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Mars Rover Curiosity Arm Held High
VANDENBERG AFB, Calif. – Technicians install one half of the payload fairing over the NuSTAR spacecraft as they continue to process the spacecraft and its Pegasus rocket for launch. NuSTAR stands for Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array. Photo credit: NASA/Randy Beaudoin KSC-2012-3023
KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. -- At the Astrotech Space Operations processing facilities, workers lower NASA’s MESSENGER spacecraft onto a test stand using an overhead crane. Once in place, employees of the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, builders of the spacecraft, will begin final processing for launch, including checkout of the power systems, communications systems and control systems. The thermal blankets will also be attached for flight. MESSENGER - short for MErcury Surface, Space ENvironment, GEochemistry and Ranging - will be launched aboard a Boeing Delta II rocket no earlier than July 30 on a six-year mission to study the planet Mercury. KSC-04pd0595
Apollo- LM-1 Ascent and Descent Manufacturing
In the Space Station Processing Facility, photographers focus on the Integrated Truss Structure Z1, an element of the International Space Station, suspended by a crane overhead. The truss is being moved to another stand to check its weight and balance. The Z1 truss is the first of 10 trusses that will become the backbone of the Space Station, eventually stretching the length of a football field. Along with its companion payload, the third Pressurized Mating Adapter, the Z1 is scheduled to be launched aboard Space Shuttle Discovery Oct. 5 at 9:38 p.m. EDT. The launch will be the 100th in the Shuttle program KSC-00pp1390
KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. -- In the Payload Hazardous Servicing Facility at NASA Kennedy Space Center, workers in clean room suits secure the New Horizons spacecraft with the third stage, or upper booster, a Boeing STAR 48 solid-propellant kick motor. The launch vehicle for New Horizons is the Atlas V rocket, scheduled to launch from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Fla., during a 35-day window that opens Jan. 11, and fly through the Pluto system as early as summer 2015. KSC-05pd2580
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. – At the Astrotech Space Operations facility in Titusville, Fla., technicians from NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center lower the bagged Solar Dynamics Observatory, or SDO, onto a dolly for further processing. SDO is the first space weather research network mission in NASA's Living With a Star Program. The spacecraft's long-term measurements will give solar scientists in-depth information about changes in the sun's magnetic field and insight into how they affect Earth. Liftoff on an Atlas V rocket is scheduled for Feb. 3, 2010. For information on SDO, visit http://www.nasa.gov/sdo. Photo credit: NASA/Troy Cryder KSC-2009-6836
KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. - An overhead crane moves the Mars Exploration Rover 2 (MER-2) entry vehicle across the Payload Hazardous Servicing Facility toward a spin table for a dry-spin test. The MER Mission consists of two identical rovers designed to cover roughly 110 yards each Martian day over various terrain. Each rover will carry five scientific instruments that will allow it to search for evidence of liquid water that may have been present in the planet's past. Identical to each other, the rovers will land at different regions of Mars. Launch for MER-2 (MER-A) is scheduled for June 5.
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. – At the Astrotech Space Operations facility in Titusville, Fla., the Solar Dynamics Observatory, or SDO, with its solar arrays deployed, is ready to receive signal commands to test the release mechanism sequence for the arrays. SDO is the first space weather research network mission in NASA's Living With a Star Program. The spacecraft's long-term measurements will give solar scientists in-depth information about changes in the sun's magnetic field and insight into how they affect Earth. Liftoff on an Atlas V rocket is scheduled for Feb. 3, 2010. Photo credit: NASA/Jack Pfaller KSC-2009-6236
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Phoenix Mars Lander Spacecraft Processing
Phoenix Mars Lander Spacecraft Processing
Phoenix Mars Lander Spacecraft Processing
Phoenix Mars Lander Spacecraft Processing
Phoenix Mars Lander Spacecraft Processing
Phoenix Mars Lander Spacecraft Processing
Phoenix Mars Lander Spacecraft Processing
Phoenix Mars Lander Spacecraft Processing
Phoenix Mars Lander Spacecraft Processing
Phoenix Mars Lander Spacecraft Processing
Summary
In the Payload Hazardous Servicing Facility, technicians lower a crane over the Phoenix Mars Lander spacecraft. The crane will be used to remove the heat shield from around the Phoenix. The Phoenix mission is the first project in NASA's first openly competed program of Mars Scout missions. Phoenix will land in icy soils near the north polar permanent ice cap of Mars and explore the history of the water in these soils and any associated rocks, while monitoring polar climate. Landing is planned in May 2008 on arctic ground where a mission currently in orbit, Mars Odyssey, has detected high concentrations of ice just beneath the top layer of soil. It will serve as NASA's first exploration of a potential modern habitat on Mars and open the door to a renewed search for carbon-bearing compounds, last attempted with NASA’s Viking missions in the 1970s. A stereo color camera and a weather station will study the surrounding environment while the other instruments check excavated soil samples for water, organic chemicals and conditions that could indicate whether the site was ever hospitable to life. Microscopes can reveal features as small as one one-thousandth the width of a human hair. Launch of Phoenix aboard a Delta II rocket is targeted for Aug. 3 from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida.