NASA Gallery

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. - Dr. Ed Galindo speaks to the visitors at the memorial service held at the Space Memorial Mirror for the crew of Columbia. Galindo is science educator of Shoshone-Bannock High School and introduced the dancers from the Shoshone-Bannock Native American community in Fort Hall, Idaho. The dancers performed a healing ceremony during the memorial. Students and staff of the Shoshone-Bannock Nation had an experiment on board Columbia. Feb. 1 is the one-year anniversary of the loss of the crew and orbiter Columbia in a tragic accident as the ship returned to Earth following mission STS-107. The public was invited to the memorial service, held in the KSC Visitor Complex, which included comments by Center Director Jim Kennedy and Executive Director of Florida Space Authority Winston Scott. Scott is a former astronaut who flew on Columbia in 1997.

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. - Dr. Ed Galindo speaks to the visitors at the memorial service held at the Space...

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. - The Return To Flight Task Group (RTFTG) holds the first public meeting at the Debus Center, KSC Visitor Complex. Shown at the table on the left are Dr. Amy K. Donahue, James D. Lloyd, Robert Sieck, retired Air Force Lt. Gen. Forrest C. McCartney, Richard Kohrs, Sy Rubenstein and Dr. Charles C. Daniel. The group is co-chaired by former Shuttle commander Richard O. Covey and retired Air Force Lt. Gen. Thomas P. Stafford, who was an Apollo commander. The RTFTG was at KSC to conduct organizational activities, tour Space Shuttle facilities and receive briefings on Shuttle-related topics. The task group was chartered by NASA Administrator Sean O’Keefe to perform an independent assessment of NASA’s implementation of the final recommendations of the Columbia Accident Investigation Board.

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. - In the high bay clean room at the Astrotech Space Operations processing facilities near KSC, workers attach an overhead crane to NASA’s MESSENGER spacecraft. The spacecraft will be moved to a work stand where employees of the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, builders of the spacecraft, will perform an initial state-of-health check. Then processing for launch can begin, 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 May 11 on a six-year mission aboard a Boeing Delta II rocket. Liftoff is targeted for 2:26 a.m. EDT on Tuesday, May 11.

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. - A Kennedy Space Center technician monitors the performance of a crawler-transporter as it moves Mobile Launcher Platform (MLP) number 3, with a set of twin solid rocket boosters bolted atop, to the intersection in the crawlerway during the second engineering analysis vibration test on the crawler and MLP. The crawler is moving at various speeds up to 1 mph in an effort to achieve vibration data gathering goals as it leaves the VAB, travels toward Launch Pad 39A, and then returns. The boosters are braced at the top for stability. The primary purpose of these rollout tests is to gather data to develop future maintenance requirements on the transport equipment and the flight hardware. Various parts of the MLP and crawler transporter have been instrumented with vibration data collection equipment.

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. - At the Astrotech Space Operations processing facilities near KSC, a lift begins lowering NASA’s MESSENGER spacecraft onto the ground. MESSENGER - short for MErcury Surface, Space ENvironment, GEochemistry and Ranging - will be taken into a high bay clean room and employees of the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, builders of the spacecraft, will perform an initial state-of-health check. Then processing for launch can begin, including checkout of the power systems, communications systems and control systems. The thermal blankets will also be attached for flight. MESSENGER will be launched May 11 on a six-year mission aboard a Boeing Delta II rocket. Liftoff is targeted for 2:26 a.m. EDT on Tuesday, May 11.

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. - Astronaut John Herrington speaks to the visitors at the memorial service held at the Space Memorial Mirror for the crew of Columbia. Herrington, who is a Chickasaw from Oklahoma, introduced the Shoshone-Bannock Junior-Senior High School dancers, from the Native American community at Fort Hall, Idaho, who performed a healing ceremony. Students and staff of the Shoshone-Bannock Nation had an experiment on board Columbia. Feb. 1 is the one-year anniversary of the loss of the crew and orbiter Columbia in a tragic accident as the ship returned to Earth following mission STS-107. The public was invited to the memorial service, held in the KSC Visitor Complex, which included comments by Center Director Jim Kennedy and Executive Director of Florida Space Authority Winston Scott. Scott is a former astronaut who flew on Columbia in 1997.

