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KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. -- A crane is ready to lift a refurbished lantern to the top of the Cape Canaveral Lighthouse, capping more than a year's work toward restoration of the 150-year-old beacon. The work included sandblasting the metal shell and filling the corrosion pits with epoxy, refurbishing the balcony and repairing the lantern. To further the restoration, the Cape Canaveral Lighthouse Foundation plans to rebuild the lighthouse keeper's quarters from the original plans, as well as establish space for its archives and develop a meeting place. The only lighthouse in the nation operated by the Air Force, it began guiding mariners in 1868. An encroaching sea caused it to be moved inland and it was re-lighted in 1894 at its present location. The refurbishment was sponsored by the U.S. Air Force 45th Space Wing, whose officials said they wanted to help preserve the area's history. The original brass roof, which had been in storage since its removal years ago, has been restored and once again tops the lighthouse. As it is an active aid to navigation, the U.S. Coast Guard continues to be responsible for the optic, or light, which has a range of up to 22 nautical miles. Photo credit: NASA/Kim Shiflett KSC-07pd0574

Members of the 390th Missile Maintenance Squadron guide a Titan II missile as it is lowered onto a trailer after its removal from a silo at site No. 570-5

Space Transportation System, Solid Rocket Boosters, Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center, 2101 NASA Parkway, Houston, Harris County, TX

Lifting of NASA OCO-2 Delta II Launch Vehicle

VANDENBERG AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. – The Delta II second stage for NASA's Orbiting Carbon Observatory-2 mission, or OCO-2, is lifted to the top of the mobile service tower at Space Launch Complex 2 on Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. Operations are underway to mate the second stage of the rocket to the first stage already in place on the launch stand. OCO-2 is scheduled to launch aboard a United Launch Alliance Delta II rocket in July. The rocket's second stage will insert OCO-2 into a polar Earth orbit. 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/Randy Beaudoin KSC-2014-2119

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. - External tank #120 is carefully maneuvered onto the barge Pegasus, docked at the Turn Basin on NASA’s Kennedy Space Center. After the tank is loaded onto the barge, it will be transported to NASA’s Michoud Assembly Facility in Louisiana for additional modifications. This tank is the first of the newly designed tanks that were delivered to Kennedy. Previously, the tank was stacked with Discovery and, more recently, Atlantis. The tank has already gone through two tanking cycles during tanking tests but was replaced with tank #121 for Discovery’s return to flight mission STS-114. KSC-05pd2335

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CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- At NASA's Space Launch Complex 17B in Florida, workers install a protective covering around the engine bell of the second stage of a United Launch Alliance Delta II launch vehicle before it is hoisted and mated to the first stage. The Delta II will carry NASA's Gravity Recovery and Interior Laboratory, or GRAIL, spacecraft into lunar orbit. The GRAIL mission is a part of NASA's Discovery Program. GRAIL will fly twin spacecraft in tandem orbits around the moon for several months to measure its gravity field. The mission also will answer longstanding questions about Earth's moon and provide scientists a better understanding of how Earth and other rocky planets in the solar system formed. GRAIL is scheduled to launch Sept. 8. For more information visit: http://science.nasa.gov/missions/grail/. Photo credit: NASA/Jack Pfaller KSC-2011-3428

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- At NASA's Space Launch Complex 17B in Florida, the first and second stages of a United Launch Alliance Delta II launch vehicle along with its nine solid rocket boosters are seen mated in the mobile service tower. The Delta II will carry NASA's Gravity Recovery and Interior Laboratory, or GRAIL, spacecraft into lunar orbit. The GRAIL mission is a part of NASA's Discovery Program. GRAIL will fly twin spacecraft in tandem orbits around the moon for several months to measure its gravity field. The mission also will answer longstanding questions about Earth's moon and provide scientists a better understanding of how Earth and other rocky planets in the solar system formed. GRAIL is scheduled to launch Sept. 8. For more information visit: http://science.nasa.gov/missions/grail/. Photo credit: NASA/Jack Pfaller KSC-2011-3435

