America's SpaceportJohn F. Kennedy Space Center

"...this generation does notintend to founder in the backwashof the coming age of space. Wemean to be a part of it - we mean tolead it."

President John Fitzgerald KennedySeptember 12, 1962

Opposite page

Andreas NottebohmFirst Night Launch STS-8Acrylic

Paintings courtesy ofNASA Art Program

America's SpaceportJohn F. Kennedy Space Center

Origins

The John F. Kennedy Space Center . . .America’s Spaceport . . . is the doorway to outerspace. From its unique facilities, humans andmachines have begun the exploration of the solarsystem, reaching out to the Sun, the Moon, theplanets - and beyond. While these spectacularachievements have fired the imagination of peoplethroughout the world and enriched the lives ofmillions, they represent only a beginning. AtAmerica’s Spaceport, humanity’s long cherisheddream of establishing permanent outposts on thenew space frontier is becoming a reality.

Yet, our leap toward the stars is also an epilogueto a rich and colorful past . . . an almost forgottenlegacy replete with Indian lore, stalwart adventurers,sunken treasure and hardy pioneers. (For thesands of America’s Spaceport bear the imprint ofNew World history from its earliest beginnings.)

Long before people in modern times erectedsteel and concrete sentinels, the Spaceport wasinhabited by dusky-skinned hunters - the Paleopeoples - who crossed the continent from Asia byway of the frozen Bering Sea some 12,000 to20,000 years ago. When Columbus landed at SanSalvador (Bahamas) in the fifteenth century, theCape area was home to the fierce and often

cannibalistic Ais and Timucuan Indians. By themiddle 1800’s, these aboriginal tribes had virtuallydisappeared. They had become the victims ofinternal strife, conflict with the Europeans movinginto the area, and worst of all, new and deadlydiseases - some of them unwittingly brought by therecent arrivals and spread to an Indian populationwith no built-up immunities.

The early European explorers came in searchof territory, wealth, religious freedom, and even aFountain of Eternal Youth - first, the Spanish, thenthe French and later the English. Among theseadventurers were such notables as Juan Ponce deLeon, Hernando de Soto, Pedro Menendez deAviles, Jean Ribault and Amerigo Vespucci, dis-coverer of Cape Canaveral and after whom Americawas named.

The first launch from Cape Canav-eral — July 24, 1950. The modi-fied German V-2 rocket attainedan altitude of 10 miles. Note theprimitive facilities. A tarpapershack served as a blockhouse.The pad service structure wasmade from painters scaffolding.

During the centuries that followed, Florida,which sat astride the main sea route betweenEurope and the Gulf of Mexico, was bitterly con-tested by the European powers. Throughout thisswashbuckling era, America’s Spaceport remaineda virtual wilderness. But its coastal waters rever-berated to the sounds of musket and cannon aspirates and privateers preyed upon Spanish trea-sure ships laden with riches from the mines ofMexico and Peru. Shoals, reefs and storms alsoexacted their toll on the treasure fleets, leavingbehind a sunken bonanza now being reaped bymodern-day treasure hunters.

By the early eighteenth century, America’sSpaceport echoed to the footsteps of other intrud-ers - English settlers and their Indian allies (thelatter to become known as the Seminoles) fromcolonies in Georgia and South Carolina. Thusbegan a new era of conflict and expansion whichwould continue until the end of the Second U.S. -Seminole Indian War in 1842.

Against this backdrop, permanent settlementof the Spaceport area began. And in the yearsfollowing the American Civil War, small rural townsand communities sprang up along a 70-mile-longstretch of mainland, rivers and beaches later to

become known as Brevard County. The principalindustries were agriculture, fishing and tourism.

After World War II, however, another kind ofindustry took root in the area, one destined to bringexplosive growth and international stature. BrevardCounty, by virtue of its most prominent geographi-cal feature - Cape Canaveral - became the focalpoint of a new era of exploration, the Space Age.

The first step in the transformation began inOctober 1949, when President Harry S. Trumanestablished the Joint Long Range Proving Ground(currently known as the Eastern Range), a vastoverwater military rocket test range that now ex-tends 5,000 miles down the Atlantic from CapeCanaveral to Ascension Island.

The Cape was ideal for testing missiles. Virtu-ally uninhabited, it enabled personnel to inspect,fuel and launch missiles without danger to nearbycommunities. The area’s climate also permittedyear-round operations, and rockets could belaunched over water instead of populated areas.The first launch from the Cape was conducted bya military-civilian team on July 24, 1950. Therocket, a modified German V-2 with an attachedupper stage, attained an altitude of 10 miles.

Origins

Rocket pioneers Wernher von Braun and Kurt Debus atrollout of first Apollo/Saturn V from Vehicle AssemblyBuilding. Von Braun, then Director of the Marshall SpaceFlight Center, was responsible for design and devel-opment of the Saturn V. Debus, first Director of theKennedy Space Center, created the mobile concept oflaunch operations used at the Spaceport.

Perched atop a Juno I rocket, America’s first satellite,Explorer I, awaits launch on January 31, 1958. TheArmy-civilian launch team would form the nucleus of theKennedy Space Center.

By the late 1950’s, the military services hadelevated their sights from missile testing to launch-ing artificial satellites. On January 31, 1958,America’s (and the free-world’s) first satellite -Explorer I - was launched from Complex 26 atCape Canaveral by a military-civilian team of theArmy’s Missile Firing Laboratory. This group, un-der the direction of Kurt H. Debus, a key memberof the famed Wernher von Braun rocket team, laterformed the nucleus of the Kennedy Space Center.

With the creation of the National Aeronauticsand Space Administration (NASA) in October 1958,the nation turned its attention to the peacefulexploration of space. Cape Canaveral thunderedwith the sound of rockets carrying sophisticatedinstruments and payloads to explore mankind’snewest frontier. And soon, a new breed of pioneers- American astronauts - were soaring skywardfrom the Cape to take their first halting stepsbeyond the Earth.

But even as the first Americans ventured intospace, more ambitious undertakings were planned.In May 1961, President John F. Kennedy an-nounced that the U.S. would send men to the Moonand back by the end of the decade. The program,called Apollo, would require the largest rocket everbuilt - the 363-foot-tall Saturn V.

The steel framework of the Vehicle Assembly Building rises on Merritt Island during construction of America’sSpaceport. The structure at right is the Launch Control Center

The Cape, which had served so well up to now,was inadequate as a launch site for the monstrousvehicle, and an adjacent location was selected.Shortly afterwards, the first steel and concretestructures of America’s Spaceport sprouted fromthe marsh and scrublands of northern Merritt Is-land.

