DART Spacecraft Removal from Shipping Container, Move to SC Doll

Technicians lower NASA’s Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) spacecraft onto a work stand inside the Astrotech Space Operations Facility at Vandenberg Space Force Base in California on Oct. 4, 2021. Once secured on its stand, the spacecraft will undergo a series of tests and checkouts to confirm it is ready for launch. DART is the first mission to test technologies for preventing an impact of Earth by a hazardous asteroid. The mission is targeted to launch on Nov. 23, 2021, aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Vandenberg. NASA’s Launch Services Program, based at Kennedy Space Center, America’s multi-user spaceport, is managing the launch.