View allAll Photos Tagged spacesuits
Made the carbon dioxide (CO2) scrubber of the NASA Artemis Spacesuit with LEGO bricks.
Inside a spacesuit, as an astronaut continue to work, CO2 would build up. To prevent CO2 buildup, the CO2 scrubber beads are used. The gas goes through the bead bed and CO2 molecules (and humidity) are adsorbed/filtered. The beads can be regenerated by being exposed to space vacuum.
There are actually 2 beds inside the assembly (shown photos). When one is doing the filtering job, the other is exposed to space vacuum to desorb CO2.
This lego build is based on the real component published in the literature (Chullen et al., ICES-2015-313).
This is one of the microbuilds that populate the exploration primary life support system (xPLSS, backpack).
Please check out and vote for the entire spacesuit lego ideas entry I made:
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This is a close-up of the sleeve and gloves of Canadian astronaut Bob Thirsk, seen during a training session for the Soyuz TMA-15 flight in 2009. ESA astronaut Frank De Winne was seated next to Thirsk in the Soyuz simulator, supervised by their commander, Russian cosmonaut Roman Romanenko.
On 27 May 2009, Soyuz TMA-15 was launched to the International Space Station starting De Winne's six-month OasISS mission. De Winne and Thirsk were members of the first six-person ISS Expedition crew. Later in this mission, De Winne also became the first European to become the ISS Commander.
For more information:
www.esa.int/SPECIALS/OasISS_Mission/index.html
Credit: ESA/S.Corvaja
A major challenge of the Apollo Program was designing a spacesuit that would endure temperatures ranging from +250F (121C) to -200F (-129C). It had to protect against ultraviolet radiation and micrometeroites, and seal out the vacuum of space while still allowing the astronauts to carry out their tasks.
"Lunar Wardrobe"
A liquid-cooled undergarment made of knitted nylon-spandex with 265 feet of plastic tubing was used to circulate cooling water from the Portable Life Support System. An outer pressure garment (spacesuit) of 18 layers including a helmet and gloves and provided meteroite and thermal protection. The elbows, shoulders, wrist, knee, waist and ankle joints were rubber coated allowing the astronauts limited movement for working on the Moon. Caps worn under the helmet had microphones and earphones. On later flights, a quart bag of drink water was attached inside the helmet. The gloves had fingertips made of silicon rubber to provide increased sensitivity.
Other componenets of thesuit included:
-an Extra Vehicula Activity (EVA) visor assembly which fit over the helmet and protected the astronaut from impact, thermal, ultraviolet and infrared rays.
-a Portable Life Support System (PLSS) backpack containing oxygen, cooling water and communications equipment. It also absorbed carbon dioxide and removed excess humidity from the air supply.
-an Oxygen Purge System (OPS) providing more than one hour of emergency air supply.
The US A7L spacesuit worn by Bill Anders on Apollo 8 in 1978 and the Russian Sokol spacesuit worn by Helen Sharman on the Juno mission in 1991.
|Photographer: Shiv Gohil|Event: Ad Diriyah ePrix|Circuit: Ad Diriyah|Location: Riyadh|Series: FIA Formula E|Season: 2021-2022|Country: Saudi Arabia|Keyword: season 8|Keyword: season eight|Keyword: S8|Keyword: motorsport|Keyword: electric racing|Keyword: single seater|Keyword: open wheel|Keyword: 2022|Keyword: January|Keyword: opening round||Session: qualifying||Driver: Sebastien Buemi|Team: Nissan e.dams|Number: 23|Car: Nissan IM03|Car: Spark SRT05e|
these hexagon tiles showing astronauts were done for Sunrise Moonbase, a 2004 Burning Man project by omino et al:
|Photographer: Shiv Gohil|Event: Berlin ePrix|Circuit: Tempelhof Airport Street Circuit|Location: Berlin|Series: FIA Formula E|Season: 2020-2021|Country: Germany|Keyword: season 7|Keyword: season seven|Keyword: S7|Keyword: motorsport|Keyword: electric racing|Keyword: single seater|Keyword: open wheel|Keyword: 2021|Keyword: August||Session: race|
Mockup of the Krechet spacesuit that would have been worn on the moon by Soviet Cosmonauts if moon landings had taken place. On display at the National Air and Space Museum, Washington DC.
A13_0067Jack Swigert Suits Up for Launch4/11/1970KSCNASA108-KSC-70P-169, 70-H-496Jack Swigert adjusting his spacesuit the morning of the launch of Apollo 13. His suit displays the Apollo 13 patch, which was (presumably) a last minute addition to his spacesuit. “KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. - John L. Swigert, Jr., Apollo 13 command module pilot, adjusts spacesuit today during prelaunch activities preceding his flight with astronauts James A. Lovell, Jr., and Fred W. Haise, Jr., on the nation's third manned lunar landing mission.”
This image is part of a collection to commemorate the 45th Anniversary of the Apollo 13 Mission.
The San Diego Air and Space Museum is celebrating the 2015 Centennial of the Pan American Exposition by honoring one of the most memorable space flights in history. The Apollo 13 crew, astronauts Jim Lovell and Fred Haise, join the San Diego Air & Space Museum Saturday, March 21st for a rare 45th Anniversary Celebration appearance and personal recap of their historic mission. The celebration also honors the Mercury, Gemini, and Apollo race to the moon and those people who made it happen.
---Repository: San Diego Air and Space Museum
|Driver: Sebastien Buemi|Team: Nissan e.dams|Number: 23|Car: Nissan IM03|Car: Spark SRT05e||Photographer: Shiv Gohil|Event: Berlin ePrix|Circuit: Tempelhof Airport Street Circuit|Location: Berlin|Series: FIA Formula E|Season: 2021-2022|Country: Germany|Keyword: season 8|Keyword: season eight|Keyword: S8|Keyword: motorsport|Keyword: electric racing|Keyword: single seater|Keyword: open wheel|Keyword: 2022|Keyword: May||Session: qualifying|
A blueprint of my lego MOC, NASA Artemis Spacesuit that is being designed by NASA now for the moon exploration from 2020's
Title: Space Suit
Catalog #: 08_01494
Additional Information: Full Pressue Space Suit
Repository: San Diego Air and Space Museum Archive
these hexagon tiles showing astronauts were done for Sunrise Moonbase, a 2004 Burning Man project by omino et al:
| Driver: Oliver Rowland| Team: Nissan e.dams| Number: 22| Car: IM02|| Photographer: Shivraj Gohil| Event: Marrakesh E-Prix| Circuit: Circuit International Automobile Mouley el Hassan| Location: Marrakesh| Series: FIA Formula E| Season: 2019-2020| Country: Morocco|| Session: FP2|
| Driver: Oliver Rowland| Team: Nissan e.dams| Number: 22| Car: Nissan IM02|Car: Spark SRT05e|| Photographer: Shiv Gohil| Event: Ad Diriyah ePrix| Circuit: Ad Diriyah| Location: Riyadh| Series: FIA Formula E| Season: 2020-2021| Country: Saudi Arabia| Keyword: Season 7| Keyword: Season Seven| Keyword: S7| Keyword: motorsport| Keyword: electric racing| Keyword: single seater| Keyword: open wheel| Keyword: 2021|| Session: Race|
Mission insignia patch on the spacesuit worn by Dave Scott during the Apollo 15 lunar landing in July 1971. On display at the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C.
Fashion designer Emilio Pucci was asked to design the patch. Scott was the one who approached him. Pucci came up with the idea of three highly stylized "birds" in blue and green on a square patch. The crew changed the shape to round and the colors to red, white, and blue. (White represented Worden, blue represented Scott, and red represented Irwin.) The patch shows the three arcs over a photograph of Hadley Rille -- the section of the moon where Apollo 15 was to land. The shadows of the craters just to the center-right of the stylized birds form the Roman numeral XV. (NASA insisted that the mission number be displayed.)
The dust you see on the suit is moondust.