Concurrently, NASA’s Launch Operations Di-rectorate at Cape Canaveral, an element of thenewly formed Marshall Space Flight Center, waselevated to independent status in July 1962 andrenamed the Launch Operations Center. It wasrenamed the John F. Kennedy Space Center inNovember 1963, in honor of the slain president.

Five and a half years later, in July 1969, thefirst humans departed from the Spaceport’s LaunchComplex 39 to walk on the moon. Following comple-tion of the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project in 1975, thefacilities of the Spaceport were modified to supportthe nation’s newest launch vehicle - the reusableSpace Shuttle.

And so it is today. Kennedy Space Center . . .America’s Spaceport . . . has become the “gatewayto the universe,” home port for voyages of explora-tion undreamed of centuries ago - manned by menand women who, like their forebears, still dream ofdiscovering and settling new worlds.

Origins

Construction of Pad A at Spaceport’s Launch Complex39. The pad hardstand contains 68,000 cubic yards ofconcrete.

Mission

From Redstone to Saturn to Space Shuttle,from the time of the earliest scientific and applica-tions satellites to the threshold of the Space Sta-tion era, the Kennedy Space Center has been theprimary launch base for the nation’s manned andunmanned civilian space programs.

It is here, at America’s Spaceport, that thedreams and aspirations of space planners reachfruition - where the individual parts of a spacemission come together for the first time, to bemelded into a single, cohesive element and boostedinto space.

At Launch Complex 39, where Moon rocketswere once readied for flight, engineers and techni-cians prepare the reusable Space Shuttle formanned Earth-orbital missions. Unmanned mili-

tary and commercial rockets are processed andlaunched at complexes on nearby Cape Canav-eral, under the oversight of the U. S. Air Force.

Cargoes destined for space - whether aplanetary explorer to survey Jupiter and Saturn, acommunications satellite, or a military payload forthe Department of Defense - are assembled andtested in specially designed and equippedlaboratories.

Elements of the Spaceport team have alsoconducted launch operations for unmanned polar-orbiting missions from NASA facilities atVandenberg AFB at the Western Range inCalifornia.

Payloads, such as this automated scientific pallet to becarried into orbit by the Space Shuttle, are assembledand checked out in specially designed and equippedfacilities at the Spaceport.A Delta rocket lifts off from Complex 17, Cape Canav-

eral. The workhorse of the nation’s space program,Delta has orbited more scientific, weather and commu-nications satellites than all other vehicles of its classcombined.

The history of the Kennedy Space Center is achronicle of the Space Age, written in the blindingglare and thunder of rockets and space vehicles.Its distinguished record of achievement in thedevelopment and conduct of space vehicle check-out and launch operations is unmatched.

As the future unravels, the people and re-sources of America’s Spaceport will continue to bea major force in our nation’s effort to explore andutilize space for the benefit of all humanity.

The elements of a Space Shuttle vehicle are integratedin one of the cavernous high bays of the Vehicle Assem-bly Building at Complex 39. The platforms slide in and

out, allowing workers to reach all levels of the vehicle.The orbiter is in the foreground. Seen at the rear is thehuge external tank, bracketed by solid rocket boosters.

Mission

The men and women of the Kennedy SpaceCenter’s NASA/industry team are a very specialresource of the United States and the world. Theirskills and capabilities, many of which are foundonly at America’s Spaceport, have been utilized forevery American manned space flight to date.

Over the years, beginning in 1958, the Space-port team has launched more than 300 unmannedspace vehicles since 1958. These were primarilyDeltas, Atlas-Centaurs, Atlas-Agenas, and Titan-Centaurs. All these lifted off from NASA-operatedfacilities on Cape Canaveral Air ForceStation andVandenberg Air Force Base in California.

Every person who works at the Spaceport is amember of the team, even if their jobs are notdirectly involved with launch operations. Most ofthe hands-on work is performed by contractors.The Center has a government workforce (in roundnumbers) of about 1,800 KSC Civil Serviceemployees, plus more than 35 resident NASApersonnel from other Centers. There are about12,000 contractor employees. (These numbers

can fluctuate, depending on the programs andresponsibilities assigned to the Center.) The largestcontractor organization handles Shuttle processingand launch operations, as well as astronaut trainingand mission operations at the Johnson SpaceCenter. At KSC this includes everything fromrepairing Shuttle orbiter tiles to recovering thesolid rocket boosters at sea to refurbishing theSpace Shuttle Main Engines for their next flight.

The second largest contractor at KSC supportsthe facility itself, providing upkeep and maintenancefor the buildings and grounds, and operating thesupport computers and electrical, mechanical,painting, rigging, and other shops. The third major

People and Facilities

contractor is involved with the complicated processof preparing their spacecraft and other payloadsfor launch. Several other firms provide variousoperational, support and housekeeping functions.

Some of the more unusual facilities in whichpeople work are the giant Vehicle Assembly Build-ing, one of the largest enclosed structures in theworld; the Orbiter Processing Facility, filled withcomplicated equipment used to prepare Shuttleorbiters for flight; Pads 39A and 39B, from whichShuttles lift off; NASA-operated Space Shuttlesupport and spacecraft checkout facilities on bothKSC and Cape Canaveral; and a host of other

processing and support facilities. Some of thebuildings on both the Cape and KSC are especiallydesigned for spacecraft assembly and checkout,and others for hazardous work such as installingexplosive ordnance and loading propellants.

The heart of the Kennedy Space Center is itsengineering work force, both contractor and NASA.People with electrical, mechanical, electronic andcomputer engineering degrees have the neces-sary background to begin work here. After that, itmay take years to learn some of the more unusualfunctions of their jobs.

Members of the NASA-industry launch team conductingcountdown operations in the blockhouse at Complex 36,Cape Canaveral. This was an Atlas-Centaur launch,which placed a military communications satellite intoorbit.

Spaceport workers are dwarfed by the massive tracks ofa crawler-transporter as it carries a mobile launcherplatform and a Space Shuttle vehicle (not visible atop theplatform) from the Vehicle Assembly Building to thelaunch pad. Space Shuttle launch operations requireexperience and skills found nowhere else in the world.

Many Spaceport professionals deal with moreroutine matters, such as designing and overseeingthe construction of office or supply buildings, set-ting up and operating computer systems, or per-forming materials and structures tests.

