Mobile Newsletter banner close. Mobile Newsletter chat close. Mobile Newsletter chat dots. Mobile Newsletter chat avatar. Mobile Newsletter chat subscribe. Prev NEXT. An onboard photo of astronaut Mae Jemison working aboard the space shuttle Endeavour in Jemison was the first African-American woman in space.
It launched the first U. The center consists of a complex of buildings constructed on 1, acres ha in Houston, Texas, USA including the Christopher C. Kraft Jr. Mission Control Center. It is often popularly referred to by its central function during missions, "Mission Control". A new facility was constructed on land donated by Rice University and opened in On February 19, , the center was renamed in honor of the late U. The John C. It is currently used for rocket testing by over 30 local, state, national, international, private, and public companies and agencies.
Space Shuttle. Explore Wikis Community Central. Register Don't have an account? NASA facilities. Edit source History Talk 0. Space flight and space centers John F. Stennis Space Center , near Bay St. Retrieved July 15, Retrieved Time Inc. The center also managed the hearty Mars Sojourner rover and the twin Mars Rovers Spirit and Opportunity, which landed on the Red Planet in and are still roaming and exploring its surface; the orbiting Mars Surveyor and Mars Climate Orbiter, which have snapped hundreds of thousands of high-resolution images of the planet from orbit; the Magellan and Galileo space probes; and many more advanced planetary exploration spacecraft.
JPL is responsible for systems engineering in support of the Constellation Program. In addition, JPL will provide support to the Orion crew exploration vehicle thermal protection system advanced development project. Johnson Space Center.
Included in the sprawling Johnson campus are buildings designed to support the training of the U. Highly utilized by these individuals is the Space Vehicle Mockup Facility, which houses full-size realistic mockups of the space shuttle flight deck and mid-deck, a full-size shuttle fuselage mockup, and mockups of various modules of the space station.
Located within the mockup facility are two tools used in the development and evaluation of spacewalk equipment and techniques: a precision air-bearing floor and a partial gravity simulator. To further prepare for spacewalks, astronauts train at the Sonny Carter Training Facility, located a few miles from the center.
This neutral buoyancy laboratory features a pool containing 6. Astronauts also spend hours in the Jake Garn Training Facility where they prepare for launch, landing, payload and space station operations, and rendezvous activities by training with motion-based simulators imitating the vibrations, noise and views experienced by crews on orbit.
Astronauts receive spaceflight readiness training in T Talon supersonic jets, and pilot astronauts train with specially modified jet aircraft to mimic the approach and landing of shuttle orbiters. As part of their training, astronaut crews work closely with the teams of the Mission Control Center. From liftoff until the crew returns to Earth, the MCC serves as the nucleus of communication and support. Starting with the Gemini IV spacewalking mission, teams of experienced engineers and technicians in Houston have controlled every flight for the Gemini, Apollo, Skylab, Apollo-Soyuz Test Project and space shuttle programs and operations aboard the International Space Station.
The original MCC configuration of two identical Mission Operations Control Rooms located on separate floors was modified and enhanced in the s, resulting in flight control rooms with capabilities to simultaneously support a space station Expedition crew and a shuttle crew in flight. On Nov. Other Johnson facilities contain a treasure trove of pounds of lunar materials returned from the moon between and These lunar samples continue to be studied today by scientists from around the world.
Along with the lunar samples, the office maintains four other collections of extraterrestrial samples, including meteorites from Antarctica, cosmic dust collected in the stratosphere, solar wind samples collected by the Genesis spacecraft, and interstellar and cometary dust samples collected during the recent Stardust mission.
To support human spaceflight, teams at Johnson help with the management and development, testing, production and delivery of all U. Projects developed at Johnson have produced scientific and medical advances, as well as spaceflight technologies that were adapted to benefit humankind in applications for medicine, energy, transportation, agriculture, communications and electronics.
Pea soup - The space shuttle Challenger moves through the fog down the 3-mile crawler way en route to Launch Pad 39A and its first launch in April Kennedy Space Center is the primary U. From to , the center launched nine Apollo flights to the moon. It is adjacent to the U. Kennedy, home to nearly 15, civilian, military and industry employees, features a large visitor center complex that includes museum-quality exhibits, shops, restaurants, a space shuttle experience and an IMAX theater.
