KSC-2012-1946

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- In the Orbiter Processing Facility-3 engine shop at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, a Pratt and Whitney Rocketdyne space shuttle main engine, or SSME, is prepared for loading into a waiting transportation canister for shipment to NASA's Stennis Space Center in Mississippi. The first two groups of engines were shipped from Kennedy to Stennis in November 2011 and January 2012, and the remaining engines are scheduled to depart on April 9. Altogether, 15 shuttle-era engines will be stored at Stennis for reuse on NASA’s Space Launch System heavy-lift rocket, under development. Photo credit: NASA/Cory Huston