The engineering departments do their workalong with other groups that might be found at anyindustrial facility. Logistics personnel order sup-plies and keep them available in warehouses.Another organization operates a facility-wide bussystem and supplies vehicles for local use. Writingand graphics departments produce a variety ofpublications, which are printed on site. A janitorialforce keeps the facilities clean. A guard forceprovides security.

The diversity of occupations and the pioneer-ing thrust of America’s Spaceport make it a specialplace to work. Watching a rocket blaze a fiery trailinto the sky, hearing the thunder of its passage, isa fringe benefit not available to many elsewhere.

Readying a Space Shuttle or-biter for flight is an exactingjob. Here, workers inspect thetiled underside of the orbiterDiscovery during checkout andrefurbishment operations in-side the Orbiter ProcessingFacility.

A Shuttle remote manipulator arm undergoes testing byengineers and technicians inside one of the Spaceport’sclean rooms before being installed in the cargo bay of anorbiter. The mechanism, built in Canada, helps astro-naut crews handle payloads in space.

People and Facilities

Human Space Flight - The First Era

On October 7, 1958, just six days after NASAwas formally organized out of the old NationalAdvisory Committee for Aeronautics, the infantagency initiated Project Mercury, the first Ameri-can human space flight program.

Considering that only four American satellitelaunch attempts out of 13 had been successful atthe time, this was an undertaking of high ambition.The task of making the launch systems, rocketsand spacecraft safe enough to risk a human lifewas a daunting challenge.

One of the most reliable vehicles then avail-able, the Redstone was chosen first for “man-rating” – upgrading in reliability to be as safe ashuman talent and ingenuity could make it. Thismeant the pad, the checkout and launch proce-dures, and the tracking systems all had to bereexamined. Astronaut escape and rescue sys-tems had to be designed and installed, and Kennedypersonnel trained in their use.

On May 5, 1961, after extensive preparationsand several frustrating and nerve-wracking launchattempts, Alan Shepard became the first Americanto make a suborbital flight. His Mercury-Redstonevehicle reached an altitude of 116 miles, andsplashed down about 304 miles out into the Atlan-tic. Gus Grissom, on July 21, followed on an almostidentical flight. The Kennedy team had adapted tothe tough new requirements of human space flightand America had entered a new era. Space wouldnever again be restricted to automated machines.

The seven Mercury astronauts, the first Americanschosen to venture into the dangerous new frontier ofspace, pose for a group photograph. They are from leftto right (front): Walter M. Schirra, Jr.; Donald K. Slayton;

John H. Glenn, Jr.; and Scott Carpenter; (back): Alan B.Shepard, Jr.; Virgil I. “Gus” Grissom; and L. GordonCooper.

Human Space Flight - The First Era

For Mercury orbital flights, NASA selected thelarger and more powerful Atlas, until then onlyused as an intercontinental ballistic missile by theU.S. Air Force. After two successful missions, thesecond of which carried the chimpanzee Enos intospace for two orbits, John Glenn was launchedaboard a Mercury-Atlas, on February 20, 1962. Hebecame the first American to complete three circlesof the Earth. Glenn was followed by Scott Carpen-ter, Wally Schirra, and Gordon Cooper, the latterstaying up a full day after his launch on May 15,1963.

The next step in the nation’s human spaceprogram was Project Gemini, which served as abridge between the Mercury flights and the moredifficult Apollo missions to come. For the largertwo-man Gemini spacecraft, the Air Force Titanmissile was chosen and “man-rated.”

The first manned Gemini vehicle waslaunched on March 23, 1965, and the tenth andfinal one on November 11, 1966. During the briefspan of 20 months, an equal number of astronauts

A Titan II vehicle carrying the Gemini 11 spacecraftheads for space from Launch Complex 19, where all 10manned Gemini flights began. Charles Conrad, Jr. andRichard F. Gordon, Jr., made four practice rendezvouswith a target vehicle, reached an altitude of 851 miles,and flew with the hatch open for over two hours.

After Alan Shepard and Gus Grissom had completedtwo suborbital flights, an Atlas vehicle roared off Com-plex 14 on February 20, 1962, carrying John Glenn. Afterthree trips around the world, the Mercury spacecraft hehad named Friendship 7 re-entered the atmosphere andparachuted to a safe landing in the Atlantic Ocean.Glenn became the first American to orbit the Earth.

were sent into orbit. Seven unmanned target ve-hicles were launched in the same time period forrendezvous practice and other associated func-tions. When the program was completed, enoughhad been learned about launching and operatingmanned vehicles in space to make fulfilling Presi-dent Kennedy’s commitment to a Moon landing areal possibility.

For the Apollo lunar landing program, an en-tirely new family of launch vehicles was required– the massive and powerful Saturns. Eleven Sat-urn I launches were followed by several of the morepowerful Saturn 1B’s. Both vehicles were initiallyused to test unmanned elements of the three-manApollo spacecraft. They were launched from newcomplexes constructed by NASA on Cape Canav-eral.

On November 9, 1967, the first Saturn V – 363feet tall, and still the largest vehicle ever flown –was launched on a test flight from Complex 39 atthe Spaceport. This powerful three-stage vehicleproduced more than seven-and-one-half millionpounds of thrust, equal to about 180 million horse-power – enough to place almost a quarter of amillion pounds of payload into Earth orbit.

Apollo 7, the first manned Apollo mission, liftedoff into Earth orbit on October 11, 1968, on aSaturn 1B vehicle. And just over two months later,on December 21 – on the third flight of the SaturnV and the second manned launch of an Apollospacecraft – Frank Borman, James Lovell andWilliam Anders flew to the Moon, and into orbitaround it. Considering the short test history of boththe launch vehicle and the spacecraft, this was afeat of incredible courage and daring.

The next Apollo/Saturn V launched by theKennedy Space Center team, on March 3, 1969,sent three astronauts into Earth orbit, to flight-testthe Lunar Module in microgravity. This new vehiclewas the lightly built, insect-shaped craft designedto actually descend to the lunar surface.

On May 18, a second Apollo/Saturn V wassent toward the Moon. Another Lunar Module wasflight-tested, this one while actually in lunar orbit.And on July 16, 1969, all the parts, planning, careand labor came together for the launch of Apollo11. Neil Armstrong and Edwin Aldrin subsequentlybecame the first human beings to set foot on thesurface of another planetary body, while theircrewmate Michael Collins kept a lonely vigil in theorbiting Command Module.

Through December 1972, the Kennedy teamprocessed and launched six more of the giantApollo/Saturn V vehicles, maintaining a hecticpace that never evolved into a repetitive and rou-tine job.