A Saturn V rocket is also housed for public display at the visitor center. The center has a unique designation as a wildlife sanctuary, where bald eagles, alligators, herons and other wildlife coexist with humans.
The first U. On that area, the agency built new buildings and launch complexes to support the Saturn V launch vehicle and Apollo spacecraft.
Launch Complex 39, consisting of two nearly identical launch pads, A and B, was constructed, with space reserved for a third such Saturn V pad had it been needed. A launch control center was built where controllers monitored the countdown for each Saturn launch. To assemble each of the moon-bound launch vehicles, the foot tall VAB was erected. Inside the structure, the three stages of the Saturn V, along with the Apollo spacecraft, were assembled and stacked on top of a mobile launch platform.
The last Saturn V was launched in May , carrying the Skylab space station to orbit, the only use of the Saturn V as a cargo-carrying space launch vehicle.
Using a modified version of the Saturn V pads, the smaller Saturn IB rocket was used from to launch the three Skylab crews and the American astronauts who participated in the U. For the space shuttle program, Kennedy made modifications to or retained its Apollo-era facilities, including launch Complex 39 A and B and the interior high bays of the VAB, the mobile launching platform and slow-moving crawler transporter.
The space shuttle Enterprise was used as a prototype vehicle to test the launch pad modifications, paving the way for the first space shuttle launch in April Kennedy added other buildings to support shuttle flight operations, including new orbiter processing facilities, which act as hangars for the winged vehicles, as well as payload and ordinance buildings for the shuttles and their booster rockets and cargoes.
A unique , sq. Space Station Processing Facility was constructed in to process and test large modules, truss segments, solar panels, etc. Kennedy launches many scientific and weather spacecraft into orbit aboard various expendable launch vehicles such as Delta, Atlas, Pegasus, Taurus, Titan and Athena class rockets. The two Saturn V-turned-shuttle launch pads will be converted again, this time to support the new crewed Ares I and cargo-carrying Ares V launch vehicles.
Kennedy will handle ground processing and launch operations of the Ares rockets and recovery of the Orion crew exploration vehicle capsules and recovery of the first-stage solids of the Ares I and Ares V vehicles.
The first test flight launch of an Ares I launch vehicle is planned for early , with the renewal of human launches to the moon from Kennedy slated to begin by Future moon outpost - An inflatable lunar habitat being tested at Langley Research Center.
The Samuel P. Then known as the Langley Aeronautical Memorial Laboratory, the facility opened its first wind tunnel test center in These airfoil series are still used by aircraft designers today. Research at Langley improved the performance and capabilities of civil and military aircraft. After the war, NACA researchers focused on issues relating to high-speed flight. A difference was noted between conventional wind tunnel data and aircraft performance during high-speed maneuvers.
To remedy this situation, engineer John Stack developed a concept for a slotted-throat wind tunnel design that enabled testing at high-speed conditions more closely matching actual flight conditions. The slotted-throat tunnel design was awarded a Collier Trophy and opened a pathway to supersonic aircraft development.
Langley engineers designed many high-speed test airplanes. These historic aircraft included the sound barrier breaking X-1, and the X, the first winged aircraft to fly into space. Later, X research would pave the way for the space shuttle era. When Langley was absorbed into NASA its engineers, research labs and historic aerospace data became the building blocks of the new federal space agency.
Currently the center is led by Lesa B. Prior to the move, the original seven Mercury astronauts trained and lived at Langley. Langley also played key roles in Gemini, Apollo and Skylab programs. Langley engineers refined and developed the feasibility of rendezvous and docking while in orbit around the moon. Langley designed and operated simulators that allowed astronauts to learn techniques for piloting the Lunar Module.
Other unmanned space probes that involved Langley researchers include the Echo, Explorer and PAGEOS Earth satellites, which carried experiments for scientific research and telecommunications. Langley has also played a key role in space transportation for small payloads and satellites.
In the mids, Langley researchers began developing a concept that became known as Scout. After Apollo, Langley led the development of the Viking missions to Mars. Other Langley space transportation work included design and tests of space plane configurations. These included development of the X rocket plane and the space shuttle. Shuttle designs were subjected to more than 60, hours of wind tunnel testing before the final shape of the winged craft was selected.