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- At NASA's Space Launch Complex 17B in Florida, workers secure the second stage of a United Launch Alliance Delta II launch vehicle to the first stage. The payload fairing then will be raised into the white room of the mobile service tower. The Delta II will carry NASA's Gravity Recovery and Interior Laboratory, or GRAIL, spacecraft into lunar orbit. The GRAIL mission is a part of NASA's Discovery Program. GRAIL will fly twin spacecraft in tandem orbits around the moon for several months to measure its gravity field. The mission also will answer longstanding questions about Earth's moon and provide scientists a better understanding of how Earth and other rocky planets in the solar system formed. GRAIL is scheduled to launch Sept. 8. For more information visit: http://science.nasa.gov/missions/grail/. Photo credit: NASA/Jack Pfaller KSC-2011-3434

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- At NASA's Space Launch Complex 17B in Florida, workers using an overhead crane lower the second stage of a United Launch Alliance Delta II launch vehicle toward the first stage for mating. The payload fairing then will be raised into the white room of the mobile service tower. The Delta II will carry NASA's Gravity Recovery and Interior Laboratory, or GRAIL, spacecraft into lunar orbit. The GRAIL mission is a part of NASA's Discovery Program. GRAIL will fly twin spacecraft in tandem orbits around the moon for several months to measure its gravity field. The mission also will answer longstanding questions about Earth's moon and provide scientists a better understanding of how Earth and other rocky planets in the solar system formed. GRAIL is scheduled to launch Sept. 8. For more information visit: http://science.nasa.gov/missions/grail/. Photo credit: NASA/Jack Pfaller KSC-2011-3431

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- Workers transport the second stage of a United Launch Alliance Delta II launch vehicle to NASA's Space Launch Complex 17B in Florida. There, it will be hoisted into the mobile service tower and mated with the first stage. The Delta II will carry NASA's Gravity Recovery and Interior Laboratory, or GRAIL, spacecraft into lunar orbit. The GRAIL mission is a part of NASA's Discovery Program. GRAIL will fly twin spacecraft in tandem orbits around the moon for several months to measure its gravity field. The mission also will answer longstanding questions about Earth's moon and provide scientists a better understanding of how Earth and other rocky planets in the solar system formed. GRAIL is scheduled to launch Sept. 8. For more information visit: http://science.nasa.gov/missions/grail/. Photo credit: NASA/Jack Pfaller KSC-2011-3422

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- At NASA's Space Launch Complex 17B in Florida, workers lower the second stage of a United Launch Alliance Delta II launch vehicle toward the first stage for mating. The payload fairing then will be raised into the white room of the mobile service tower. The Delta II will carry NASA's Gravity Recovery and Interior Laboratory, or GRAIL, spacecraft into lunar orbit. The GRAIL mission is a part of NASA's Discovery Program. GRAIL will fly twin spacecraft in tandem orbits around the moon for several months to measure its gravity field. The mission also will answer longstanding questions about Earth's moon and provide scientists a better understanding of how Earth and other rocky planets in the solar system formed. GRAIL is scheduled to launch Sept. 8. For more information visit: http://science.nasa.gov/missions/grail/. Photo credit: NASA/Jack Pfaller KSC-2011-3433

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- At NASA's Space Launch Complex 17B in Florida, workers using an overhead crane hoist the second stage of a United Launch Alliance Delta II launch vehicle toward the first stage for mating. The payload fairing then will be raised into the white room of the mobile service tower. The Delta II will carry NASA's Gravity Recovery and Interior Laboratory, or GRAIL, spacecraft into lunar orbit. The GRAIL mission is a part of NASA's Discovery Program. GRAIL will fly twin spacecraft in tandem orbits around the moon for several months to measure its gravity field. The mission also will answer longstanding questions about Earth's moon and provide scientists a better understanding of how Earth and other rocky planets in the solar system formed. GRAIL is scheduled to launch Sept. 8. For more information visit: http://science.nasa.gov/missions/grail/. Photo credit: NASA/Jack Pfaller KSC-2011-3426

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- At NASA's Space Launch Complex 17B in Florida, workers using an overhead crane hoist the second stage of a United Launch Alliance Delta II launch vehicle toward the first stage for mating. The payload fairing then will be raised into the white room of the mobile service tower. The Delta II will carry NASA's Gravity Recovery and Interior Laboratory, or GRAIL, spacecraft into lunar orbit. The GRAIL mission is a part of NASA's Discovery Program. GRAIL will fly twin spacecraft in tandem orbits around the moon for several months to measure its gravity field. The mission also will answer longstanding questions about Earth's moon and provide scientists a better understanding of how Earth and other rocky planets in the solar system formed. GRAIL is scheduled to launch Sept. 8. For more information visit: http://science.nasa.gov/missions/grail/. Photo credit: NASA/Jack Pfaller KSC-2011-3425

