LDEF (Postflight), NASA history collection

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NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) spacecraft

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. -- Inside the Spacecraft Assembly and Encapsulation Facility 2, a covered Microwave Anisotropy Probe (MAP) satellite is revealed after removal of the container (far right). MAP will undergo testing in the SAEF-2 before its scheduled launch June 30 from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station on a Delta II rocket into a lunar-assisted trajectory to the Sun-Earth for a 27-month mission (3 months transit, 24 months observing). The MAP instrument consists of a set of passively cooled microwave radiometers with 1.4x 1.6-meter diameter primary reflectors to provide the desired angular resolution. MAP measures small fluctuations in the temperature of the cosmic microwave background radiation to an accuracy of one millionth of a degree. These measurements should reveal the size, matter content, age, geometry and fate of the universe. They will also reveal the primordial structure that grew to form galaxies and will test ideas about the origins of these primordial structures. The MAP instrument will be continuously shaded from the Sun, Earth, and Moon by the spacecraft. It is a product of Goddard Space Flight Center in partnership with Princeton University KSC-01pp0887

A worker in the Spacecraft Assembly and Encapsulation Facility (SAEF 2) checks the underside of the extended solar array panels on the 2001 Mars Odyssey Orbiter. The array will undergo illumination testing. Scheduled for launch April 7, 2001, the orbiter contains three science instruments: THEMIS, the Gamma Ray Spectrometer (GRS), and the Mars Radiation Environment Experiment (MARIE). THEMIS will map the mineralogy and morphology of the Martian surface using a high-resolution camera and a thermal infrared imaging spectrometer. The GRS will achieve global mapping of the elemental composition of the surface and determine the abundance of hydrogen in the shallow subsurface. The MARIE will characterize aspects of the near-space radiation environment with regards to the radiation-related risk to human explorers KSC-01pp0485

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. -- In the Operations and Checkout Building, the U.S. Lab reaches the open floor after being lifted out of the vacuum chamber where it was tested for leaks. The test was very successful. The 32,000-pound scientific research lab, named Destiny, is the first Space Station element to spend seven days in the renovated vacuum chamber. Destiny is scheduled to be launched on Shuttle mission STS-98, the 5A assembly mission, targeted for Jan. 18, 2001. During the mission, the crew will install the Lab in the Space Station during a series of three space walks. The STS-98 mission will provide the Station with science research facilities and expand its power, life support and control capabilities. The U.S. Lab module continues a long tradition of microgravity materials research, first conducted by Skylab and later Shuttle and Spacelab missions. Destiny is expected to be a major feature in future research, providing facilities for biotechnology, fluid physics, combustion, and life sciences research KSC00pp0870

VANDENBERG AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. -- The Aquarius/SAC-D spacecraft is unpacked and unveiled in the Spaceport Systems International payload processing facility at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. The container protected the spacecraft on its journey from Campos, Brazil, aboard a U.S. Air Force C-17 transport plane. Following final tests, the spacecraft will be integrated to a United Launch Alliance Delta II rocket in preparation for the targeted June launch to low Earth orbit. Aquarius, the NASA-built primary instrument on the SAC-D spacecraft, will map global changes in salinity at the ocean's surface. Salinity is a key measurement for understanding how changes in rainfall, evaporation and the melting of freezing of ice influence ocean circulation and are linked to variations in Earth's climate. The three-year mission will provide new insights into how variations in ocean surface salinity relate to these fundamental climate processes. Photo credit: NASA/Randy Beaudoin, VAFB KSC-2011-2728

SOLAR DYNAMICS OBSERVATORY (SDO) BEAUTY SHOTS/SDO SPACECRAFT

NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) TEST BED INTO CHAMBER GODDARD SPACE FLIGHT CENTER BLDG 7/10

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. -- The Pressurized Mating Adapter-3 (PMA-3), an element of the STS-92 mission scheduled for launch aboard Space Shuttle Atlantis in January 1999, arrived from the Boeing Company in Huntington Beach, Calif., for processing in KSC's Space Station Processing Facility (SSPF). While in orbit, PMA-3 will be removed from the orbiter's payload bay by the astronauts using the remote manipulator arm and mated to Node 1, a connecting passageway to the living and working areas of the International Space Station. The primary purpose of PMA-3 is to serve as a Shuttle docking port through which crew members and equipment will transfer to the International Space Station during later assembly missions KSC-98pc309

AIM being prepared for integrated testing and flight simulation

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LDEF (Postflight) EL-1994-00288 LDEF (Postflight) The image provides an overall view of LDEF experiments located in Bays D , the bay adjacent to the center ring structure, thru Bay F in Rows 8, the upper row, thru Row 11, the lower row. The LDEF is mounted on the LDEF Assembly and Transport System (LATS) in the rotation mode. The surfaces shown were facing in the direction of the orbital velocity vector and therefore exposed to the higher flux levels of atomic oxygen. The view shows the surfaces immediately after the LDEF arrived in SAEF II and prior to initiation of deintegration operations. Most experiments other than the Debris experiment (S0001) appear to have been degraded by the erosion of thin film polymer samples and/or signifi- cant color changes. Erosion of the thin film polymer samples is extensive on experiments located in LDEF positions D09, D10, E08 and F09. The silver TEFLON_ thermal cover material on experiments located in the D11 and E10 positions appears opaque with randomly located dark circular spots that appear to be debris points of impact. The black painted surface on the experiment in the E09 location has eroded exposing the red primer while some of the white paints on experiment surfaces and the yellow paint on the scuff plate appear in near prelaunch condition.

NASA Identifier: NIX-EL-1994-00288

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1990

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Defense Visual Information Distribution Service

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Link

https://www.dvidshub.net/