Apollo 15 was fourth manned mission to the Moon. It was designed to last a lot longer than previous stays on the Moon, so that additional scientific experiments could be conducted. The mission began on July 26, 1971, and concluded on August 7.
Commander David Scott and Lunar Module Pilot James Irwin landed the Lunar Module "Falcon" on the Moon, and spent three days there. This included 18.5 hours outside the LM. This was the first mission to not land on a "mare" (the so-called "lunar seas", or flat and smooth plains of basaltic lava). Instead, Apollo 15 landed near Hadley rille near Palus Putredinus (the Marsh of Decay). The crew explored the area using the Lunar Rover. Pilot Alfred Worden flew the Command Module "Endeavor" in orbit above the Moon, conducting numerous science experiments and even deploying a satellite in lunar orbit.
The spacesuit worn on Apollo 15 was a new design. Previous Apollo flights featured a suit with the life support, cooling, and communications connections in front in two parallel rows of three. The Apollo 15 "A7L-B" suit, however, placed these in triangular pairs. The zipper was also redesigned. The old zipper went up-and-down. But the new zipper went from the right shoulder to the left hip, and included a waist joint. This meant the astronauts could actually bend over for the first time, and sit on the Lunar Rover. Upgraded backpacks also permitted more time spent outside the LM.
Worden also wore a new spacesuit. While orbiting the Moon, he wore a three-connector suit. But Worden was scheduled to make a spacewalk during the flight home from the Moon. This suit had five connections (not six, since there was no need for liquid cooling). During his spacewalk, he retrieved film cartridges from an experiment on the exterior of the spacecraft.
When not in a "shirt-sleeve" environment, the space ferry-orbiting lab astronaut must wear a protective pressure suit. Main parts of such are shown in these General Electric sketches. The pressure suit undergarment, at left, can be worn under both the pressure suit and the shirt sleeve garment.
Orbiting Stations: Stopovers to Space Travel
by Irwin Stambler
G.P. Putnam's Sons, 1965
----------
When not in use the space suits hang on a rack in the Discovery Pod Bay. The GoHero/ER replica suits come with a suit hanger stand as well. GH also makes the blue suit, but with no figure inside and with the visor opaqued.
|Photographer: Dan Bathie|Event: Rome ePrix|Circuit: Circuito Cittadino Dell'EUR|Location: Rome|Series: FIA Formula E|Season: 2021-2022|Country: Italy|Keyword: season 8|Keyword: season eight|Keyword: S8|Keyword: motorsport|Keyword: electric racing|Keyword: single seater|Keyword: open wheel|Keyword: 2022|Keyword: April| | |Session: race| |Driver: Sebastien Buemi|Team: Nissan e.dams|Number: 23|Car: Nissan IM03|Car: Spark SRT05e|
iss072e572297 (Jan. 28, 2025) --- Two spacesuits, with the helmets covered for protection, are staged inside the International Space Station's Quest airlock in preparation for spacewalk that NASA astronauts Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore conducted on Jan. 30, 2025.
Apollo 17 astronaut Gene Cernan's custom training spacesuit (A7LB) on display at Kennedy Space Center.
The A7LB was a new moonwalking suit designed for longer duration J-series missions, starting with Apollo 15, in which three EVAs would be conducted and the lunar rover (LRV) would be used for the first time.
Space suit, helmet, and gloves worn by Dave Scott during the Apollo 15 lunar landing in July 1971. On display at the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C.
The dust you see on the suit is moondust.
Apollo 15 was fourth manned mission to the Moon. It was designed to last a lot longer than previous stays on the Moon, so that additional scientific experiments could be conducted. The mission began on July 26, 1971, and concluded on August 7.
Commander David Scott and Lunar Module Pilot James Irwin landed the Lunar Module "Falcon" on the Moon, and spent three days there. This included 18.5 hours outside the LM. This was the first mission to not land on a "mare" (the so-called "lunar seas", or flat and smooth plains of basaltic lava). Instead, Apollo 15 landed near Hadley rille near Palus Putredinus (the Marsh of Decay). The crew explored the area using the Lunar Rover. Pilot Alfred Worden flew the Command Module "Endeavor" in orbit above the Moon, conducting numerous science experiments and even deploying a satellite in lunar orbit.
The spacesuit worn on Apollo 15 was a new design. Previous Apollo flights featured a suit with the life support, cooling, and communications connections in front in two parallel rows of three. The Apollo 15 "A7L-B" suit, however, placed these in triangular pairs. The zipper was also redesigned. The old zipper went up-and-down. But the new zipper went from the right shoulder to the left hip, and included a waist joint. This meant the astronauts could actually bend over for the first time, and sit on the Lunar Rover. Upgraded backpacks also permitted more time spent outside the LM.
Worden also wore a new spacesuit. While orbiting the Moon, he wore a three-connector suit. But Worden was scheduled to make a spacewalk during the flight home from the Moon. This suit had five connections (not six, since there was no need for liquid cooling). During his spacewalk, he retrieved film cartridges from an experiment on the exterior of the spacecraft.
Packed with the life suport components.
To see the rest of the LEGO spacesuit, please visit the LEGO website. Please vote (blue Support button) for this project! 10k supports will make it a real lego set.
ideas.lego.com/projects/4b24ba08-2d51-4709-80c2-3469be59c292
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ISS031-E-122199 (14 June 2012 --- A NASA extravehicular mobility unit (EMU) spacesuit is seen in the crew lock of the International Space Station's Quest airlock, as photographed by one of the Expedition 31 crew members on June 14, 2012. The next time a human being will be wearing an EMU outside the station is scheduled to come sometime in August.
Alexei Arkhipovich Leonov (Russian: Алексе́й Архи́пович Лео́нов, IPA: [ɐlʲɪˈksʲej ɐˈrxʲipəvʲɪtɕ lʲɪˈonəf]; born 30 May 1934) is a retired Soviet/Russian cosmonaut, Air Force Major general, writer and artist. On 18 March 1965, he became the first human to conduct extravehicular activity (EVA), exiting the capsule during the Voskhod 2 mission for a 12-minute spacewalk.
In July 1975, Leonov commanded the Soyuz capsule in the Soyuz-Apollo mission, which docked in space for two days with an American Apollo capsule.
Contents
1 Biography
2 Honours and awards
3 Legacy
4 References
5 Notes
6 See also
7 External links
Biography
Alexei Leonov (left, back row) with fellow cosmonauts in 1965
Leonov was born in Listvyanka, West Siberian Krai, Soviet Union. In 1936, his father Arkhip was arrested and declared an "enemy of the people". Leonov wrote in his autobiography: "He was not alone: many were being arrested. It was part of a conscientious drive by the authorities to eradicate anyone who showed too much independence or strength of character. These were the years of Stalin's purges. Many disappeared into remote gulags and were never seen again." In 1948 his family moved to Kaliningrad. In 1957 Leonov graduated from Chuguev military pilot's academy in the Ukrainian SSR.[1]
He was one of the 20 Soviet Air Force pilots selected to be part of the first cosmonaut group in 1960. Leonov was a member of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (the only cosmonaut that was not was Konstantin Feoktistov). His walk in space was originally to have taken place on the Voskhod 1 mission, but this was cancelled, and the historic event happened on the Voskhod 2 flight instead.[2] He was outside the spacecraft for 12 minutes and nine seconds on 18 March 1965, connected to the craft by a 5.35-metre (17.6 ft) tether. At the end of the spacewalk, Leonov's spacesuit had inflated in the vacuum of space to the point where he could not re-enter the airlock. He opened a valve to allow some of the suit's pressure to bleed off and was barely able to get back inside the capsule.[3] Leonov had spent eighteen months undergoing intensive weightlessness training for the mission. Leonov is the last survivor of the five cosmonauts in the Voskhod programme.