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- At NASA's Space Launch Complex 17B in Florida, workers using an overhead crane lower the second stage of a United Launch Alliance Delta II launch vehicle toward the first stage for mating. The payload fairing then will be raised into the white room of the mobile service tower. The Delta II will carry NASA's Gravity Recovery and Interior Laboratory, or GRAIL, spacecraft into lunar orbit. The GRAIL mission is a part of NASA's Discovery Program. GRAIL will fly twin spacecraft in tandem orbits around the moon for several months to measure its gravity field. The mission also will answer longstanding questions about Earth's moon and provide scientists a better understanding of how Earth and other rocky planets in the solar system formed. GRAIL is scheduled to launch Sept. 8. For more information visit: http://science.nasa.gov/missions/grail/. Photo credit: NASA/Jack Pfaller KSC-2011-3432

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- At NASA's Space Launch Complex 17B in Florida, workers secure the engine bell on the second stage of a United Launch Alliance Delta II launch vehicle before it is hoisted into the mobile service tower. The Delta II will carry NASA's Gravity Recovery and Interior Laboratory, or GRAIL, spacecraft into lunar orbit. The GRAIL mission is a part of NASA's Discovery Program. GRAIL will fly twin spacecraft in tandem orbits around the moon for several months to measure its gravity field. The mission also will answer longstanding questions about Earth's moon and provide scientists a better understanding of how Earth and other rocky planets in the solar system formed. GRAIL is scheduled to launch Sept. 8. For more information visit: http://science.nasa.gov/missions/grail/. Photo credit: NASA/Jack Pfaller KSC-2011-3427

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CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- At NASA's Space Launch Complex 17B in Florida, workers secure the engine bell on the second stage of a United Launch Alliance Delta II launch vehicle before it is hoisted into the mobile service tower. The Delta II will carry NASA's Gravity Recovery and Interior Laboratory, or GRAIL, spacecraft into lunar orbit. The GRAIL mission is a part of NASA's Discovery Program. GRAIL will fly twin spacecraft in tandem orbits around the moon for several months to measure its gravity field. The mission also will answer longstanding questions about Earth's moon and provide scientists a better understanding of how Earth and other rocky planets in the solar system formed. GRAIL is scheduled to launch Sept. 8. For more information visit: http://science.nasa.gov/missions/grail/. Photo credit: NASA/Jack Pfaller

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grail elv delta ii kennedy space center cape canaveral launch space launch complex workers engine bell engine bell stage second stage delta launch alliance delta ii vehicle tower service tower delta ii gravity gravity recovery interior laboratory interior laboratory grail spacecraft orbit grail mission discovery discovery program tandem tandem orbits moon months measure field gravity field answer questions scientists planets system information visit science jack pfaller high resolution recovery program nasa
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10/05/2011
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Cape Canaveral, FL
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label_outline Explore Grail Elv Delta Ii, Grail Mission, Discovery Program

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. – Spotlights illuminate the United Launch Alliance Delta II Heavy rocket that will launch NASA’s twin Gravity Recovery and Interior Laboratory (GRAIL) mission from Space Launch Complex 17B on Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. Liftoff is scheduled for 9:08:52 a.m. EDT Sept. 10. GRAIL will fly twin spacecraft in tandem around the moon to precisely measure and map variations in the moon's gravitational field. The mission will provide the most accurate global gravity field to date for any planet, including Earth. This detailed information will reveal differences in the density of the moon's crust and mantle and will help answer fundamental questions about the moon's internal structure, thermal evolution, and history of collisions with asteroids. The aim is to map the moon's gravity field so completely that future moon vehicles can safely navigate anywhere on the moon’s surface. For more information, visit http://www.nasa.gov/grail. Photo credit: NASA/Sandra Joseph and Don Kight KSC-2011-6907

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. -- On Launch Pad 17-B at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida, workers complete encapsulation of the fairing around NASA's Dawn spacecraft. The fairing is a molded structure that fits flush with the outside surface of the Delta II upper stage booster and forms an aerodynamically smooth nose cone, protecting the spacecraft during launch and ascent. Dawn's goal is to characterize the conditions and processes of the solar system's earliest epoch 4.5 billion years ago by investigating in detail two of the largest asteroids, Ceres and Vesta. They reside between Mars and Jupiter in the asteroid belt. Launch is scheduled for July 8. Photo credit: NASA/Amanda Diller KSC-07pd1721

