alexander Gerst, of the European Space Agency, ESA, and Flight Engineer Reid Wiseman of NASA on a five and a half month mission aboard the International Space Station. Photo Credit: (NASA/Joel Kowsky)

ISS040-E-006303 (31 May 2014) --- An orbital sunrise is featured in this image photographed by an Expedition 40 crew member on the International Space Station. Crew members onboard the space station see, on average, sixteen sunrises and sunsets during a 24-hour orbital period.

The winner of the high school portion of the Exploration Design Challenge is announced at the USA Science and Engineering Festival in Washington on April 25, 2014. Orion Program Manager Mark Geyer speaks to students. Part of Batch image transfer from Flickr.

A crane is used to lower the launch abort system closer for installation on the Orion spacecraft for Exploration Flight Test-1 inside the Launch Abort System Facility, or LASF, at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The completed crew and service modules will be tested and verified together with the launch abort system. Orion will remain inside the LASF until mid-November, when the United Launch Alliance Delta IV Heavy rocket is ready for integration with the spacecraft. Orion is the exploration spacecraft designed to carry astronauts to destinations not yet explored by humans, including an asteroid and Mars. It will have emergency abort capability, sustain the crew during space travel and provide safe re-entry from deep space return velocities. The first unpiloted test flight of the Orion is scheduled to launch in December atop the Delta IV Heavy rocket from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida to an altitude of 3,600 miles above the Earth's surface. The two-orbit, four-hour flight test will help engineers evaluate the systems critical to crew safety including the heat shield, parachute system and launch abort system.

Super Guppy arrival and (MBB) Multi-Bay Box Delivery ; Super Guppy arrival and MBB Delivery: super Guppy arrival at NASA Langley hangar, and unloading of (MBB) multi-bay box, transport of MBB to COLTS and move into building 1256.

DATE: 6-25-14 LOCATION: Bldg 9NW - POGO SUBJECT: Expedition 42/43 ESA astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti during ISS EVA POGO 2 training with instructor Sandy Fletcher. PHOTOGRAPHER: Lauren Harnett

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. – The launch abort system is lowered by crane for installation on the Orion spacecraft for Exploration Flight Test-1 inside the Launch Abort System Facility, or LASF, at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The completed crew and service modules will be tested and verified together with the launch abort system. Orion will remain inside the LASF until mid-November, when the United Launch Alliance Delta IV Heavy rocket is ready for integration with the spacecraft. Orion is the exploration spacecraft designed to carry astronauts to destinations not yet explored by humans, including an asteroid and Mars. It will have emergency abort capability, sustain the crew during space travel and provide safe re-entry from deep space return velocities. The first unpiloted test flight of the Orion is scheduled to launch in December atop the Delta IV Heavy rocket from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida to an altitude of 3,600 miles above the Earth's surface. The two-orbit, four-hour flight test will help engineers evaluate the systems critical to crew safety including the heat shield, parachute system and launch abort system. For more information, visit http://www.nasa.gov/orion. Photo credit: NASA/Cory Huston

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- Apollo astronauts participate in a panel discussion held for employees in the KSC Training Auditorium at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. From left are Center Director Robert Cabana, Apollo 8 and Apollo 13 crew member Jim Lovell, Apollo 11 moonwalker Buzz Aldrin, Apollo 11 command module pilot Michael Collins, and NASA Administrator Charles Bolden. Cabana and Bolden, both shuttle astronauts, asked the questions to which the panel members responded. The panel discussion followed a ceremony renaming the refurbished Operations and Checkout Building for Apollo 11 astronaut Neil Armstrong, the first person to set foot on the moon. The building's high bay, the site for the ceremony, is being used to support the agency's new Orion spacecraft and is the same spaceport facility where the Apollo 11 command/service module and lunar module were prepped for the first lunar landing mission in 1969. Orion is designed to take humans farther than they’ve ever gone before, serving as the exploration vehicle that will carry astronauts to deep space and sustain the crew during travel to destinations such as an asteroid or Mars. The ceremony and panel discussion were part of NASA's 45th anniversary celebration of the Apollo 11 moon landing. As the world watched, Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin landed in the moon's Sea of Tranquility on July 20, 1969, aboard the lunar module Eagle. Meanwhile, crewmate Michael Collins orbited above in the command module Columbia. For more, visit http://www.nasa.gov/press/2014/july/nasa-honors-historic-first-moon-landing-eyes-first-mars-mission. Photo credit: NASA/Kim Shiflett

JSC2014-E-067735 (10 July 2014) --- NASA astronaut Scott Kelly (left), Expedition 43/44 flight engineer and Expedition 45/46 commander; and Russian cosmonaut Mikhail Kornienko, Expedition 43-46 flight engineer, take a break from training at NASA?s Johnson Space Center to pose for a portrait. Photo credit: NASA/Bill Stafford

NASA Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity observed this outcrop on the Murray Ridge portion of the rim of Endeavour Crater as the rover approached the 10th anniversary of its landing on Mars.