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. - KSC Deputy Director Woodrow Whitlow Jr. closes the memorial service held for the crew of Columbia at the Space Memorial Mirror in the KSC Visitor Complex. He is surrounded by dancers of the Shoshone-Bannock Native American community who performed a healing ceremony during the memorial. Feb. 1 is the one-year anniversary of the loss of the crew and orbiter Columbia in a tragic accident as the ship returned to Earth following mission STS-107. Students and staff of the Shoshone-Bannock Nation had an experiment on board Columbia. The public was invited to the memorial service, held in the KSC Visitor Complex, which included comments by Center Director Jim Kennedy and Executive Director of Florida Space Authority Winston Scott. Scott is a former astronaut who flew on Columbia in 1997.

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. - A member of the Shoshone-Bannock Native American community from Fort Hall, Idaho, displays a handmade item with the STS-107 logo. Dancers from Shoshone-Bannock Junior-Senior High School performed a healing ceremony during the memorial held at the Space Memorial Mirror, in the KSC Visitor Complex. Feb. 1 is the one-year anniversary of the loss of the crew and orbiter Columbia in a tragic accident as the ship returned to Earth following mission STS-107. Students and staff of the Shoshone-Bannock Nation had an experiment on board Columbia. The public was invited to the memorial service, held in the KSC Visitor Complex, which included comments by Center Director Jim Kennedy and Executive Director of Florida Space Authority Winston Scott. Scott is a former astronaut who flew on Columbia in 1997.

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. - At the Astrotech Space Operations processing facilities near KSC, workers begin moving NASA’s MESSENGER spacecraft into the building MESSENGER - short for MErcury Surface, Space ENvironment, GEochemistry and Ranging - is being taken into a high bay clean room where employees of the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, builders of the spacecraft, will perform an initial state-of-health check. Then processing for launch can begin, including checkout of the power systems, communications systems and control systems. The thermal blankets will also be attached for flight. MESSENGER will be launched May 11 on a six-year mission aboard a Boeing Delta II rocket. Liftoff is targeted for 2:26 a.m. EDT on Tuesday, May 11.

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. - A member of the Shoshone-Bannock Native American community from Fort Hall, Idaho, reads a tribute to the crew of Columbia while another displays a handmade item with the STS-107 logo. Dancers from Shoshone-Bannock Junior-Senior High School performed a healing ceremony during the memorial held at the Space Memorial Mirror, in the KSC Visitor Complex. Feb. 1 is the one-year anniversary of the loss of the crew and orbiter Columbia in a tragic accident as the ship returned to Earth following mission STS-107. Students and staff of the Shoshone-Bannock Nation had an experiment on board Columbia. The public was invited to the memorial service, held in the KSC Visitor Complex, which included comments by Center Director Jim Kennedy and Executive Director of Florida Space Authority Winston Scott. Scott is a former astronaut who flew on Columbia in 1997.

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. - The turbulent weather common to a Florida afternoon in the summer subsides into a serene canopy of cornflower blue, and a manmade "bird" takes flight. The Space Shuttle Discovery soars skyward from Launch Pad 39B on Mission STS-64 at 6:22:35 p.m. EDT, Sept. 9. On board are a crew of six: Commander Richard N. Richards; Pilot L. Blaine Hammond Jr.; and Mission Specialists Mark C. Lee, Carl J. Meade, Susan J. Helms and Dr. J.M. Linenger. Payloads for the flight include the Lidar In-Space Technology Experiment (LITE), the Shuttle Pointed Autonomous Research Tool for Astronomy-201 (SPARTAN-201) and the Robot Operated Material Processing System (ROMPS). Mission Specialists Lee and Meade also are scheduled to perform an extravehicular activity during the 64th Shuttle mission.

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. - Shipped in an air-conditioned transportation van from NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md., NASA’s MESSENGER spacecraft, the first Mercury orbiter, arrives at the Astrotech Space Operations processing facilities near KSC. MESSENGER - short for MErcury Surface, Space ENvironment, GEochemistry and Ranging - will be offloaded and taken into a high bay clean room. After the spacecraft is removed from its shipping container, employees of the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, builders of the spacecraft, will perform an initial state-of-health check. Then processing for launch can begin, including checkout of the power systems, communications systems and control systems. The thermal blankets will also be attached for flight. MESSENGER will be launched May 11 on a six-year mission aboard a Boeing Delta II rocket. Liftoff is targeted for 2:26 a.m. EDT on Tuesday, May 11.

