CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. – In High Bay 1 in the Vehicle Assembly Building at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, space shuttle Endeavour hovers over the mobile launcher platform to which its external fuel tank and solid rocket boosters are secured. Next, Endeavour will be attached to the tank to complete the shuttle stack. Rollout of the stack to Kennedy’s Launch Pad 39A, a significant milestone in launch processing activities, is planned for early January 2010. The Italian-built Tranquility module, the primary payload for Endeavour's STS-130 mission, will be installed in the payload bay after the shuttle arrives at the pad. Launch is targeted for early February. For information on the STS-130 mission and crew, visit http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/shuttle/shuttlemissions/sts130/index.html. Photo credit: NASA/Jack Pfaller KSC-2009-6777

Similar

STS-132 - LAUNCH - Public domain NASA photogrpaph

The successful liftoff of Space Shuttle Discovery on mission STS-103 illuminates the night sky. Liftoff occurred at 7:50 p.m. EST from Launch Pad 39B. On board are Commander Curtis L. Brown Jr., Pilot Scott J. Kelly and Mission Specialists Steven L. Smith, C. Michael Foale (Ph.D.), John M. Grunsfeld (Ph.D.), Claude Nicollier of Switzerland and Jean-François Clervoy of France. Nicollier and Clervoy are with the European Space Agency. STS-103 is a Hubble Servicing Mission, with three planned space walks designed to install new equipment and replace old. The primary objective is to replace the gyroscopes that make up the three Rate Sensor Units. Extravehicular activities include installing a new computer, changing out one of the Fine Guidance Sensors, replacing a tape recorder with a new solid state recorder, and installing a voltage/temperature improvement kit, and begin repairing the insulation on the telescope's outer surface. After the 7-day, 21-hour mission, Discovery is expected to land at KSC Monday, Dec. 27, at about 5:24 p.m. EST. This is the 27th flight of Discovery and the 96th mission in the Space Shuttle Program. It is the third launch at Kennedy Space Center in 1999 KSC-99pp1470

STS-130 - EOM - Public domain NASA photogrpaph

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- Space shuttle Discovery heads to space after lifting off from Launch Pad 39A at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida to begin its final flight, the STS-133 mission, to the International Space Station. Launch was at 4:53 p.m. EST. Discovery and its six-member crew will deliver the Permanent Multipurpose Module, packed with supplies and critical spare parts, as well as Robonaut 2, the dexterous humanoid astronaut helper, to the orbiting outpost. Discovery is flying on its 39th mission and is scheduled to be retired following STS-133. This is the 133rd Space Shuttle Program mission and the 35th shuttle voyage to the space station. For more information on the STS-133 mission, visit www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/shuttle/shuttlemissions/sts133/. Photo credit: NASA/Tony Gray and Tom Farrar KSC-2011-1764

T&R Atlantis Move from OPF-1 to VAB HB 2012-3584

View of STS-98 orbiter Atlantis undocked from ISS

Jack Pfaller KSC-2009-6777

description

Summary

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. – In High Bay 1 in the Vehicle Assembly Building at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, space shuttle Endeavour hovers over the mobile launcher platform to which its external fuel tank and solid rocket boosters are secured. Next, Endeavour will be attached to the tank to complete the shuttle stack. Rollout of the stack to Kennedy’s Launch Pad 39A, a significant milestone in launch processing activities, is planned for early January 2010. The Italian-built Tranquility module, the primary payload for Endeavour's STS-130 mission, will be installed in the payload bay after the shuttle arrives at the pad. Launch is targeted for early February. For information on the STS-130 mission and crew, visit http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/shuttle/shuttlemissions/sts130/index.html. Photo credit: NASA/Jack Pfaller

Space Shuttle Program

The Space Shuttle program was the United States government's manned launch vehicle program from 1981 to 2011, administered by NASA and officially beginning in 1972. The Space Shuttle system—composed of an orbiter launched with two reusable solid rocket boosters and a disposable external fuel tank— carried up to eight astronauts and up to 50,000 lb (23,000 kg) of payload into low Earth orbit (LEO). When its mission was complete, the orbiter would re-enter the Earth's atmosphere and lands as a glider. Although the concept had been explored since the late 1960s, the program formally commenced in 1972 and was the focus of NASA's manned operations after the final Apollo and Skylab flights in the mid-1970s. It started with the launch of the first shuttle Columbia on April 12, 1981, on STS-1. and finished with its last mission, STS-135 flown by Atlantis, in July 2011.