A wealth of scientific data and physical arti-facts were brought back from the Moon; these are

Apollo 17 heads for Pad A atop its giant Saturn V rocketfor the last manned flight to the Moon. Riding a mobilelauncher that towered well over 400 feet into the air, witha total weight on the crawler-transporter treads of over18 million pounds, an Apollo/Saturn V vehicle in motionon the crawlerway was an awesome and unforgettablesight.

still under study today. And Apollo entered historybooks as the greatest and most far-reaching feat ofscientific exploration of humankind.

The Apollo Program was over. But the Kennedyteam had to process and launch still one more ofthe huge Saturn V vehicles. On May 14, 1973, ithurled the world’s first orbital workshop, Skylab 1,into space. Skylab was actually an inert Saturn Vthird stage which had been internally modified tofunction as a manned scientific laboratory, withthree other scientific and operational modulesadded.

The ascent stage of the Apollo 11 Lunar Module floatsover the eerie, crater-scarred landscape of the Moon,after Neil Armstrong and Edwin Aldrin, Jr., success-fully lifted off using the descent stage as a stablelaunch platform. This photo was taken through theorbiting Apollo spacecraft window by Michael Collins.After the rendezvous in lunar orbit the astronautsheaded for Earth, seen here, half shadowed in dark-ness, above the bleak lunar horizon.

Human Space Flight - The First Era

Skylab, the orbital workshop that was a precursor to theSpace Station, floats above a heavily clouded Earth.The solar array on the left side of the workshop ismissing, and an improvised sunshade protects the mainbody from excessive heat accumulation. Skylab was

repaired in orbit after suffering damage during ascent,and went on to complete a highly successful mission. Itwas one of the largest habitable structures ever placedin orbit.

Skylab was launched without an astronautcrew. The Kennedy team later sent up three sepa-rate crews of astronauts to occupy it. They weretransported by Apollo/Saturn IB vehicles launchedfrom modified facilities at the Spaceport’s LaunchComplex 39. Skylab produced a bonanza of scien-tific information and proved that humans couldwork in space for extended periods of time Thefinal crew, launched on November 16, 1973, stayedin space for 84 days. This length of time inmicrogravity remained the record for Americanastronauts until 1995, when Norman Thagard ex-ceeded it while working on board the RussianSpace Station MIR.

One last mission remained to be flown beforeAmerica entered a long hiatus from human spaceflight. On July 15, 1975, the last Apollo/Saturn 1Blifted off from Complex 39. It carried three Ameri-can astronauts into space, to rendezvous with aRussian Soyuz spacecraft and its crew of twocosmonauts. The Apollo-Soyuz Project remainedthe only such international meeting until the SpaceShuttle Atlantis rendezvoused and docked withMIR in June 1995.

The Apollo-Soyuz flight also was the last forAmerican manned space vehicles that could flyonly once. NASA needed a more economical wayto get into orbit and safely back to Earth. The eraof the reusable Space Shuttle was at hand.

Astronaut Thomas Stafford (center left) and CosmonautAleksey Leonov meet in the module temporarily con-necting their spacecraft in orbit. The Apollo-Soyuz mis-sion was the first international meeting in space. The twovehicles remained docked together for several days,and astronauts and cosmonauts visited each other’sspacecraft.

Human Space Flight - The First Era

A New Approach - The Space Shuttle

NASA had blazed new trails across the heavenswith expendable vehicles and spacecraft, but thecost had been high. To continue the explorationand utilization of space on a permanent basis, amore economical way to reach orbit was urgentlyneeded. This had become apparent well before theend of the Apollo era, and work had started on anew type of space vehicle. This became the SpaceShuttle, where the reusable orbiter resembled anairplane and, like one, could fly again and again –for a planned life of at least 100 missions.

The Space Shuttle required a new philosophyof operations. No longer would a vehicle beprepared for a single flight. In the future, the samevehicle would return again and again to the KennedySpace Center, to be processed and launched oncemore.

The Space Shuttle was very different from theApollos and Saturns, and it was far moresophisticated and technically complex. It wasdesigned, tested and built with limited funds. Tohelp keep costs down, Kennedy engineers adaptedthe Apollo launch facilities, rather than building allnew ones. The huge Vehicle Assembly Buildingwas converted to handle Shuttle components. Thethree mobile launchers used for the Saturns weremodified to stack and carry the new vehicle, andPads A and B were given new above-groundconfigurations.

Some new facilities were mandatory. A three-mile-long landing strip was one of the first con-structed. The orbiter would land at Kennedy afterenough landing experience had been gained onthe extra-long dry lake beds at Edwards AFB,California. A large, highly specialized two-bay build-ing called the Orbiter Processing Facility was con-structed near the Vehicle Assembly Building. A fewyears later, a similar building used as a refurbish-ment facility was upgraded to become OPF Bay 3.Spacecraft checkout and assembly facilities weremodified to process and integrate a large numberof payloads each year. Many other modificationswere required throughout the Center. This rebuild-ing and conversion process became the mainactivity at Kennedy during the years following theApollo-Soyuz flight.

The first orbiter intended for space flight, Co-lumbia, arrived at the Spaceport in March 1979. Agreat deal of work remained to be done. BothKennedy and Johnson Space Center (the leaddesign agency) were very busy for the next 610days in the Orbiter Processing Facility. They had toperform the remaining assembly work and a series

of major modifications. The orbiter then spentanother 35 days in the Vehicle Assembly Buildingand 105 days on Pad A, before finally lifting off onApril 12, 1981. John Young and Robert Crippenbecame the first two astronauts to enter orbit in areusable spacecraft, and to land it like an airplaneat the end of the mission.

The Launch of the first Space Shuttle was atrue milestone for the people of Kennedy. Thelaunch team had learned new checkout and launchprocedures. Two entirely new sets of computers,called the Launch Processing System, had beeninstalled in two of the old Apollo/Saturn V firingrooms in the Launch Control Center, and crewstrained in their use.

Once the first Space Shuttle mission was over,and the orbiter Columbia back at Kennedy, theCenter again went into high gear. One more SpaceShuttle was launched in 1981, three in 1982, four

An assembled and ready Space Shuttle heads for PadA as the shadows of twilight creep over the SpaceCenter.

The orbiter Columbia is slowly backed out of the OrbiterProcessing Facility, after a stay of 42 days in preparationfor its fourth journey into space.