In 1968, Leonov was selected to be commander of a circumlunar Soyuz 7K-L1 flight. This was cancelled because of delays in achieving a reliable circumlunar flight (only the later Zond 7 and Zond 8 members of the programme were successful) and the Apollo 8 mission had already achieved that step in the Space Race. He was also selected to be the first Soviet person to land on the Moon, aboard the LOK/N1 spacecraft.[2] This project was also cancelled. (The design required a spacewalk between lunar vehicles, something that contributed to his selection.) Leonov was to have been commander of the 1971 Soyuz 11 mission to Salyut 1, the first crewed space station, but his crew was replaced with the backup after one of the members, cosmonaut Valery Kubasov, was suspected to have contracted tuberculosis (the other member was Pyotr Kolodin).[citation needed]
Leonov was to have commanded the next mission to Salyut 1,[4] but this was scrapped after the deaths of the Soyuz 11 crew members, and the space station was lost. The next two Salyuts (actually the military Almaz station) were lost at launch or failed soon after, and Leonov's crew stood by. By the time Salyut 4 reached orbit, Leonov had been switched to a more prestigious project.
Leonov's second trip into space was similarly significant: he commanded the Soviet half of the 1975 Apollo-Soyuz mission – Soyuz 19 – the first joint space mission between the Soviet Union and the United States.
From 1976 to 1982, Leonov was the commander of the cosmonaut team ("Chief Cosmonaut") and deputy director of the Yuri Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center, where he oversaw crew training. He also edited the cosmonaut newsletter Neptune. He retired in 1992.[2]
Leonov's painting Near the Moon (1967)
Leonov is an accomplished artist whose published books include albums of his artistic works and works he did in collaboration with his friend Andrei Sokolov. Leonov took coloured pencils and paper into space, where he sketched the Earth and drew portraits of the Apollo astronauts who flew with him during the Apollo–Soyuz Test Project.[4][5] Arthur C. Clarke wrote in his notes to 2010: Odyssey Two that, after a 1968 screening of 2001: A Space Odyssey, Leonov pointed out to him that the alignment of the Moon, Earth, and Sun shown in the opening is essentially the same as that in Leonov's 1967 painting Near the Moon, although the painting's diagonal framing of the scene was not replicated in the film. Clarke kept an autographed sketch of this painting—which Leonov made after the screening—hanging on his office wall.[6]
Together with Valentin Selivanov, Leonov wrote the script for the 1980 science fiction film The Orion Loop.
In 2001, he was a vice president of Moscow-based Alfa-Bank and an adviser to the first deputy of the Board.[7]
In 2004, Leonov and former American astronaut David Scott began work on a dual biography/history of the Space Race between the United States and the Soviet Union. Titled Two Sides of the Moon: Our Story of the Cold War Space Race, it was published in 2006. Neil Armstrong and Tom Hanks both wrote introductions to the book.
Leonov was also a contributor to the 2007 book Into That Silent Sea by Colin Burgess and Francis French, which describes his life and career in space exploration.
Honours and awards
Alexei Leonov on 1965 USSR 10 kopek stamp.
Twice Hero of the Soviet Union (23 March 1965; 22 July 1975)[2]
Pilot-Cosmonaut of the USSR (1966)[2]
Order for Merit to the Fatherland, 4th class (2 March 2000) - for his contribution to the state in the development of manned space flight
Order of Friendship (12 April 2011) - for outstanding contribution to the development of the national manned space flight and many years of fruitful social activities
Two Orders of Lenin
Order of the Red Star
Order for Service to the Homeland in the Armed Forces of the USSR, 3rd class
Jubilee Medal "Twenty Years of Victory in the Great Patriotic War 1941-1945"
Jubilee Medal "40 Years of the Armed Forces of the USSR"
Jubilee Medal "50 Years of the Armed Forces of the USSR"
Jubilee Medal "60 Years of the Armed Forces of the USSR"
Jubilee Medal "70 Years of the Armed Forces of the USSR"
Medal "Veteran of the Armed Forces of the USSR"
Medals "For Impeccable Service", 1st, 2nd and 3rd classes
USSR State Prize (1981) (with AV Filipchenko)
Lenin Komsomol Prize (1979) - for the book-album Man and the Universe (with AK Sokolov)
Honoured Master of Sport of the USSR (1965)
Foreign awards
Hero of Socialist Labour (People's Republic of Bulgaria, 1965)
Hero of Vietnam
Hero of Labour (Democratic Republic of Vietnam, 1966)
Order of Karl Marx (German Democratic Republic, 1966)
Order of Georgi Dimitrov (People's Republic of Bulgaria)
Order of the Banner of the Hungarian People's Republic
Order of Merit, 3rd class (Ukraine, 12 April 2011) - for his significant personal contribution to the development of space industry, advances in the creation and implementation of space systems and technologies, professional excellence
Medal A. Becker.
Order "For Merit", 1st class (Syria, 1966)
Public organizations
"Gold Medal partisan" (Italy, 1967)
the five crew members of ASTP sitting around a miniature model of their spacecraft
Apollo-Soyuz crew in 1975
International Air & Space Hall of Fame inductee (2000)[8]
Ludwig Nobel Prize (2007)
Elmer A. Sperry Award (USA, 2008)
Order of Saint Constantine the Great (Union of the Golden Knights of the Order of St. Constantine the Great)
Order "Golden Star" (Foundation Heroes of the Soviet Union and Heroes of the Russian Federation together with the organizing committee of the International Forum "The potential of the nation").
Order the "Pride of Russia" (Foundation for the "Pride of the Fatherland", 2007).
National Award "To the glory of the Fatherland" in the "Glory to Russia" (International Academy of Social Sciences and International Academy of patronage, 2008).
Order "the glory of the Fatherland", 2nd class (2008)
Leonov was awarded the Gold Space Medal from the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale (FAI) in 1976. FAI created an exception which allowed Stafford to be awarded it alongside him; typically the award is restricted to one person per year.[9]
Other awards and titles
Honorary Citizen of: Belgorod, Vologda, Kaliningrad, Kaluga, Kemerovo, Nalchik, Perm; Arkalyk (Kazakhstan), Kremenchug (Ukraine), Veliko Tarnovo, Vidin, Svishtov (Bulgaria), Usti nad Labem (Czech Republic), San Antonio (Chile)
Reward edged weapon — a nominal officer Dirk "Alexei Leonov"
Commander of the Order of St. Anne III degree from the head of the Russian Imperial House Maria Vladimirovna Romanova (2008)
Commander of the Order of St. Anne II degree from the head of the Russian Imperial House Maria Vladimirovna Romanova (2011)
Honorary Member of the Russian Academy of Fine Arts
Legacy
Alexei Leonov (right) shares a moment with Anton Shkaplerov (left) in October 2011.
A crater on the far side of the Moon was named after Leonov in 1970,[10] near Mare Moscoviense (Sea of Moscow).
Arthur C. Clarke's novel 2010: Odyssey Two was dedicated to Leonov and Andrei Sakharov; and the fictional spaceship in the book, the Cosmonaut Alexei Leonov, was named after him.
Leonov wore a Russian Poljot "FMWF Strela" watch (a transliteration of СТРЕЛА, which actually means "Arrow") chronograph during his historic first space walk.
At an Apollo-Soyuz Test Project press conference, Leonov stated (in English) that, while in the United States for ASTP training, he wanted to visit Hollywood, because he had aspirations of being a movie star. (He then joked, "I don't want [to be a movie star] ... Tom Stafford want!")
Leonov, along with Rusty Schweickart, Vitaly Sevastyanov, and Georgi Grechko established the Association of Space Explorers in 1984. Membership is open to all people who have flown in outer space.
In the Star Trek novel Destiny: Gods of Night there is a ship named the U.S.S. Alexei Leonov, which is sacrificed to save the planet Korvat from the Borg.
Leonov is featured as a character in the 2013 Doctor Who comic book story "Space Oddity", published by IDW Publishing.