Langley engineers designed a small lifting body called the HL as a possible ferry craft to and from the planned Space Station Freedom. Recent commercial interest has been shown in possibly developing the HL as a taxi for private spaceflights into Earth orbit. The huge satellite carried 57 space experiments and was orbited for six years before its return to Earth, also aboard the shuttle. Data obtained from LDEF has been used in designing future spacecraft.
True to its aeronautics roots, Langley engineers continue to shape and improve the way planes fly. Langley researchers are working to make aircraft quieter, safer and more efficient. Current work builds on years of innovation successes. High-speed aircraft feature narrowed fuselages pinched in near the wings and supercritical wings for increased efficiency, thanks to Langley researcher Richard Whitcomb. Airliners are now equipped with airborne predictive radar, developed and tested by Langley, that significantly reduces the possibility of deadly wind shear accidents.
Airport runways, as well as highways, are grooved to help reduce hydroplaning accidents during rainy weather, thanks to Langley studies. Today, Langley engineers are developing technology for more fuel-efficient and environmentally friendly aircraft and rotorcraft. Langley research also is focusing on technologies that will allow airliners and other aircraft to fly faster and higher -- at supersonic and even hypersonic speeds.
Langley researchers continue to work on ways to better diagnose and predict aircraft and mechanical failures, especially in older planes that remain in service. Langley aeronautics also plays a role in supporting space research, studying supersonic and hypersonic speed challenges that are faced by spacecraft during planetary entry, descent and landing. Langley will have responsibility for flight test and pathfinder articles production for crew module, launch abort system and separation hardware.
Langley also will provide independent analysis and systems engineering and integration support for Orion and other elements to be yet developed as part of the Constellation Program.
Langley has major roles in the Ares I crew launch vehicle. These include aerodynamic design of the entire launch vehicle, compiling an aerodynamic database and developing aeroelasticity tests and analysis. Langley also will participate in trajectory analyses for the Ares rockets. Marshall Space Flight Center in When President Kennedy called in for NASA to place a man on the moon, the agency turned to Marshall Space Flight Center to create the incredibly powerful rocket needed to make that possible.
Today, NASA is working to return to the moon, and has once again turned to Marshall, for an even more powerful rocket that will enable the establishment of an outpost on the lunar surface. Since its beginning in , Marshall has provided the agency with mission critical design, development and integration of the launch and space systems required for space operations, exploration and scientific missions.
Marshall provided the rockets that powered Americans to the moon, developed the space shuttle propulsion system, and managed the development of Skylab, Spacelab, space station nodes, the Hubble Space Telescope, the Chandra X-Ray Observatory and many other scientific instruments.
The center has a rich history of integrating space systems and hardware from conception to operation. The center is named for former Army chief of staff, secretary of state and Nobel Peace Prize winner Gen.
George C. Marshall and is located on the U. Wernher von Braun and his German rocket engineering team headed the new organization, which was staffed by hundreds of U.
Many facilities, buildings, test equipment and laboratories used in the Army missile and rocket programs were also transferred to NASA. During the s, Marshall engineers developed and tested the stages and engines that powered the Saturn V launch vehicle to the moon. Test firings of the giant Saturn stages and rocket engines sometimes could be heard from as far as miles away. Marshall provided NASA with a total of 32 Saturn rockets, including the six vehicles that lifted astronauts to the lunar surface.
Marshall also developed the Lunar Roving Vehicle, the innovative two-seat vehicle driven by the Apollo 15, 16 and 17 astronauts. The foot-long rovers, which traveled across the lunar surface at nine miles per hour, allowed the astronauts to transport tools and equipment to the most geologically interesting sites near their landing base.
When their treks were complete, each rover could return as much as pounds of rock and soil samples back to the Lunar Modules for return to Earth. Three crews of astronauts lived onboard Skylab during and in rotations as long as 84 days. Important elements of the space shuttle were designed and developed at Marshall, including the main engines, external fuel tank and solid rocket boosters.
The external tank and solid boosters are integral to the design of the new Ares crew launch vehicle.
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