A New Approach - The Space Shuttle

With a roll of thunder and riding a pillar of flame thatmade the Florida morning Sun seem pale in compari-son, an orbiter heads for orbit and a first in space — thecapture, repair, and redeployment of an ailing space-

craft. The new life given to the Solar Maximum Missionscientific satellite saved millions of dollars, compared tobuilding and launching a new spacecraft.

This view of an orbiter, floating some 180 miles abovethe white clouds and blue oceans of Earth, was taken bythe free-flying German spacecraft SPAS-01. It had beendeployed from the orbiter’s cargo bay earlier. At the rear

of the open bay, half in shadow, are the sunshields thatprotected two communications satellites before deploy-ment.

in 1983, five in 1984, and nine in 1985 - the lattera total that had seemed unobtainable back in 1981.

As 1986 began, NASA was close to having theability to launch a Space Shuttle every month, or 12a year. There were four orbiters in the fleet - (inorder of first flight) Columbia, Challenger, Discoveryand Atlantis. Then, on January 28, tragedy struck.The Orbiter Challenger and its crew were lostduring the launch of STS-51L, the 25th SpaceShuttle mission.

On February 1, 2003, the flagship of the fleet,Columbia, was lost along with its crew of seven onits return to Kennedy Space Center from missionSTS-107.

The Space Shuttle had just started to fulfill itspromise of frequent and economical access toorbit. A large variety of scientific and commercialspacecraft had been launched. One expensivescientific spacecraft had been repaired in orbit,and two large commercial satellites were recoveredfrom improper orbits and returned to the ground.Both were later re-launched and entered activeservice, saving their owners many millions of dollarscompared to buying new spacecraft.

The Space Shuttle was becoming a truenational and international asset, carrying into spacestudent experiments, small business payloads,and foreign payload specialists who accompaniedtheir scientific experiments to perform them inorbit. The next major task for the Space Shuttlefleet, the assembly of a permanent manned SpaceStation, had already been authorized by PresidentReagan and the Congress, in January 1984. Butthe problems that caused the loss of Challengerand its crew had to be found and corrected beforeSpace Shuttles could fly again.

The longest and most intensive investigationever conducted by NASA indicated that the primaryculprit in the Challenger accident was an inadequatedesign of the field joints between the solid rocketbooster segments. These were re-designed andre-tested. Many other critical flight systems werealso re-examined and re-certified at the same time.The unique checkout and launch facilities at theSpaceport, and the detailed procedures andsoftware that determined their operation, were allthoroughly reviewed, and improved wherenecessary. It took 32 months before everyone wassatisfied that the vehicle and its crew were now assafe as it was humanly possible to make them.

STS-26 lifted off on September 27, 1988, withDiscovery as the orbiter. The flight was completelysuccessful. By 2003, Space Shuttles had flown112 missions, more than four times the 24 safeflights that preceded Challenger’s last flight, andhad settled into a steady launch rate of about sixtimes a year. On Nov. 20, 1998, the Zarya ControlModule, the first International Space Station (ISS)component, was launched. In the following 4 years,the ISS grew to include the Russian-built servicemodule, Zvezda; the U.S.-built Unity Node 1; theU.S. Laboratory Destiny; a Canadian-built roboticarm to aid in construction; and several trusses. Inaddition, Italian-built Multi-Purpose LogisticsModules began regular service as cargo modules,especially for experiments. Oct. 31, 2000, markedthe first human presence on the Space Station withthe three-person crew Commander Bill Shepherd,Soyuz Commander Yuri Gidzenko and FlightEngineer Sergei Krikalev. Thus, NASA’s goal ofsteady progress toward living and working on thenew frontier of space was begun. Since the October2000 launch, there has been permanent humanpresence on the ISS.

On a Hubble Servicing Mission (STS-103) in 1999,astronaut Claude Nicollier, mission specialist from theEuropean Space Agency (ESA), works at a storageenclosure, using one of the Hubble power tools, duringthe second of three extravehicular activities (EVA).

Unmanned Space Missions

For more than 30 years, NASA’s unmannedspace programs compiled an enviable record ofachievement in space science and applications.

During this span, more than 300 launcheswere conducted for programs ranging from solarsystem exploration to improved weather forecast-ing, global communications and Earth resourcesstudies. These projects, which have more thanrepaid the nation’s investment in time, money andtechnical talent, depended on the developmentand evolution of a varied fleet of unmanned rock-ets.

The origins of this fleet were primarily military.When NASA was created in October 1958, itlacked the launch vehicles and facilities to carryout its mandate to explore space, and drew heavilyon rocket systems under development by the armedservices.

During its first year of operation, for instance,NASA awarded a contract to McDonnell Douglasto upgrade the Thor-Able missile, developedunder Air Force management, to become the Thor-Able-Delta launch vehicle–later known simply asthe Delta.

A group of employees from the Naval Re-search Laboratory had been at the Cape for sometime, launching the early Vanguard vehicles thatplaced America’s second satellite into orbit. With

the establishment of NASA, this group became theLaunch Operations Branch of the Goddard SpaceFlight Center, and later formed the nucleus of the“Unmanned Launch Operations” directorate of theKennedy Space Center. Another early launch team,from Goddard, was responsible for the engineer-ing management and configuration control of theDelta vehicle. In 1965, this team also was phasedover into Kennedy.

The upgraded Thor-Able vehicle soon acquiredthe reputation of being “Dependable Delta.” By theend of 1989 more than 180 had been launched byNASA, from facilities on Cape Canaveral andVandenberg AFB. This was more than all othervehicles of an equivalent size combined. The Deltahas been continuously upgraded over the years. Itcan now place a spacecraft weighing up to 8,818pounds into a geosynchronous transfer orbit–aweight 15 times that of its early payloads.

NASA also adopted another Air Force devel-oped stage, the Agena, and combined it with aThor first stage. This was the first NASA vehiclelaunched from Vandenberg, and the first to havesolid motors strapped to the outside of the firststage for extra power. NASA launched a total of 12Thor-Agenas from the west coast.

The Agena was also adapted to fly on top of anAtlas booster, creating a larger and more powerfulcombination than either of the other two. Thisvehicle performed well for many missions, but waseventually phased out in favor of a still morepowerful combination, the Atlas booster and a newstage called Centaur.