The film The Age of Pioneers (2017) is based on Leonov's account about the Voskhod-2 mission. Leonov was portrayed by Evgeny Mironov.
The song "E.V.A" by Public Service Broadcasting on their 2015 album The Race for Space references Leonov becoming the first man to undertake Extra-Vehicular Activity in space.
| Driver: Sebastien Buemi| Team: Nissan e.dams| Number: 23| Car: IM02| | Photographer: Shivraj Gohil| Event: Marrakesh E-Prix| Circuit: Circuit International Automobile Mouley el Hassan| Location: Marrakesh| Series: FIA Formula E| Season: 2019-2020| Country: Morocco|| Session: Race|
This is a spacesuit worn by one of the Gemini astronauts (Borman). The Intrepid supported Gemini splashdowns and was one of the ships that played a role in the space program.
| Team: Nissan e.dams| Car: IM02|| Photographer: Shivraj Gohil| Event: Ad Diriyah E-Prix| Circuit: Ad Diriyah Circuit| Location: Riyadh| Series: FIA Formula E| Season: 2019-2020| Country: SA|
| Driver: Oliver Rowland| Team: Nissan e.dams| Number: 22| Car: IM02|| Photographer: Shivraj Gohil| Event: Ad Diriyah E-Prix| Circuit: Ad Diriyah Circuit| Location: Riyadh| Series: FIA Formula E| Season: 2019-2020| Country: SA|
The United States Astronaut Hall of Fame, located inside the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex Heroes & Legends building on Merritt Island, Florida, honors American astronauts and features the world's largest collection of their personal memorabilia, focusing on those astronauts who have been inducted into the Hall. Exhibits include Wally Schirra's Sigma 7 space capsule from the fifth crewed Mercury mission and the Gemini IX spacecraft flown by Gene Cernan and Thomas P. Stafford in 1966.
In the 1980s, the six then-surviving Mercury Seven astronauts conceived of establishing a place where US space travelers could be remembered and honored, along the lines of halls of fame for other fields. The Mercury Seven Foundation and Astronaut Scholarship Foundation were formed, and have a role in the ongoing operations of the Hall of Fame. The foundation's first executive director was former Associated Press space reporter Howard Benedict.
The Astronaut Hall of Fame was opened on October 29, 1990, by the U.S. Space Camp Foundation, which was the first owner of the facility. It was located next to the Florida branch of Space Camp.
The Hall of Fame closed for several months in 2002 when U.S. Space Camp Foundation's creditors foreclosed on the property due to low attendance and mounting debt. That September, an auction was held and the property was purchased by Delaware North Park Services on behalf of NASA and the property was added to the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex. The Hall of Fame re-opened December 14, 2002.
The Hall of Fame, which was originally located just west of the NASA Causeway, closed to the public on November 2, 2015, in preparation for its relocation to the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex 6 miles (9.7 km) to the east on Merritt Island. Outside of the original building was a full-scale replica of a Space Shuttle orbiter named Inspiration (originally named "Shuttle To Tomorrow" where visitors could enter and view a program). Inspiration served only as an outdoor, full scale, static display which visitors could not enter. After the Hall of Fame was transferred to the KSC Visitor Complex, Inspiration was acquired by LVX System and was placed in storage at the Shuttle Landing Facility at the Kennedy Space Center; in 2016, the shuttle was loaded on to a barge to be taken for refurbishment before going on an educational tour.
The building was purchased at auction by visitor complex operator Delaware North and renamed the ATX Center, and for a time housed educational programs including Camp Kennedy Space Center and the Astronaut Training Experience. Those programs have since been moved to the KSC Visitor Complex, and as of December 2019, the structure was being offered for lease. In July 2020, Lockheed Martin announced it would lease the building to support work on the NASA Orion crew capsule.
Inductees into the Hall of Fame are selected by a blue ribbon committee of former NASA officials and flight controllers, historians, journalists, and other space authorities (including former astronauts) based on their accomplishments in space or their contributions to the advancement of space exploration. Except for 2002, inductions have been held every year since 2001.
As its inaugural class in 1990, the Hall of Fame inducted the United States' original group of astronauts: the Mercury Seven. In addition to being the first American astronauts, they set several firsts in American spaceflight, both auspicious and tragic. Alan Shepard was the first American in space and later became one of the twelve people to walk on the Moon. John Glenn was the first American to orbit the Earth and after his induction went on, in 1998, to become the oldest man to fly in space, aged 77. Gus Grissom was the first American to fly in space twice and was the commander of the ill-fated Apollo 1, which resulted in the first astronaut deaths directly related to preparation for spaceflight.
Thirteen astronauts from the Gemini and Apollo programs were inducted in the second class of 1993. This class included the first and last humans to walk on the Moon, Neil Armstrong and Eugene Cernan; Ed White, the first American to walk in space (also killed in the Apollo 1 accident); Jim Lovell, commander of the famously near-tragic Apollo 13; and John Young, whose six flights included a moonwalk and command of the first Space Shuttle mission.
The third class was inducted in 1997 and consisted of the 24 additional Apollo, Skylab, and ASTP astronauts. Notable members of the class were Roger Chaffee, the third astronaut killed in the Apollo 1 fire and the only unflown astronaut in the Hall; Harrison Schmitt, the first scientist and next-to-last person to walk on the Moon; and Jack Swigert and Fred Haise, the Apollo 13 crewmembers not previously inducted.
The philosophy regarding the first three groups of inductees was that all astronauts who flew in NASA's "pioneering" programs (which would include Mercury, Gemini, Apollo, Apollo Applications Program (Skylab), and Apollo-Soyuz Test Project) would be included simply by virtue of their participation in a spaceflight in these early programs. The first group (the inaugural class of 1990) would only include the original Mercury astronauts (most of whom would go on to fly in later programs). The second group of inductees would include those astronauts who began their spaceflight careers during Gemini (all of whom would go on to fly in later programs). The third group of inductees would include those astronauts who began their spaceflight careers during Apollo, Skylab, and ASTP (some of whom would go on to fly in the Space Shuttle program). Since it would not be practical (or meaningful) to induct all astronauts who ever flew in space, all subsequent inductees (Space Shuttle program and beyond) are considered based on their accomplishments and contributions to the human spaceflight endeavor which would set them apart from their peers.
Over four dozen astronauts from the Space Shuttle program have been inducted since 2001. Among these are Sally Ride, the first American woman in space; Story Musgrave, who flew six missions in the 1980s and 90s; and Francis Scobee, commander of the ill-fated final Challenger mission.
The 2010 class consisted of Guion Bluford Jr., Kenneth Bowersox, Frank Culbertson and Kathryn Thornton. The 2011 inductees were Karol Bobko and Susan Helms. The 2012 inductees were Franklin Chang-Diaz, Kevin Chilton and Charles Precourt. Bonnie Dunbar, Curt Brown and Eileen Collins were inducted in 2013, and Shannon Lucid and Jerry Ross comprised the 2014 class.
Those inducted in 2015 were John Grunsfeld, Steven Lindsey, Kent Rominger, and Rhea Seddon. In 2016, inductees included Brian Duffy and Scott E. Parazynski. Ellen Ochoa and Michael Foale were announced as the 2017 class of the United States Astronaut Hall of Fame. Scott Altman and Thomas Jones followed in 2018. The 2019 inductees were James Buchli and Janet L. Kavandi.
Michael López-Alegría, Scott Kelly and Pamela Melroy were the 2020 inductees, inducted in a November 2021 ceremony. The 2022 inductees were Christopher Ferguson, David Leestma, and Sandra Magnus. Roy Bridges Jr. and Mark Kelly were the 2023 inductees.
The Hall of Heroes is composed of tributes to the inductees. Among the Hall of Fame's displays is Sigma 7, the Mercury spacecraft piloted by Wally Schirra which orbited the Earth six times in 1962, and the Gemini 9A capsule flown by Gene Cernan and Thomas P. Stafford in 1966. An Astronaut Adventure room includes simulators for use by children.