ISS040-E-098592 (17 Aug. 2014) --- One of the Expedition 40 crew members aboard the International Space Station recorded this image of the Orbital Sciences Corporation's Cygnus cargo carrier spacecraft breaking up in Earth's atmosphere after being released from the orbital outpost. The breakup started around 13:22 GMT on Aug. 17, 2014 and this photo was taken at 13:23:45 GMT.

Panelists, from left, Jim Green, director, Planetary Science Division, NASA Headquarters, Washington, Carey Lisse, senior astrophysicist, Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, Laurel, Maryland, Kelly Fast, program scientist, Planetary Science Division, NASA Headquarters, Washington, and Padma Yanamandra-Fisher, senior research scientist, Space Science Institute, Rancho Cucamonga Branch, California, are seen during a media briefing where they outlined how space and Earth-based assets will be used to image and study comet Siding Spring during its Sunday, Oct. 19 flyby of Mars, Thursday, Oct. 9, 2014 at NASA Headquarters in Washington. (Photo credit: NASA/Joel Kowsky)

The Orion crew module is being moved into a covered structure at the Mole Pier at Naval Base San Diego in California where it will be prepared for return to NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Orion was secured on its crew module recovery cradle in the well deck of the USS Anchorage after it was recovered from the Pacific Ocean. After lifting off at 7:05 a.m. EST on Dec. 5, atop a Delta IV Heavy rocket from Space Launch Complex 37 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida, Orion completed a two-orbit, four-and-a-half hour mission to test systems critical to crew safety, including the launch abort system, the heat shield and the parachute system. NASA, the U.S. Navy and Lockheed Martin coordinated efforts to recover Orion after splashdown in the Pacific Ocean. The Ground Systems Development and Operations Program led the recovery efforts.

This helicopter view of Space Launch Complex 37 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida shows the United Launch Alliance Delta IV Heavy rocket as it stands ready to boost NASA's Orion spacecraft on a 4.5-hour mission.

VANDENBERG AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. – The Delta first-stage booster for NASA's Orbiting Carbon Observatory-2 mission, or OCO-2, is suspended midair during its transfer from its transportation trailer to a transportation hardware cradle in the Building 836 hangar at Space Launch Complex 2 on Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. OCO-2 is scheduled to launch aboard a United Launch Alliance Delta II rocket in July. The observatory will collect precise global measurements of carbon dioxide in the Earth's atmosphere and provide scientists with a better idea of the chemical compound's impacts on climate change. Scientists will analyze this data to improve our understanding of the natural processes and human activities that regulate the abundance and distribution of this important atmospheric gas. To learn more about OCO-2, visit http://oco.jpl.nasa.gov. Photo credit: NASA/Randy Beaudoin

GMT331_15_05_Terry Virts_MELFI CEVIS_130

John Grunsfeld, Associate Administrator for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, far left, speaks during a panel discussion on the search for life beyond Earth in the James E. Webb Auditorium at NASA Headquarters on Monday, July 14, 2014 in Washington, DC. The panel discussed how NASA's space-based observatories are making new discoveries and how the agency's new telescope, the James Webb Space Telescope, will continue this path of discovery after its schedule launch in 2018. Photo Credit: (NASA/Joel Kowsky)

Expedition 39 flight controllers on console during SpaceX cargo rendezvous and grappling. Flight Director: Matt Abbott. Capcoms: Jack Fischer and Randy Bresnik. Photo Date: April 20, 2014. Location: Building 30 - FCR-1. Photographer: Robert Markowitz

An Orthodox priest blesses the Soyuz rocket at the Baikonur Cosmodrome launch pad on Wednesday, Sept. 24, 2014, in Kazakhstan. Launch of the Soyuz rocket is scheduled for Sept. 26 and will carry Expedition 41 Soyuz Commander Alexander Samokutyaev of the Russian Federal Space Agency (Roscosmos), Flight Engineer Barry Wilmore of NASA, and Flight Engineer Elena Serova of Roscosmos into orbit to begin their five and a half month mission on the International Space Station. Photo Credit: (NASA/Aubrey Gemignani)

