Teams at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida pose inside the Space Station Processing Facility’s high bay to celebrate 25 years of supporting the International Space Station. NASA/Ben Smegelsky Built to be the last stop for components of the International Space Station, the Space Station Processing Facility (SSPF) at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, has been given a new name that honors this legacy while embracing its role as a multi-tenant processing facility. Agency officials have updated the name of the 457,000 square foot, three-story building to “Space Systems…
Read MoreTag: International Space Station (ISS)
NASA’s Space Station Laser Comm Terminal Achieves First Link
3 Min Read NASA’s Space Station Laser Comm Terminal Achieves First Link NASA’s ILLUMA-T payload at Goddard Space Flight Center fully tested and integrated prior to its delivery to Kennedy Space Center. Credits: NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center A NASA technology experiment on the International Space Station completed its first laser link with an in-orbit laser relay system on Dec. 5, 2023. Together, they complete NASA’s first two-way, end-to-end laser relay system. NASA’s LCRD (Laser Communications Relay Demonstration) and the new space station demonstration, ILLUMA-T (Integrated LCRD Low Earth Orbit…
Read MoreNASA Kennedy Space Center’s Top 20 Stories of 2023
Here’s a look back at 2023’s most significant events at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida: JANUARYDay of Remembrance Marks 20th Anniversary of Columbia Tragedy NASA senior management and guests paid tribute to the crew members of space shuttle Columbia, as well as other astronauts who perished in the line of duty, during the agency’s Annual Day of Remembrance held at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex. NASA’s Day of Remembrance NASA/Kim Shiflett JANUARYFacilities, Spacecraft Prepped for Artemis II Mission Teams with Exploration Ground Systems began upgrading and modifying facilities…
Read MoreNASA Sensor Produces First Global Maps of Surface Minerals in Arid Regions
NASA’s EMIT produced its first global maps of hematite, goethite, and kaolinite in Earth’s dry regions using data from the year ending November 2023. The mission collected billions of measurements of the three minerals and seven others that may affect climate when lofted into the air as dust storms. NASA/JPL-Caltech EMIT delivers first-of-a-kind maps of minerals in Earth’s dust-source areas, enabling scientists to model the fine particles’ role in climate change and more. NASA’s EMIT mission has created the first comprehensive maps of the world’s mineral dust-source regions, providing precise…
Read MoreNASA Helps Study One of the World’s Most Diverse Ecosystems
Researchers with the BioSCape campaign collect vegetation data from the Cape of Good Hope in South Africa. The field work, which took place in October and November, was part of an international collaboration that could help inform the capabilities of future satellite missions aimed at studying plants and animals. Adam Wilson NASA satellite and airborne tools aid an international team studying biodiversity on land and in the water around South Africa. An international team of researchers spent October and November 2023 in the field studying one of the world’s most…
Read MoreNASA to Participate in Next Private Astronaut Mission News Conference
The astronaut crew for Axiom Mission 3 (Ax-3) to the International Space Station. From left to right, Ax-3 crew members are Michael López-Alegría, Axiom Space’s chief astronaut, Walter Villadei, an Italian Air Force colonel and pilot for the mission, Mission Specialist Alper Gezeravci from Türkiye, and ESA project astronaut Marcus Wandt. Credits: Axiom Space NASA experts will join a virtual news conference hosted by Axiom Space at 10 a.m. EST Wednesday, Dec. 13, to discuss the launch of Axiom Mission 3 (Ax-3), the third private astronaut mission to the International…
Read More25 Years Ago: NASA, Partners Begin Space Station Assembly
NASA is marking 25 years since the first two elements of the International Space Station were launched and joined in space. Today, the space station remains a global endeavor with 273 people from 21 countries now having visited the microgravity laboratory and has hosted more than 3,700 research and educational investigations from people in 108 countries and areas. Left: Launch of space shuttle Endeavour from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on the STS-88 mission to deliver the Unity Node 1 module. Middle: The STS-88 crew. Right: The Unity Node…
Read More25 Years Ago: The First Pieces of the International Space Station
NASA The mated Russian-built Zarya (left) and U.S.-built Unity modules are backdropped against the blackness of space and Earth’s horizon shortly after leaving Endeavour’s cargo bay on Dec. 13, 1998. A few days earlier, on Dec. 6, 1998, the space shuttle Endeavour, mission STS-88, launched from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida carrying the Unity connecting module and two pressurized mating adapters. The same day, the STS-88 crew captured the Russian Zarya module, launched Nov. 20, and mated it with the Unity node. Unity was the first piece of the International…
Read MoreNASA Invites Media to Northrop Grumman, SpaceX Space Station Launch
3 min read Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater) The Northrop Grumman Cygnus spacecraft’s pressurized cargo module for the company’s 20th commercial resupply mission is lifted and moved by crane inside the high bay in the Space Station Processing Facility at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The Cygnus, aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, will liftoff from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station’s Space Launch Complex 40. NASA/Ben Smegelsky Media accreditation is open for the next launch to deliver NASA science investigations, supplies, and equipment to the International…
Read MoreNASA Leaders to Highlight 25th Anniversary of Space Station with Crew
(Nov. 8, 2021) — The International Space Station is pictured from the SpaceX Crew Dragon Endeavour during a fly around of the orbiting lab that took place following its undocking from the Harmony module’s space-facing port on Nov. 8, 2021. NASA/SpaceX NASA is celebrating the 25th anniversary of International Space Station operations during a live conversation with crew aboard the microgravity laboratory for the benefit of humanity. During a space-to-Earth call at 12:25 p.m. EST Wednesday, Dec. 6, the Expedition 70 crew will speak with NASA Associate Administrator Bob Cabana…
Read More