The spacesuit worn by Gus Grissom during his 1961 Liberty Bell 7 Mercury flight is on display and has been the subject of a dispute between NASA and Grissom's heirs and supporters since 2002. The spacesuit, along with other Grissom artifacts, were loaned to the original owners of the Hall of Fame by the Grissom family when it opened. After the Hall of Fame went into bankruptcy and was taken over by a NASA contractor in 2002, the family requested that all their items be returned. All of the items were returned to Grissom's family except the spacesuit, because both NASA and the Grissoms claim ownership of it. NASA claims Grissom checked out the spacesuit for a show and tell at his son's school, and then never returned it, while the Grissoms claim Gus rescued the spacesuit from a scrap heap.
The John F. Kennedy Space Center (KSC, originally known as the NASA Launch Operations Center), located on Merritt Island, Florida, is one of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's (NASA) ten field centers. Since December 1968, KSC has been NASA's primary launch center of human spaceflight. Launch operations for the Apollo, Skylab and Space Shuttle programs were carried out from Kennedy Space Center Launch Complex 39 and managed by KSC.[4] Located on the east coast of Florida, KSC is adjacent to Cape Canaveral Space Force Station (CCSFS). The management of the two entities work very closely together, share resources and operate facilities on each other's property.
Though the first Apollo flights and all Project Mercury and Project Gemini flights took off from the then-Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, the launches were managed by KSC and its previous organization, the Launch Operations Directorate. Starting with the fourth Gemini mission, the NASA launch control center in Florida (Mercury Control Center, later the Launch Control Center) began handing off control of the vehicle to the Mission Control Center in Houston, shortly after liftoff; in prior missions it held control throughout the entire mission.
Additionally, the center manages launch of robotic and commercial crew missions and researches food production and In-Situ Resource Utilization for off-Earth exploration. Since 2010, the center has worked to become a multi-user spaceport through industry partnerships, even adding a new launch pad (LC-39C) in 2015.
There are about 700 facilities and buildings grouped across the center's 144,000 acres (580 km2). Among the unique facilities at KSC are the 525-foot (160 m) tall Vehicle Assembly Building for stacking NASA's largest rockets, the Launch Control Center, which conducts space launches at KSC, the Operations and Checkout Building, which houses the astronauts dormitories and suit-up area, a Space Station factory, and a 3-mile (4.8 km) long Shuttle Landing Facility. There is also a Visitor Complex open to the public on site.
Since 1949, the military had been performing launch operations at what would become Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. In December 1959, the Department of Defense transferred 5,000 personnel and the Missile Firing Laboratory to NASA to become the Launch Operations Directorate under NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center.
President John F. Kennedy's 1961 goal of a crewed lunar landing by 1970 required an expansion of launch operations. On July 1, 1962, the Launch Operations Directorate was separated from MSFC to become the Launch Operations Center (LOC). Also, Cape Canaveral was inadequate to host the new launch facility design required for the mammoth 363-foot (111 m) tall, 7,500,000-pound-force (33,000 kN) thrust Saturn V rocket, which would be assembled vertically in a large hangar and transported on a mobile platform to one of several launch pads. Therefore, the decision was made to build a new LOC site located adjacent to Cape Canaveral on Merritt Island.
NASA began land acquisition in 1962, buying title to 131 square miles (340 km2) and negotiating with the state of Florida for an additional 87 square miles (230 km2). The major buildings in KSC's Industrial Area were designed by architect Charles Luckman. Construction began in November 1962, and Kennedy visited the site twice in 1962, and again just a week before his assassination on November 22, 1963.
On November 29, 1963, the facility was given its current name by President Lyndon B. Johnson under Executive Order 11129. Johnson's order joined both the civilian LOC and the military Cape Canaveral station ("the facilities of Station No. 1 of the Atlantic Missile Range") under the designation "John F. Kennedy Space Center", spawning some confusion joining the two in the public mind. NASA Administrator James E. Webb clarified this by issuing a directive stating the Kennedy Space Center name applied only to the LOC, while the Air Force issued a general order renaming the military launch site Cape Kennedy Air Force Station.
Located on Merritt Island, Florida, the center is north-northwest of Cape Canaveral on the Atlantic Ocean, midway between Miami and Jacksonville on Florida's Space Coast, due east of Orlando. It is 34 miles (55 km) long and roughly six miles (9.7 km) wide, covering 219 square miles (570 km2). KSC is a major central Florida tourist destination and is approximately one hour's drive from the Orlando area. The Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex offers public tours of the center and Cape Canaveral Space Force Station.
The KSC Industrial Area, where many of the center's support facilities are located, is 5 miles (8 km) south of LC-39. It includes the Headquarters Building, the Operations and Checkout Building and the Central Instrumentation Facility. The astronaut crew quarters are in the O&C; before it was completed, the astronaut crew quarters were located in Hangar S[39] at the Cape Canaveral Missile Test Annex (now Cape Canaveral Space Force Station). Located at KSC was the Merritt Island Spaceflight Tracking and Data Network station (MILA), a key radio communications and spacecraft tracking complex.
Facilities at the Kennedy Space Center are directly related to its mission to launch and recover missions. Facilities are available to prepare and maintain spacecraft and payloads for flight. The Headquarters (HQ) Building houses offices for the Center Director, library, film and photo archives, a print shop and security. When the KSC Library first opened, it was part of the Army Ballistic Missile Agency. However, in 1965, the library moved into three separate sections in the newly opened NASA headquarters before eventually becoming a single unit in 1970. The library contains over four million items related to the history and the work at Kennedy. As one of ten NASA center libraries in the country, their collection focuses on engineering, science, and technology. The archives contain planning documents, film reels, and original photographs covering the history of KSC. The library is not open to the public but is available for KSC, Space Force, and Navy employees who work on site. Many of the media items from the collection are digitized and available through NASA's KSC Media Gallery or through their more up-to-date Flickr gallery.
A new Headquarters Building was completed in 2019 as part of the Central Campus consolidation. Groundbreaking began in 2014.
The center operated its own 17-mile (27 km) short-line railroad. This operation was discontinued in 2015, with the sale of its final two locomotives. A third had already been donated to a museum. The line was costing $1.3 million annually to maintain.
The Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex, operated by Delaware North since 1995, has a variety of exhibits, artifacts, displays and attractions on the history and future of human and robotic spaceflight. Bus tours of KSC originate from here. The complex also includes the separate Apollo/Saturn V Center, north of the VAB and the United States Astronaut Hall of Fame, six miles west near Titusville. There were 1.5 million visitors in 2009. It had some 700 employees.
It was announced on May 29, 2015, that the Astronaut Hall of Fame exhibit would be moved from its current location to another location within the Visitor Complex to make room for an upcoming high-tech attraction entitled "Heroes and Legends". The attraction, designed by Orlando-based design firm Falcon's Treehouse, opened November 11, 2016.
In March 2016, the visitor center unveiled the new location of the iconic countdown clock at the complex's entrance; previously, the clock was located with a flagpole at the press site. The clock was originally built and installed in 1969 and listed with the flagpole in the National Register of Historic Places in January 2000. In 2019, NASA celebrated the 50th anniversary of the Apollo program, and the launch of Apollo 10 on May 18. In summer of 2019, Lunar Module 9 (LM-9) was relocated to the Apollo/Saturn V Center as part of an initiative to rededicate the center and celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Apollo Program.
The John F. Kennedy Space Center (KSC, originally known as the NASA Launch Operations Center), located on Merritt Island, Florida, is one of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's (NASA) ten field centers. Since December 1968, KSC has been NASA's primary launch center of American spaceflight, research, and technology. Launch operations for the Apollo, Skylab and Space Shuttle programs were carried out from Kennedy Space Center Launch Complex 39 and managed by KSC. Located on the east coast of Florida, KSC is adjacent to Cape Canaveral Space Force Station (CCSFS). The management of the two entities work very closely together, share resources and operate facilities on each other's property.