VANDENBERG AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. – Workers at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California prepare to hoist a solid rocket motor, or SRM, for NASA's Orbiting Carbon Observatory-2, the OCO-2 mission, from a transporter onto a storage chock where it will be kept until needed. The SRMs will be attached to a United Launch Alliance Delta II rocket slated to launch the OCO-2 spacecraft from Space Launch Complex 2 in July. OCO-2 will collect precise global measurements of carbon dioxide in the Earth's atmosphere and provide scientists with a better idea of the chemical compound's impacts on climate change. Scientists will analyze this data to improve our understanding of the natural processes and human activities that regulate the abundance and distribution of this important atmospheric gas. Photo credit: NASA_Randy Beaudoin

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- Inside the Space Shuttle Atlantis attraction at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex in Florida, former NASA astronaut and Hall of Famer James Wetherbee walks the red carpet at the 2014 U.S. Astronaut Hall of Fame Induction ceremony. Space shuttle astronauts and space explorers Shannon Lucid and Jerry Ross were inducted into the Hall of Fame Class of 2014. The 2014 inductees are selected by a committee of Hall of Fame astronauts, former NASA officials, flight directors, historians and journalists. The process is administered by the Astronaut Scholarship Foundation. To be eligible, an astronaut must have made his or her first flight at least 17 years before the induction. Candidates must be a U.S. citizen and a NASA-trained commander, pilot or mission specialist who has orbited the earth at least once. Including Lucid and Ross, 87 astronauts have been inducted into the AHOF. Photo credit: NASA/Kim Shiflett

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- Team members from the University of Akron in Ohio take a break before their final mining run on the final day of NASA's 2014 Robotic Mining Competition at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex in Florida. More than 35 teams from colleges and universities around the U.S. designed and built remote-controlled robots for the mining competition. The competition is a NASA Human Exploration and Operations Mission Directorate project designed to engage and retain students in science, technology, engineering and mathematics, or STEM, fields by expanding opportunities for student research and design. Teams use their remote-controlled robotics to maneuver and dig in a supersized sandbox filled with a crushed material that has characteristics similar to Martian soil. The objective of the challenge is to see which team’s robot can collect and move the most regolith within a specified amount of time. For more information, visit www.nasa.gov/nasarmc. Photo credit: NASA/Kim Shiflett

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. – The United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket lifts off from Space Launch Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station carrying NASA's Tracking and Data Relay Satellite, or TDRS-L, spacecraft to Earth orbit. Liftoff was at 9:33 p.m. EST. The TDRS-L spacecraft is the second of three new satellites designed to ensure vital operational continuity for NASA by expanding the lifespan of the Tracking and Data Relay Satellite System TDRSS fleet, which consists of eight satellites in geosynchronous orbit. The spacecraft provide tracking, telemetry, command and high bandwidth data return services for numerous science and human exploration missions orbiting Earth. These include NASA's Hubble Space Telescope and the International Space Station. TDRS-L has a high-performance solar panel designed for more spacecraft power to meet the growing S-band communications requirements. TDRSS is one of NASA Space Communication and Navigation’s SCaN three networks providing space communications to NASA’s missions. For more information more about TDRS-L, visit: http:__www.nasa.gov_tdrs To learn more about SCaN, visit: www.nasa.gov_scan Photo credit: NASA_Tony Gray and Sandy Joseph

Earth observation taken by the Expedition 40 crew aboard the International Space Station (ISS). Folder lists this as: Jakarta and Typhoon Halong.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. – At NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, the agency's Orion spacecraft passes the spaceport's Launch Complex 39B as it is transported to Launch Complex 37 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. After arrival at the launch pad, United Launch Alliance engineers and technicians will lift Orion and mount it atop its Delta IV Heavy rocket. Orion is the exploration spacecraft designed to carry astronauts to destinations not yet explored by humans, including an asteroid and Mars. It will have emergency abort capability, sustain the crew during space travel and provide safe re-entry from deep space return velocities. The first unpiloted flight test of Orion is scheduled to launch Dec. 4, 2014 atop a United Launch Alliance Delta IV Heavy rocket, and in 2018 on NASA’s Space Launch System rocket. For more information, visit www.nasa.gov/orion Photo credit: NASA/Kim Shiflett

The Retrievers team robot is seen as it attempts the level one challenge the 2014 NASA Centennial Challenges Sample Return Robot Challenge, Wednesday, June 11, 2014, at the Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI) in Worcester, Mass. Eighteen teams are competing for a $1.5 million NASA prize purse. Teams will be required to demonstrate autonomous robots that can locate and collect samples from a wide and varied terrain, operating without human control. The objective of this NASA-WPI Centennial Challenge is to encourage innovations in autonomous navigation and robotics technologies. Innovations stemming from the challenge may improve NASA's capability to explore a variety of destinations in space, as well as enhance the nation's robotic technology for use in industries and applications on Earth. Photo Credit: (NASA/Joel Kowsky)