Developed under NASA contract by GeneralDynamics, builder of the Atlas, Centaur was thefirst stage to use liquid hydrogen for its fuel. Liquidoxygen remained the choice for the oxidizer. TheCentaur is still the most powerful stage, in propor-

tion to its weight, of any yet successfully operated.After the last Atlas-Agena was launched inMarch1968, the Delta and the Atlas-Centaur be-came the standard unmanned launch vehiclesfor NASA. One test flight and six operationallaunches were conducted of a new, more powerfulvehicle, a combination of Titan and Centaur. Thelatter was needed to launch two Helios spacecraftto the Sun, two unusually heavy Vikings to Mars,and two Voyagers to the outer giant gas planets.

Unmanned Launch Operations continued toplace the large majority of spacecraft in orbit untilthe Space Shuttle became operational.

As the new system matured, many payloadswere shifted from unmanned launch vehicles to theSpace Shuttle. But after the loss of Challenger and

Technicians install a solar panel on Mariner 8, launchedon May 8, 1971. It was half of a twin launch of scientificspacecraft, planned to survey Mars from orbit. Mariner9 reached the “Red Planet” next November 13, in themiddle of a planet-wide dust-storm. It waited it out inorbit, then provided the first complete photographicrecord of the spectacular Martian surface.

The overhead crane in the gantry on Pad B, LaunchComplex 36, lifts a Centaur nose fairing toward theopening to the interior. Inside the fairing was a FLTSAT-COM military satellite spacecraft. Once inside the gantrythe nose fairing was mated with the Atlas/Centaur.

its crew, the decision was made to reserve theShuttle primarily for scientific spacecraft. Respon-sibility for the launch of the Delta, Titan, and Atlas-Centaur vehicles was assumed extensively bytheir manufacturers and the U.S. Air Force. Allthree vehicles now launch payloads for the AirForce, NASA, and commercial customers on acontract basis.

Automated spacecraft have performed someof the most spectacular feats of the Americanspace program. Surveyors landed softly on theMoon, helping pave the way for later Apollo mis-sions. Mariners provided detailed photographs ofthe cloudtops of Venus and the surfaces of Marsand Mercury. Two Viking Landers descended tothe surface of Mars and searched for evidence oflife, while two orbiters mapped almost the entireplanet from overhead. Two Pioneers went to Jupi-ter, and one flew onward to Saturn. Two muchlarger Voyager spacecraft followed them to bothplanets - and one of these has now visited Uranusand Neptune as well.

The Hubble Space Telescope, a joint programof NASA and the European Space Agency, mademany contributions. The large telescope waslaunched in April 1990 aboard Discovery on theSTS-31 mission. Hubble made the deepest-ever

look into the universe revealing thousands ofgalaxies, supporting the fact that the universemade most of its stars long ago (when the universewas one-tenth its present age), and that the vastmajority of stars are only one-fifth the mass of ourSun. Hubble also made the first surface map of theplanet Pluto and discovered that massive blackholes are common throughout the universe.

NASA’s ambitious plan to send spacecraft toMars was realized with the November 1996 MarsGlobal Surveyor project, which studied the planet’ssurface, atmosphere, and gravitational andmagnetic fields. Then one month later, the MarsPathfinder delivered the Rover, named Sojourner,

Unmanned Space Missions

Protected by its gantry, a Delta rocket awaits launchunder leaden skies at Complex 17. It later hurled aGOES weather satellite into a geostationary orbit. Fiveof the Delta’s nine strap-on solid booster rockets arevisible in this photo.

The salmon sky and red, boulder-strewn expanse ofMars’ Utopian Plain as seen by the camera of NASA’sViking 2 lander shortly after setting down on the planet’ssurface September 3, 1976. Portions of the lander are inthe foreground. Unmanned exploration of the solarsystem is one of the most exciting and scientificallyrewarding aspects of the nation’s space program.

to Mars’ surface to study and record data aboutancient rocks. The Cassini satellite is set to arriveat Saturn in July 2004. Since Cassini’s 1997launch, the satellite has been conducting gravity-assisted flybys of the planets Venus and Jupiter.

In June and July of 2003, two Mars ExplorationRovers, named Spirit and Opportunity, werelaunched from Cape Canaveral Air Force Stationaboard Delta II rockets. Both were expected toreach Mars in January 2004. The two identicalrovers will seek to determine the history of climateand water at two sites on Mars where conditionsmay once have been favorable to life. They willnavigate themselves around obstacles as theydrive across the Martian surface, traveling up toabout 130 feet each Martian day.

But by far the largest number of unmannedspacecraft have remained in orbit around the Earth.So many communications, weather, and other

The two gantries of Launch Complex 36 (foreground),where Atlas rockets are launched, still stand on theeastermost point of Cape Canaveral. But the line ofgantries extending north from the right-hand pad in this1964 photograph have mostly been dismantled. Corro-sion from the salt air had weakened the steel structuresuntil they were no longer safe.

The unmistakable swirl of a monster hurricane straddlesthe Gulf of Mexico, bound for the Mississippi and Louisi-ana coastlines. Photographs taken from space helpmeteorologists track dangerous storms and add a newdimension to accurate weather forecasting.

NASA’s Space Infrared Telescope Facility sits bathed inspotlights before liftoff atop a Delta II Heavy rocket fromLaunch Complex 17-B, Cape Canaveral Air Force Sta-tion.

types of satellites have crowded into geosynchro-nous orbit - that region above the equator at about22,240 miles altitude, where a velocity of 6,878miles an hour toward the east will keep a satelliteapparently motionless in the sky - that internationalagreements have had to be worked out on assign-ing spaces. Weather and other Earth observationsatellites patrol our planet steadily in north-southpolar orbits. Scientific explorers in many types oforbits have returned a wealth of information thatcould not have been obtained in any other way.

TIROS 1 4/1/60 Relayed thousands of cloud pictures,demonstrating thefeasibility of satelliteobservations in weather forecasting.

First commercial communications satellite,launched for the American Telephone &Telegraph Company.

Mariner 2 8/27/62 First U.S. interplanetary probe to reachthe planet Venus.

Syncom 2 7/26/63 First communications satellite in geosyn-chronous orbit; proved out the conceptwidely used today.

Ranger 7 7/28/64 First U.S. spacecraft to impact on theMoon; returned a series of photos andother data.

Intelsat 1 (Early Bird) 4/6/65 First international communicationssatellite. Intelsat grew to become largestinternational carrier in history.

Surveyor 1 5/30/66 Performed first U.S. soft landing on theMoon, sending back thousands ofexcellent surface photographs.

Mariner Mars 6 2/24/69 Passed within 3,220 km (2,000 miles) ofMars’ equatorial region, returning the firstgood photographs for the U.S.