Though the first Apollo flights and all Project Mercury and Project Gemini flights took off from the then-Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, the launches were managed by KSC and its previous organization, the Launch Operations Directorate. Starting with the fourth Gemini mission, the NASA launch control center in Florida (Mercury Control Center, later the Launch Control Center) began handing off control of the vehicle to the Mission Control Center in Houston, shortly after liftoff; in prior missions it held control throughout the entire mission.
Additionally, the center manages launch of robotic and commercial crew missions and researches food production and in-situ resource utilization for off-Earth exploration. Since 2010, the center has worked to become a multi-user spaceport through industry partnerships, even adding a new launch pad (LC-39C) in 2015.
There are about 700 facilities and buildings grouped throughout the center's 144,000 acres (580 km2). Among the unique facilities at KSC are the 525-foot (160 m) tall Vehicle Assembly Building for stacking NASA's largest rockets, the Launch Control Center, which conducts space launches at KSC, the Operations and Checkout Building, which houses the astronauts dormitories and suit-up area, a Space Station factory, and a 3-mile (4.8 km) long Shuttle Landing Facility. There is also a Visitor Complex on site that is open to the public.
Since 1949, the military had been performing launch operations at what would become Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. In December 1959, the Department of Defense transferred 5,000 personnel and the Missile Firing Laboratory to NASA to become the Launch Operations Directorate under NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center.
President John F. Kennedy's 1961 goal of a crewed lunar landing by 1970 required an expansion of launch operations. On July 1, 1962, the Launch Operations Directorate was separated from MSFC to become the Launch Operations Center (LOC). Also, Cape Canaveral was inadequate to host the new launch facility design required for the mammoth 363-foot (111 m) tall, 7,500,000-pound-force (33,000 kN) thrust Saturn V rocket, which would be assembled vertically in a large hangar and transported on a mobile platform to one of several launch pads. Therefore, the decision was made to build a new LOC site located adjacent to Cape Canaveral on Merritt Island.
NASA began land acquisition in 1962, buying title to 131 square miles (340 km2) and negotiating with the state of Florida for an additional 87 square miles (230 km2). The major buildings in KSC's Industrial Area were designed by architect Charles Luckman. Construction began in November 1962, and Kennedy visited the site twice in 1962, and again just a week before his assassination on November 22, 1963.
On November 29, 1963, the facility was named by President Lyndon B. Johnson under Executive Order 11129. Johnson's order joined both the civilian LOC and the military Cape Canaveral station ("the facilities of Station No. 1 of the Atlantic Missile Range") under the designation "John F. Kennedy Space Center", spawning some confusion joining the two in the public mind. NASA Administrator James E. Webb clarified this by issuing a directive stating the Kennedy Space Center name applied only to the LOC, while the Air Force issued a general order renaming the military launch site Cape Kennedy Air Force Station.
Located on Merritt Island, Florida, the center is north-northwest of Cape Canaveral on the Atlantic Ocean, midway between Miami and Jacksonville on Florida's Space Coast, due east of Orlando. It is 34 miles (55 km) long and roughly six miles (9.7 km) wide, covering 219 square miles (570 km2). KSC is a major central Florida tourist destination and is approximately one hour's drive from the Orlando area. The Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex offers public tours of the center and Cape Canaveral Space Force Station.
From 1967 through 1973, there were 13 Saturn V launches, including the ten remaining Apollo missions after Apollo 7. The first of two uncrewed flights, Apollo 4 (Apollo-Saturn 501) on November 9, 1967, was also the first rocket launch from KSC. The Saturn V's first crewed launch on December 21, 1968, was Apollo 8's lunar orbiting mission. The next two missions tested the Lunar Module: Apollo 9 (Earth orbit) and Apollo 10 (lunar orbit). Apollo 11, launched from Pad A on July 16, 1969, made the first Moon landing on July 20. The Apollo 11 launch included crewmembers Neil Armstrong, Michael Collins, and Buzz Aldrin, and attracted a record-breaking 650 million television viewers. Apollo 12 followed four months later. From 1970 to 1972, the Apollo program concluded at KSC with the launches of missions 13 through 17.
On May 14, 1973, the last Saturn V launch put the Skylab space station in orbit from Pad 39A. By this time, the Cape Kennedy pads 34 and 37 used for the Saturn IB were decommissioned, so Pad 39B was modified to accommodate the Saturn IB, and used to launch three crewed missions to Skylab that year, as well as the final Apollo spacecraft for the Apollo–Soyuz Test Project in 1975.
As the Space Shuttle was being designed, NASA received proposals for building alternative launch-and-landing sites at locations other than KSC, which demanded study. KSC had important advantages, including its existing facilities; location on the Intracoastal Waterway; and its southern latitude, which gives a velocity advantage to missions launched in easterly near-equatorial orbits. Disadvantages included: its inability to safely launch military missions into polar orbit, since spent boosters would be likely to fall on the Carolinas or Cuba; corrosion from the salt air; and frequent cloudy or stormy weather. Although building a new site at White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico was seriously considered, NASA announced its decision in April 1972 to use KSC for the shuttle. Since the Shuttle could not be landed automatically or by remote control, the launch of Columbia on April 12, 1981 for its first orbital mission STS-1, was NASA's first crewed launch of a vehicle that had not been tested in prior uncrewed launches.
In 1976, the VAB's south parking area was the site of Third Century America, a science and technology display commemorating the U.S. Bicentennial. Concurrent with this event, the U.S. flag was painted on the south side of the VAB. During the late 1970s, LC-39 was reconfigured to support the Space Shuttle. Two Orbiter Processing Facilities were built near the VAB as hangars with a third added in the 1980s.
KSC's 2.9-mile (4.7 km) Shuttle Landing Facility (SLF) was the orbiters' primary end-of-mission landing site, although the first KSC landing did not take place until the tenth flight, when Challenger completed STS-41-B on February 11, 1984; the primary landing site until then was Edwards Air Force Base in California, subsequently used as a backup landing site. The SLF also provided a return-to-launch-site (RTLS) abort option, which was not utilized. The SLF is among the longest runways in the world.
On October 28, 2009, the Ares I-X launch from Pad 39B was the first uncrewed launch from KSC since the Skylab workshop in 1973.
Beginning in 1958, NASA and military worked side by side on robotic mission launches (previously referred to as unmanned), cooperating as they broke ground in the field. In the early 1960s, NASA had as many as two robotic mission launches a month. The frequent number of flights allowed for quick evolution of the vehicles, as engineers gathered data, learned from anomalies and implemented upgrades. In 1963, with the intent of KSC ELV work focusing on the ground support equipment and facilities, a separate Atlas/Centaur organization was formed under NASA's Lewis Center (now Glenn Research Center (GRC)), taking that responsibility from the Launch Operations Center (aka KSC).
Though almost all robotics missions launched from the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station (CCSFS), KSC "oversaw the final assembly and testing of rockets as they arrived at the Cape." In 1965, KSC's Unmanned Launch Operations directorate became responsible for all NASA uncrewed launch operations, including those at Vandenberg Space Force Base. From the 1950s to 1978, KSC chose the rocket and payload processing facilities for all robotic missions launching in the U.S., overseeing their near launch processing and checkout. In addition to government missions, KSC performed this service for commercial and foreign missions also, though non-U.S. government entities provided reimbursement. NASA also funded Cape Canaveral Space Force Station launch pad maintenance and launch vehicle improvements.
All this changed with the Commercial Space Launch Act of 1984, after which NASA only coordinated its own and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) ELV launches. Companies were able to "operate their own launch vehicles" and utilize NASA's launch facilities. Payload processing handled by private firms also started to occur outside of KSC. Reagan's 1988 space policy furthered the movement of this work from KSC to commercial companies. That same year, launch complexes on Cape Canaveral Air Force Force Station started transferring from NASA to Air Force Space Command management.