Mars Climate Orbiter, JPL/NASA images

At launch pad 36-A, Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, workers check over the second stage of an Atlas II/Centaur rocket before it is lifted up the gantry (behind it) for mating with the first stage. Atlas II is designed to launch payloads into low earth orbit, geosynchronous transfer orbit or geosynchronous orbit. The rocket is the launch vehicle for the GOES-L satellite, part of the NOAA National Weather Service system in weather imagery and atmospheric sounding information. The primary objective of the GOES-L is to provide a full capability satellite in an on-orbit storage condition, to assure NOAA continuity in services from a two-satellite constellation. Launch services are being provided by the 45th Space Wing KSC00pp0424

Artist Concept of Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment

Delta II First stage lift for THEMIS payload at complex 17B

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. - The first stage of a Delta II rocket arrives at NASA's Space Launch Complex 2 (SLC-2) at Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif. The rocket will carry the ICESat and CHIPSat satellites into Earth orbits. ICESat is a 661-pound satellite known as Geoscience Laser Altimeter System (GLAS) that will revolutionize our understanding of ice and its role in global climate change and how we protect and understand our home planet. It will help scientists determine if the global sea level is rising or falling. It will look at the ice sheets that blanket the Earth's poles to see if they are growing or shrinking. It will assist in developing an understanding of how changes in the Earth's atmosphere and climate effect polar ice masses and global sea level. CHIPSat, a suitcase-size 131-pound satellite, will provide invaluable information into the origin, physical processes and properties of the hot gas contained in the interstellar medium. This can provide important clues about the formation and evolution of galaxies since the interstellar medium literally contains the seeds of future stars. The Delta II launch is scheduled for Jan. 11 between 4:45 p.m. - 5:30 p.m. PST. KSC-02pd2030

VANDENBERG AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. – In the Astrotech payload processing facility on Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, technicians enclose a transportation canister containing NASA's Soil Moisture Active Passive, or SMAP, spacecraft in an environmentally protective wrap for its move to the launch pad. SMAP will launch on a United Launch Alliance 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. To learn more about SMAP, visit http://www.nasa.gov/smap. Photo credit: NASA/U.S. Air Force Photo Squadron KSC-2015-1090

VANDENBERG AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. – In Orbital Sciences Corp. Building 1555 at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, the third stage of the Taurus XL rocket joins the first and second stage on an Assembly Integration Trailer in preparation for moving to Pad 576-E on north Vandenberg later this month. The Orbital Sciences Taurus XL rocket, targeted to lift off Feb. 23, 2011, from Vandenberg's Space Launch Complex 576-E, will take NASA's Glory satellite into low Earth orbit. Glory is scheduled to collect data on the properties of aerosols and black carbon. It also will help scientists understand how the sun's irradiance affects Earth's climate. Photo credit: NASA/Randy Beaudoin KSC-2011-1038

VANDENBERG AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. -- The first stage of the United Launch Alliance Delta II rocket that will carry the Aquarius/SAC-D satellite into low Earth orbit arrives to the launch pad at NASA's Space Launch Complex-2 (SLC-2) at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. Following final tests, the spacecraft will be integrated to the Delta II in preparation for the targeted June launch. Aquarius, the NASA-built primary instrument on the SAC-D spacecraft, on its three-year mission, will provide new insights into how variations in ocean surface salinity relate to fundamental climate processes. Photo credit: NASA/VAFB KSC-2011-3865

AS07-03-1531 - Apollo 7 - Apollo 7 Mission, Saturn IVB booster during docking maneuvers

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. – Inside the Horizontal Integration Facility at Space Launch Complex 37 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida, a United Launch Alliance technician on a scissor lift monitors the progress as the second stage of a Delta IV Heavy rocket is mated to the central core booster of the three booster stages for the unpiloted Exploration Flight Test-1, or EFT-1. During the 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 the first flight test is planned for December 2014. Photo credit: NASA/Daniel Casper KSC-2014-3907

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grail elv delta ii kennedy space center cape canaveral launch space launch complex workers engine bell engine bell stage second stage delta launch alliance delta ii vehicle tower service tower delta ii gravity gravity recovery interior laboratory interior laboratory grail spacecraft orbit grail mission discovery discovery program tandem tandem orbits moon months measure field gravity field answer questions scientists planets system information visit science jack pfaller high resolution recovery program nasa