Pioneer 10 3/2/72 Performed flyby of Jupiter, returning firstclose-up photographs and measuringradiation emissions.

LANDSAT 1 7/23/72 First satellite to perform major assess-ment of Earth resources from outer space.

Pioneer 11 4/5/73 Performed flyby of Jupiter and first flybyof Saturn.

Mariner Venus/ Performed a flyby of Venus,thenMercury 11/3/73 continued on to Mercury and completed

the first three flybys of that planet.

Helios 1 12/10/74 Approached the Sun to within outer solarcorona and took density, temperature,velocity,and magnetic field measurements.

Viking 1 8/20/75 Placed an orbiter in orbit around Marsand a lander on the surface; obtainedvoluminous data in a search for life.

GOES 1 10/16/75 First weather satellite to photographcomplete disk of the Earth every 30minutes from geosynchronous orbit.

PALAPA 1 7/8/76 First geosynchronous orbit domesticcommunications satellite in SoutheastAsia. PALAPAs now also serve Thailand,Singapore, and Malaysia.

Voyager 2 9/5/77 Performed flybys of Jupiter, Saturn,Uranusand Neptune,and some of their moons.

Pioneer Venus Placed in orbit around Venus to study theOrbiter 5/20/78 atmosphere and surface; compiled radar

maps of surface features.

Pioneer Venus Sent four probes into the VenusianMultiprobe 8/8/78 atmosphere five days after the Orbiter

arrived; returned much useful data.

International Sun-Earth Third International Sun-Earth Explorer;Explorer (ISEE) 8/12/78 examined solar wind and its interaction

with Earth’s magnetosphere. RenamedInternational Cometary Explorer (ICE) andredirected in 1983 to make the first flyby ofa comet —Giacobini-Zinner-onSept.11,1985.

LaunchSpacecraft Date Mission Description/Results

LaunchSpacecraft Date Mission Description/Results

HEAO 2 11/13/78 Examined selected x-ray astronomcalsources in detail with the largest Xraytelescope ever made.

Infrared Astronomical Made first detailed infrared examination ofSatellite (IRAS) 1/25/83 the universe; discovered new stars being

born and possible evolution of newplanetary systems.

COBE 11/18/89 Measured the diffuse infrared and micro-wave radiation from the early universe tothe limits set by our astrophysicalenvironment.

SOHO 12/3/95 Gathered data on the internal structure andouter atmosphere of the sun, and on theorigin of the solar wind.

NEAR 2/17/96 Conducted the first long-term, close-up lookof an asteroid’s surface. For a year, NEARstudied Eros’ physical properties.

Mars Global Surveyor 11/7/96 Conducted a global mapping of Mars by

studying the planet’s surface, atmosphere,and gravitational and magnetic fields.

Mars Pathfinder 12/4/96 Delivered a lander and small robotic rover,Sojourner, to Mars’ surface to study andrecord data about ancient rocks.

Cassini 10/15/97 Cassini will conduct gravity-assist flybys ofthe planets Venus and Jupiter, then arrive atSaturn in July 2004.

Lunar Prospector 1/6/98 Provided the first global maps of the Moon’ssurface elements and its gravitational andmagnetic fields.

Stardust 2/7/99 Brought comet material back to earth andcollected interstellar dust.

EOS/TERRA 12/18/99 Consisted of a science component and adata system supporting a coordinatedseries of polar-orbiting and low-inclinationsatellites for long-term global observationsof the land surface, biosphere, solid Earth,atmosphere,and oceans.

GOES I-M 1994-2001 NASA-developed payload for the NationalOceanic and Atmospheric Administration(NOAA); launch vehicle services contract.Launched into geosynchronous Earth orbit.

Mars Exploration RoverSpirit 6/10/03 The two identical spacecraft wereOpportunity 7/6/03 expected to reach Mars in January 2004,

landing at two sites to explore farther andexamine rocks better than anything thathas ever landed on Mars.

SCISAT-1 8/12/03 The SCISAT-1 spacecraft will investigatechemical processes that control thedistribution of ozone in the Earth’satmosphere, particularly at high altitudes.

Space Infrared 8/25/03 Fourth and last of the Great Observatories,Telescope Facility the telescope will obtain images and(SIRTF) spectra by detecting the infrared energy, or

heat, radiated by objects in space.

The following table lists some of the more notable spacecraft launched by the Kennedy teams, withbrief descriptions of the results.

Unmanned Space Missions

A Place to Visit

Exciting, educational exhibits. Peaceful naturetrails. Pristine seashores. The nation’s only mannedvehicle spaceport, and one of Central Florida’smost popular tourist destinations, Kennedy SpaceCenter offers visitors a wide variety of things to seeand do.

Each year, more than 2.2 million guests fromaround the world explore the past, present andfuture of America’s space program at KennedySpace Center Visitor Complex. Since 1995, everyaspect of this 70-acre facility has been entirelyredeveloped and enhanced, offering guests a high-quality, full-day space experience.

The KSC Tour takes guests on a narrated tourwith self-paced stops at the LC-39 ObservationGantry, where they view Space Shuttle LaunchPads; the Apollo/Saturn V Center, where theyrelive the launch of Apollo 8 from mission control,walk beneath a massive Saturn V rocket, touch amoon rock and enjoy a front row seat as a humanlands on the moon; and to the International SpaceStation, where they witness NASA technicianspreparing actual components for launch. Specialinterest tours are also available. Cape Canaveral:Then and Now showcases the 50-year history of

the Cape, while NASA Up Close highlights spaceshuttle processing and launch facilities. Wildlifetours are available to groups of 10 or more, whenarranged in advance.

In addition to its tours, the KSC Visitor Complexoffers a variety of programs, exhibits and films.The live action stage show, Mad Mission to Mars2025, takes guests on an action-filled adventure tothe Red Planet. The Visitor Complex’s dailyAstronaut Encounter program aims at inspiringchildren to pursue academic excellence: It is theonly place in the world where children and familiesmay come face to face with one of the few who hasflown in space every day of the year. New exhibitssuch as Exploration in the New Millennium, EarlySpace Exploration and Robot Scouts complementlong-time favorites such as the Rocket Garden

and Shuttle Plaza. Visitors are also encouraged towatch five-story-tall space films at the world’s onlyback-to-back IMAX® theaters.

KSC Visitor Complex is located 45 minuteseast of Orlando on SR 405 (accessible from U.S.Highway 1, S.R. 3 and I-95). The Visitor Complexis operated for NASA by Delaware North ParksServices of Spaceport, Inc.