In the 1990s, though KSC was not performing the hands-on ELV work, engineers still maintained an understanding of ELVs and had contracts allowing them insight into the vehicles so they could provide knowledgeable oversight. KSC also worked on ELV research and analysis and the contractors were able to utilize KSC personnel as a resource for technical issues. KSC, with the payload and launch vehicle industries, developed advances in automation of the ELV launch and ground operations to enable competitiveness of U.S. rockets against the global market.
In 1998, the Launch Services Program (LSP) formed at KSC, pulling together programs (and personnel) that already existed at KSC, GRC, Goddard Space Flight Center, and more to manage the launch of NASA and NOAA robotic missions. Cape Canaveral Space Force Station and VAFB are the primary launch sites for LSP missions, though other sites are occasionally used. LSP payloads such as the Mars Science Laboratory have been processed at KSC before being transferred to a launch pad on Cape Canaveral Space Force Station.
On 16 November 2022, at 06:47:44 UTC the Space Launch System (SLS) was launched from Complex 39B as part of the Artemis 1 mission.
As the International Space Station modules design began in the early 1990s, KSC began to work with other NASA centers and international partners to prepare for processing before launch onboard the Space Shuttles. KSC utilized its hands-on experience processing the 22 Spacelab missions in the Operations and Checkout Building to gather expectations of ISS processing. These experiences were incorporated into the design of the Space Station Processing Facility (SSPF), which began construction in 1991. The Space Station Directorate formed in 1996. KSC personnel were embedded at station module factories for insight into their processes.
From 1997 to 2007, KSC planned and performed on the ground integration tests and checkouts of station modules: three Multi-Element Integration Testing (MEIT) sessions and the Integration Systems Test (IST). Numerous issues were found and corrected that would have been difficult to nearly impossible to do on-orbit.
Today KSC continues to process ISS payloads from across the world before launch along with developing its experiments for on orbit. The proposed Lunar Gateway would be manufactured and processed at the Space Station Processing Facility.
The following are current programs and initiatives at Kennedy Space Center:
Commercial Crew Program
Exploration Ground Systems Program
NASA is currently designing the next heavy launch vehicle known as the Space Launch System (SLS) for continuation of human spaceflight.
On December 5, 2014, NASA launched the first uncrewed flight test of the Orion Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle (MPCV), currently under development to facilitate human exploration of the Moon and Mars.
Launch Services Program
Educational Launch of Nanosatellites (ELaNa)
Research and Technology
Artemis program
Lunar Gateway
International Space Station Payloads
Camp KSC: educational camps for schoolchildren in spring and summer, with a focus on space, aviation and robotics.
The KSC Industrial Area, where many of the center's support facilities are located, is 5 miles (8 km) south of LC-39. It includes the Headquarters Building, the Operations and Checkout Building and the Central Instrumentation Facility. The astronaut crew quarters are in the O&C; before it was completed, the astronaut crew quarters were located in Hangar S at the Cape Canaveral Missile Test Annex (now Cape Canaveral Space Force Station). Located at KSC was the Merritt Island Spaceflight Tracking and Data Network station (MILA), a key radio communications and spacecraft tracking complex.
Facilities at the Kennedy Space Center are directly related to its mission to launch and recover missions. Facilities are available to prepare and maintain spacecraft and payloads for flight. The Headquarters (HQ) Building houses offices for the Center Director, library, film and photo archives, a print shop and security. When the KSC Library first opened, it was part of the Army Ballistic Missile Agency. However, in 1965, the library moved into three separate sections in the newly opened NASA headquarters before eventually becoming a single unit in 1970. The library contains over four million items related to the history and the work at Kennedy. As one of ten NASA center libraries in the country, their collection focuses on engineering, science, and technology. The archives contain planning documents, film reels, and original photographs covering the history of KSC. The library is not open to the public but is available for KSC, Space Force, and Navy employees who work on site. Many of the media items from the collection are digitized and available through NASA's KSC Media Gallery Archived December 6, 2020, at the Wayback Machine or through their more up-to-date Flickr gallery.
A new Headquarters Building was completed in 2019 as part of the Central Campus consolidation. Groundbreaking began in 2014.
The center operated its own 17-mile (27 km) short-line railroad. This operation was discontinued in 2015, with the sale of its final two locomotives. A third had already been donated to a museum. The line was costing $1.3 million annually to maintain.
The Neil Armstrong Operations and Checkout Building (O&C) (previously known as the Manned Spacecraft Operations Building) is a historic site on the U.S. National Register of Historic Places dating back to the 1960s and was used to receive, process, and integrate payloads for the Gemini and Apollo programs, the Skylab program in the 1970s, and for initial segments of the International Space Station through the 1990s. The Apollo and Space Shuttle astronauts would board the astronaut transfer van to launch complex 39 from the O&C building.
The three-story, 457,000-square-foot (42,500 m2) Space Station Processing Facility (SSPF) consists of two enormous processing bays, an airlock, operational control rooms, laboratories, logistics areas and office space for support of non-hazardous Space Station and Shuttle payloads to ISO 14644-1 class 5 standards. Opened in 1994, it is the largest factory building in the KSC industrial area.
The Vertical Processing Facility (VPF) features a 71-by-38-foot (22 by 12 m) door where payloads that are processed in the vertical position are brought in and manipulated with two overhead cranes and a hoist capable of lifting up to 35 short tons (32 t).
The Hypergolic Maintenance and Checkout Area (HMCA) comprises three buildings that are isolated from the rest of the industrial area because of the hazardous materials handled there. Hypergolic-fueled modules that made up the Space Shuttle Orbiter's reaction control system, orbital maneuvering system and auxiliary power units were stored and serviced in the HMCF.
The Multi-Payload Processing Facility is a 19,647 square feet (1,825.3 m2) building used for Orion spacecraft and payload processing.
The Payload Hazardous Servicing Facility (PHSF) contains a 70-by-110-foot (21 by 34 m) service bay, with a 100,000-pound (45,000 kg), 85-foot (26 m) hook height. It also contains a 58-by-80-foot (18 by 24 m) payload airlock. Its temperature is maintained at 70 °F (21 °C).[55]
The Blue Origin rocket manufacturing facility is located immediately south of the KSC visitor complex. Completed in 2019, it serves as the company's factory for the manufacture of New Glenn orbital rockets.
Launch Complex 39 (LC-39) was originally built for the Saturn V, the largest and most powerful operational launch vehicle until the Space Launch System, for the Apollo crewed Moon landing program. Since the end of the Apollo program in 1972, LC-39 has been used to launch every NASA human space flight, including Skylab (1973), the Apollo–Soyuz Test Project (1975), and the Space Shuttle program (1981–2011).
Since December 1968, all launch operations have been conducted from launch pads A and B at LC-39. Both pads are on the ocean, 3 miles (4.8 km) east of the VAB. From 1969 to 1972, LC-39 was the "Moonport" for all six Apollo crewed Moon landing missions using the Saturn V, and was used from 1981 to 2011 for all Space Shuttle launches.
Human missions to the Moon required the large three-stage Saturn V rocket, which was 363 feet (111 meters) tall and 33 feet (10 meters) in diameter. At KSC, Launch Complex 39 was built on Merritt Island to accommodate the new rocket. Construction of the $800 million project began in November 1962. LC-39 pads A and B were completed by October 1965 (planned Pads C, D and E were canceled), the VAB was completed in June 1965, and the infrastructure by late 1966.
The complex includes: the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB), a 130,000,000 cubic feet (3,700,000 m3) hangar capable of holding four Saturn Vs. The VAB was the largest structure in the world by volume when completed in 1965.
a transporter capable of carrying 5,440 tons along a crawlerway to either of two launch pads;
a 446-foot (136 m) mobile service structure, with three Mobile Launcher Platforms, each containing a fixed launch umbilical tower;
the Launch Control Center; and
a news media facility.