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. - Dr. Paul Hintze (left) explains to Center Director Jim Kennedy a project he is working at the KSC Beach Corrosion Test Site. Hitze is doing post-graduate work for the National Research Council. The test facility site was established in the 1960s and has provided more than 30 years of historical information on the long-term performance of many materials in use at KSC and other locations around the world. Located 100 feet from the Atlantic Ocean approximately 1 mile south of the Space Shuttle launch sites, the test facility includes an atmospheric exposure site, a flowing seawater exposure site, and an on-site electrochemistry laboratory and monitoring station. The beach laboratory is used to conduct real-time corrosion experiments and provides for the remote monitoring of surrounding weather conditions. The newly added flowing seawater immersion facility provides for the immersion testing of materials and devices under controlled conditions.

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. - The Return To Flight Task Group (RTFTG) holds the first public meeting at the Debus Center, KSC Visitor Complex. Members and staff at the table, from left, are retired Navy Rear Adm. Walter H. Cantrell, David Raspet, retired Air Force Col. Gary S. Geyer, Dr. Kathryn Clark, Dr. Decatur B. Rogers, Dr. Dan L. Crippen, Dr. Walter Broadnax and astronaut Carlos Noriega. The RTFTG was at KSC to conduct organizational activities, tour Space Shuttle facilities and receive briefings on Shuttle-related topics. The task group was chartered by NASA Administrator Sean O’Keefe to perform an independent assessment of NASA’s implementation of the final recommendations of the Columbia Accident Investigation Board. The group is co-chaired by former Shuttle commander Richard O. Covey and retired Air Force Lt. Gen. Thomas P. Stafford, who was an Apollo commander.

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. - At the Astrotech Space Operations processing facilities near KSC, a lift helps offload NASA’s MESSENGER spacecraft shipped from NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md. MESSENGER - short for MErcury Surface, Space ENvironment, GEochemistry and Ranging - will be taken into a high bay clean room and employees of the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, builders of the spacecraft, will perform an initial state-of-health check. Then processing for launch can begin, including checkout of the power systems, communications systems and control systems. The thermal blankets will also be attached for flight. MESSENGER will be launched May 11 on a six-year mission aboard a Boeing Delta II rocket. Liftoff is targeted for 2:26 a.m. EDT on Tuesday, May 11.

800mm Mapping Sequence performed during the STS-119 R-Bar Pitch Maneuver

ISS018-E-040788 (17 March 2009) --- A close-up view of Space Shuttle Discovery?s main engines was provided by...

Stefanyshyn-Piper performs first EVA during STS-115 / Expedition 13 Joint Operations

S115-E-05760 (12 Sept. 2006) --- Astronaut Heidemarie M. Stefanyshyn-Piper, STS-115 mission specialist, waves to the...

Chamitoff performs a 3.5 hour run with the SPHERES Payload in the U.S. Laboratory during Expedition 17

ISS017-E-017302 (27 Sept. 2008) --- Astronaut Greg Chamitoff, Expedition 17 flight engineer, works with the...

Tanner performs first EVA during STS-115 / Expedition 13 joint operations

S115-E-05750 (12 Sept. 2006) --- Astronaut Joseph R. Tanner, STS-115 mission specialist, looks toward the digital...

STS-134 crew members Mike Fincke, Drew Feustel and Greg Chamitoff performing EVA Tile Repair Training.

JSC2010-E-014763 (28 Jan. 2010) --- NASA astronauts Greg Chamitoff (left), Andrew Feustel and Michael Fincke, all...

400mm Mapping Sequence performed during the STS-119 R-Bar Pitch Maneuver

ISS018-E-040837 (17 March 2009) --- A close-up view of the exterior of Space Shuttle Discovery's nose and underside...

STS-134 crew members Mike Fincke, Drew Feustel and Greg Chamitoff performing EVA Tile Repair Training.

JSC2010-E-014772 (28 Jan. 2010) --- NASA astronauts Greg Chamitoff (left), Andrew Feustel and Michael Fincke, all...

STS-57 astronauts Low and Wisoff perform DTO 1210 EVA in OV-105's payload bay

STS057-97-056 (25 June 1993) --- Astronaut G. David Low (foreground) adjusts the mobile foot restraint on the end of...

400mm Mapping Sequence performed during the STS-119 R-Bar Pitch Maneuver

ISS018-E-040792 (17 March 2009) --- Backdropped by a blanket of clouds, Space Shuttle Discovery is featured in this...