SAN DIEGO, Calif. – Support equipment is being offloaded from the well deck of the USS Anchorage at Naval Base San Diego following completion of Underway Recovery Test 3 on the Orion boilerplate test vehicle in the Pacific Ocean. NASA, Lockheed Martin and U.S. Navy personnel conducted the recovery test using the test vehicle to prepare for recovery of the Orion crew module on its return from a deep space mission. The test allowed the teams to demonstrate and evaluate the recovery processes, procedures, hardware and personnel in open waters. The Ground Systems Development and Operations Program conducted the underway recovery tests. Orion is the exploration spacecraft designed to carry astronauts to destinations not yet explored by humans, including an asteroid and Mars. It will have emergency abort capability, sustain the crew during space travel and provide safe re-entry from deep space return velocities. The first unpiloted test flight of Orion is scheduled to launch in 2014 atop a United Launch Alliance Delta IV Heavy rocket and in 2018 on NASA’s Space Launch System rocket. For more information, visit http://www.nasa.gov/orion. Photo credit: NASA/Cory Huston

1069: At the Kremlin Wall in Moscow’s Red Square, Expedition 40/41 Soyuz Commander Max Suraev of the Russian Federal Space Agency (Roscosmos) lays flowers May 8 at the spot where Yuri Gagarin, the first human to fly in space, is interred. Suraev, Alexander Gerst of the European Space Agency and Reid Wiseman of NASA are preparing for launch May 29, Kazakh time, in the Soyuz TMA-13M spacecraft from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan for a 5 ½ month mission on the International Space Station. NASA/Stephanie Stoll

At NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, the new countdown clock at the spaceport's Press Site is being tested. The modern, multimedia display is similar to the screens seen at sporting venues. The new screen will be nearly 26 feet wide by 7 feet high, a foot taller than the original clock. The historic countdown clock was designed by Kennedy engineers and built by space center technicians before Apollo 12 in 1969. NASA has requested to acquire the countdown clock from the agency’s Artifact Working Group at the agency's Headquarters for display at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex.

Inside the Astrotech payload processing facility on Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, engineers and technicians remove a protective covering from NASA's Soil Moisture Active Passive, or SMAP, spacecraft. SMAP will launch on a Delta II 7320 configuration vehicle featuring a United Launch Alliance first stage booster powered by an Aerojet Rocketdyne RS-27A main engine and three Alliant Techsystems, or ATK, strap-on solid rocket motors. Once on station in Earth orbit, SMAP will provide global measurements of soil moisture and its freeze/thaw state. These measurements will be used to enhance understanding of processes that link the water, energy and carbon cycles, and to extend the capabilities of weather and climate prediction models. SMAP data also will be used to quantify net carbon flux in boreal landscapes and to develop improved flood prediction and drought monitoring capabilities. Launch from Space Launch Complex 2 is targeted for Jan. 29, 2015.

VANDENBERG AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. – The interstage adapter, or ISA, for NASA's Orbiting Carbon Observatory-2 mission, or OCO-2, arrives at the Building 836 hangar on Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. OCO-2 is scheduled to launch aboard a United Launch Alliance Delta II rocket from Space Launch Complex 2 in July. The ISA is the interface between the Delta II first and second stages. The second stage engine fits within the ISA. OCO-2 will collect precise global measurements of carbon dioxide in the Earth's atmosphere and provide scientists with a better idea of the chemical compound's impacts on climate change. Scientists will analyze this data to improve our understanding of the natural processes and human activities that regulate the abundance and distribution of this important atmospheric gas. To learn more about OCO-2, visit http://oco.jpl.nasa.gov. Photo credit: NASA/Jeremy Moore, 30th Space Wing, VAFB

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. – A spectacular sunrise at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida heralds the arrival of a new era in exploration a day before the launch of a United Launch Alliance Delta IV Heavy topped by the agency's Orion spacecraft for its first flight test. For more information, visit www.nasa.gov/orion. Photo credit: NASA/Kim Shiflett

DATE: 1-12-14 LOCATION: Bldg. 30 - FCR-1 (30M/231) SUBJECT: Expedition 38 flight controllers during Orbital Sciences' Cygnus approaching ISS and being grappled. PHOTOGRAPHER: Lauren Harnett