Launch Complex 48 (LC-48) is a multi-user launch site under construction for small launchers and spacecraft. It will be located between Launch Complex 39A and Space Launch Complex 41, with LC-39A to the north and SLC-41 to the south. LC-48 will be constructed as a "clean pad" to support multiple launch systems with differing propellant needs. While initially only planned to have a single pad, the complex is capable of being expanded to two at a later date.
As a part of promoting commercial space industry growth in the area and the overall center as a multi-user spaceport, KSC leases some of its properties. Here are some major examples:
Exploration Park to multiple users (partnership with Space Florida)
Shuttle Landing Facility to Space Florida (who contracts use to private companies)
Orbiter Processing Facility (OPF)-3 to Boeing (for CST-100 Starliner)
Launch Complex 39A, Launch Control Center Firing Room 4 and land for SpaceX's Roberts Road facility (Hanger X) to SpaceX
O&C High Bay to Lockheed Martin (for Orion processing)
Land for FPL's Space Coast Next Generation Solar Energy Center to Florida Power and Light (FPL)
Hypergolic Maintenance Facility (HMF) to United Paradyne Corporation (UPC)
The Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex, operated by Delaware North since 1995, has a variety of exhibits, artifacts, displays and attractions on the history and future of human and robotic spaceflight. Bus tours of KSC originate from here. The complex also includes the separate Apollo/Saturn V Center, north of the VAB and the United States Astronaut Hall of Fame, six miles west near Titusville. There were 1.5 million visitors in 2009. It had some 700 employees.
It was announced on May 29, 2015, that the Astronaut Hall of Fame exhibit would be moved from its current location to another location within the Visitor Complex to make room for an upcoming high-tech attraction entitled "Heroes and Legends". The attraction, designed by Orlando-based design firm Falcon's Treehouse, opened November 11, 2016.
In March 2016, the visitor center unveiled the new location of the iconic countdown clock at the complex's entrance; previously, the clock was located with a flagpole at the press site. The clock was originally built and installed in 1969 and listed with the flagpole in the National Register of Historic Places in January 2000. In 2019, NASA celebrated the 50th anniversary of the Apollo program, and the launch of Apollo 10 on May 18. In summer of 2019, Lunar Module 9 (LM-9) was relocated to the Apollo/Saturn V Center as part of an initiative to rededicate the center and celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Apollo Program.
Historic locations
NASA lists the following Historic Districts at KSC; each district has multiple associated facilities:
Launch Complex 39: Pad A Historic District
Launch Complex 39: Pad B Historic District
Shuttle Landing Facility (SLF) Area Historic District
Orbiter Processing Historic District
Solid Rocket Booster (SRB) Disassembly and Refurbishment Complex Historic District
NASA KSC Railroad System Historic District
NASA-owned Cape Canaveral Space Force Station Industrial Area Historic District
There are 24 historic properties outside of these historic districts, including the Space Shuttle Atlantis, Vehicle Assembly Building, Crawlerway, and Operations and Checkout Building.[71] KSC has one National Historic Landmark, 78 National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) listed or eligible sites, and 100 Archaeological Sites.
Further information: John F. Kennedy Space Center MPS
Other facilities
The Rotation, Processing and Surge Facility (RPSF) is responsible for the preparation of solid rocket booster segments for transportation to the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB). The RPSF was built in 1984 to perform SRB operations that had previously been conducted in high bays 2 and 4 of the VAB at the beginning of the Space Shuttle program. It was used until the Space Shuttle's retirement, and will be used in the future by the Space Launch System[75] (SLS) and OmegA rockets.
|Driver: Stoffel Vandoorne|Team: Mercedes-Benz EQ Formula E Team|Number: 5|Mercedes-Benz EQ Silver Arrow 02|Car: Spark SRT05e||Photographer: Shiv Gohil|Event: Mexico City ePrix|Circuit: Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez|Location: Mexico City|Series: FIA Formula E|Season: 2021-2022|Country: Mexico|Keyword: season 8|Keyword: season eight|Keyword: S8|Keyword: motorsport|Keyword: electric racing|Keyword: single seater|Keyword: open wheel|Keyword: 2022|Keyword: February|Keyword: round 3|Keyword: third round|
| Driver: Sebastien Buemi| Team: Nissan e.dams| Number: 23| Car: IM02| | Photographer: Shivraj Gohil| Event: Santiago E-Prix| Circuit: Parque O'Higgins| Location: Santiago| Series: FIA Formula E| Season: 2019-2020| Country: Chile|| Session: Race|
iss072e451640 (Jan. 9, 2025) --- NASA astronaut and Expedition 72 Flight Engineer Butch Wilmore (left) assists NASA astronaut Nick Hague (right) as he tries on and evaluates his spacesuit in a pressurized configuration aboard the International Space Station's Quest airlock. Hague is pictured holding a spacewalking camera in front of his spacesuit's helmet shield.
Engineers and technicians at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston are testing the spacesuit astronauts will wear in the agency’s Orion spacecraft on trips to deep space. On March 17, members of the Johnson team participated in a Vacuum Pressure Integrated Suit Test to verify enhancements to the suit will meet test and design standards for the Orion spacecraft. During this test, the suit is connected to life support systems and then air is removed from Johnson’s 11-foot thermal vacuum chamber to evaluate the performance of the suits in conditions similar to a spacecraft. The suit, known as the Modified Advanced Crew Escape Suit, is a closed-loop version of the launch and entry suits worn by space shuttle astronauts. The suit will contain all the necessary functions to support life and is being designed to enable spacewalks and sustain the crew in the unlikely event the spacecraft loses pressure. This is the first in a series of four tests with people in the suits to evaluate the performance of the spacesuit systems in an environment similar to a spacecraft. Learn more about where the suits are tested or track all of the latest news at www.nasa.gov/orion. Image Credit: NASA/ Bill Stafford via NASA ift.tt/1FINCK2
Kansas Cosmosphere
New Missions, New Needs
The first U.S. space suit, worn by the Mercury astronauts, served as a second line of defense in case the Mercury capsule's air leaked into space. America's second space suit, the Gemini G3C, had that same basic job, but also had to permit the astronaut to perform other tasks important to Gemini's goals. Most critical of these was allowing the astronaut to step outside of his spacecraft into the endless vacuum of space.
Displayed here is the G4C version of the Gemini G3C space suit worn by the Gemini pilots when their mission included a walk in space. This is the actual G4C suit worn by Michael Collins during his two space walks on Gemini X July 18-21, 1966.
Kansas Cosmosphere
New Missions, New Needs
The first U.S. space suit, worn by the Mercury astronauts, served as a second line of defense in case the Mercury capsule's air leaked into space. America's second space suit, the Gemini G3C, had that same basic job, but also had to permit the astronaut to perform other tasks important to Gemini's goals. Most critical of these was allowing the astronaut to step outside of his spacecraft into the endless vacuum of space.
Displayed here is the G4C version of the Gemini G3C space suit worn by the Gemini pilots when their mission included a walk in space. This is the actual G4C suit worn by Michael Collins during his two space walks on Gemini X July 18-21, 1966.
The Krechet-94 ("Gyrfalcon"), a lunar excursion spacesuit designed for use by cosmonauts of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. On display at the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C. Designed by Anatoli Stoklitskii of NPP Zvezda, it was developed in 1967. It was never used.
The suit was designed to be a man-carried space vehicle. It had 10 hours of oxygen and coolant, with a rigid aluminum upper torso, soft fabric limbs, and waist and hip joints. The shoulders and wrists had ball-bearing joints which allowed for 360 degree rotation. The inner fabric was gray nylon, and the insulation was honeycombed foil. The outer layer was a satin-weave fabric.
Cosmonauts entered the suit through a hatch in the back. The hatch could be opened from the inside by a lever near the right elbow. The hatch contained the life support elements (oxygen, etc.). A chest-mounted control and instrument panel folded out for use.
Cooling was not part of the Kretchet. This was supplied by a separate garment worn next to the skin.