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- Researchers document the ground control plant pillows in the Veggie plant growth system inside a control chamber at the Space Station Processing Facility at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida prior to thinning them to one plant each. The growth chamber is being used as a control unit and procedures are being followed identical to those being performed on Veggie and the Veg-01 experiment on the International Space Station. Veggie and Veg-01 were delivered to the space station aboard the SpaceX-3 mission. Veggie is the first fresh food production system delivered to the station. Six plant pillows, each containing outredgeous red romaine lettuce seeds and a root mat were inserted into Veggie. The plant chamber's red, blue and green LED lights were activated. The plant growth was monitored for 28 days. At the end of the cycle, the plants will be carefully harvested, frozen and stored for return to Earth. Photo credit: NASA/Charles Spern

The Orion Exploration Flight Test-1 (EFT-1) crew module is moved and mated with the service module at the Operations and Checkout (O&C) Building at Kennedy Space Center on June 9, 2014. Part of Batch image transfer from Flickr.

SAN DIEGO, Calif. – The Orion boilerplate test vehicle is being moved from the Mole Pier at Naval Base San Diego in California to a warehouse at the naval base. The test vehicle is attached to the crew module recovery cradle. The Ground Systems Development and Operations Program, Lockheed Martin and the U.S. Navy are evaluating the hardware and processes for preparing the Orion crew module for Exploration Flight Test-1, or EFT-1, for overland transport from the naval base to NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Orion is the exploration spacecraft designed to carry astronauts to destinations not yet explored by humans, including an asteroid and Mars. It will have emergency abort capability, sustain the crew during space travel and provide safe re-entry from deep space return velocities. The first unpiloted test flight of the Orion is scheduled to launch later this year atop a Delta IV rocket from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida to an altitude of 3,600 miles above the Earth's surface. The two-orbit, four-hour flight test will help engineers evaluate the systems critical to crew safety including the heat shield, parachute system and launch abort system. For more information, visit http://www.nasa.gov/orion. Photo credit: NASA/Kim Shiflett

Expedition 43 Emergency Scenarios training in ISS mockups with Soyuz 41(Anton Shkaplerov, Samantha Cristoforetti, Terry Virts) and Soyuz 42 (Gennady Padalka, Mikhail Kornienko, Scott Kelly). Photo Date: July 10, 2014. Location: Building 9NW - ISS Mockups. Photographer: Robert Markowitz

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- At NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, a Fire Rescue team member serves as a "volunteer patient" for a simulated emergency operation. Paramedics are attaching a neck brace and leg splint. The activity taking place in Kennedy's Launch Complex 39 turn-basin parking lot was only one of several drills. It was part of a new training program that was developed by Kennedy's Fire Rescue department along with NASA Aircraft Operations to sharpen the skills needed to help rescue personnel learn how to collaborate with helicopter pilots in taking injured patients to hospitals as quickly as possible. Photo credit: NASA/Dan Casper

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. – NASA’s Project Morpheus prototype lander comes to rest after a successful landing, capping free flight test No. 15 at the north end of the Shuttle Landing Facility at Kennedy Space Center in Florida. During the 97-second test, onboard autonomous landing and hazard avoidance technology sensors, or ALHAT, surveyed the hazard field for safe landing sites, then guided the lander forward and downward to a successful landing. For more information on Morpheus, visit: http://www.morpheuslander.jsc.nasa.gov. Photo credit: NASA

Orion Program Manager Mark Geyer congratulates the team after Orion's successful Exploration Flight Test-1 (EFT-1) mission in Building AE at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station on Dec. 5, 2014. The Orion spacecraft orbited Earth twice, reaching an altitude of approximately 3,600 miles above Earth before landing. No one was aboard Orion for this flight test, but the spacecraft is designed to allow us to journey to destinations never before visited by humans, including an asteroid and Mars. Part of Batch image transfer from Flickr.

The Orion Exploration Flight Test-1 (EFT-1) crew module is moved and mated with the service module at the Operations and Checkout (O&C) Building at Kennedy Space Center on June 9, 2014. Part of Batch image transfer from Flickr.

This helicopter view of Space Launch Complex 37 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida shows the United Launch Alliance Delta IV Heavy rocket as it stands ready to boost NASA's Orion spacecraft on a 4.5-hour mission. The liftoff was postponed because of an issue related to fill and drain valves on the Delta IV Heavy rocket that teams could not troubleshoot by the time the launch window expired.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. – The launch gantry is rolled back to reveal NASA's Orion spacecraft mounted atop a United Launch Alliance Delta IV Heavy rocket at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station's Space Launch Complex 37. Orion is NASA’s new spacecraft built to carry humans, designed to allow us to journey to destinations never before visited by humans, including an asteroid and Mars. For more information, visit www.nasa.gov/orion Photo credit: NASA/Kim Shiflett