For more information, call (321) 449-4444 or visitwww.kennedyspacecenter.com.

The Educator Resource Center, located in theCenter for Space Education at KSC Visitor Com-

Students of all ages take part in aerospace educationalactivities at the Exploration Station. The hands-on-learning center, located in the Center for Space Educa-tion, is staffed by professional educators.

The Canaveral National Seashore is an unspoiled meccafor swimming, bathing and surf-fishing.

The KSC Visitor Complex is accessible to the public and open for business every day of the year except Christmasand certain launch days. A general admission fee provides access to bus tours, IMAX movies and exhibits that takevisitors on a journey from early space exploration and re-creation of the first Shuttle launches to the future in spaceand International Space Station.

plex, provides extensive facilities to aid teachers inthe preparation of aerospace-related teachingmaterials. These include a large number of aero-space publications, videotapes, 35mm slides, textdata and computer programs that can be copied onsite.

The Exploration Station, also in the Center forSpace Education, provides educational programsand hands-on, minds-on activities that illustrateand explain the principles of rocketry and spacescience. Students often work with actual hardwareused for space missions.

For more information about the Educator Re-source Center or the Exploration Center, or tomake reservations, call (321) 867-4090. To findout more about NASA KSC’s Education programs,visit www-pao.ksc.nasa.gov/kscpao/educate/edu.htm.

The “other side” of America’s Spaceport isless known, perhaps, but an equally treasurednational asset. Under agreements between NASAand the Department of Interior, all but the opera-tional areas of the Kennedy Space Center aredesignated as a wildlife refuge, including 25 milesof undeveloped ocean beach that forms the Canav-eral National Seashore.

This gentle but untamed land swarms withwildlife. More than 500 species of birds, mammals,reptiles and amphibians are found here. Some, likethe American bald eagle, woodstork, alligator andthe ponderous manatee, or sea cow, are on theendangered or threatened species list.

Recreational activities abound: fresh waterand surf fishing, waterfowl hunting in season,birdwatching, swimming at the ocean beaches,canoeing and hiking nature trails.

Most of the refuge and all of the seashore areopen to visitors during daylight hours, except whenspace operations require closure. Seashore head-quarters are located in nearby Titusville. A wildliferefuge visitors center is located several miles eastof Titusville, on State Road 402.

A great blue heron prepares to take flight in a lagoonnear a Space Shuttle launch pad. All but the operationalareas of America's Spaceport are part of a nationalwildlife refuge, containing over 500 species of birds,animals, reptiles and amphibians.

A pair of southern bald eagles look out from the nest theyoccupy on the Spaceport. The same pair winter at thenest year after year, and have raised several eagletshatched here.

A Place to Visit

A Look Back - A Look Ahead

The Kennedy Space Center team can lookback on a history of proud accomplishment as itmoves toward the challenges of the 21st century.NASA was responsible for launching more than300 unmanned space vehicles from 1958 to 1989,when the major unmanned vehicles were turnedover to their manufacturers to operate, under AirForce oversight. Now NASA flies only SpaceShuttles, and buys launch services from manu-facturer/operator when it is more economical tolaunch on an unmanned vehicle.

Many important scientific and commercialspacecraft have been launched on Space Shuttlessince the first flight in 1981, including a number ofinterplanetary explorers. Among the more notablescientific spacecraft was Magellan, which usedradar to map the surface of Venus, providingexcellent profiles of this cloud-shrouded planet.The Hubble Space Telescope was launched intoEarth orbit April 1990 with a defect in the mainmirror, but that was corrected on the first servicingmission three years later, and Hubble became themost powerful telescope in history. The ComptonGamma Ray Observatory launched in April 1991,also in Earth orbit, is the largest telescope tooperate in this very high energy range.

Ulysses looped around Jupiter and out of theplanetary plane, becoming the first spacecraft todirectly examine the south and north poles of theSun. The Galileo mission sent a probe plunging

into Jupiter, while an orbiter analyzed both thisgiant planet and several of its largest moons fromspace.

The Earth-orbiting Chandra X-Ray Observa-tory launched in July 1999 was designed to makeastrophysical observations of celestial objects fromnormal stars to quasars, allowing scientists tounderstand the nature of physical processes thattake place within astronomical objects, and under-stand the history and evolution of the universe.

The Space Infrared Telescope Facility,launched in August 2003, was designed to obtainimages and spectra by detecting the infrared en-ergy, or heat, radiated by objects in space. Thelargest infrared telescope ever launched into space,it is the fourth and final element in NASA’s family oforbiting “Great Observatories.” Its highly sensitiveinstruments will give a unique view of the Universeand peer into regions of space that are hidden fromoptical telescopes.

On the commercial side, satellite communica-tions now provide several billion dollars in revenueeach year, and continue to grow steadily. Thesespacecraft flew primarily on unmanned vehiclesbut Space Shuttle did place several in orbit. Theability of a single transponder (on a satellite oftenproviding 30 or more) to bring television into everyhome in most entire countries is unique to thespace program. Satellite observations and thedata they produce, such as from the GeostationaryOperational Environmental Satellites (GOES),greatly improve the ability of meteorologists tomake more accurate and longer-range weatherforecasts. And Earth resources spacecraft pro-vide powerful tools to help to locate new mineraland water resources, as well as measure theeffects of human activities on land and sea.

Many other commercial and scientific space-craft were launched into Earth orbit, by both Shuttlesand unmanned vehicles. Hundreds of human-tended experiments have been conducted in themicrogravity of orbit, including international crewsperforming several Spacelab and Shuttle mis-sions.

In 1995 NASA astronauts began rotating as-signments on the Russian space station Mir, withShuttles docking with Mir on a regular basis. Thiscontinued until the International Space Stationwas ready for permanent occupancy continuingthe rotating crew assignments. A major program,“Mission to Planet Earth,” has operated economi-cal new satellites with greatly improved capabili-ties to observe, monitor and analyze Earth’s verycomplex environment. This includes gaining abetter understanding of the interrelationships be-tween solar radiation and Earth’s atmosphere, andtracking the ozone layer and the “ozone hole” overAntarctica. The EOS and NOAA satellites havebeen instrumental in expanding the available dataon Earth’s environment.

The largest construction project ever attemptedis the International Space Station. The UnitedStates and its partners in Europe, Japan, Russiaand Canada are assembling this facility in orbit.The Station greatly improves our ability to utilizethe space environment for the benefit of humanity.Shuttle-transported elements brought to KSC forfuture payloads are first checked out in the 457,000-square-foot Space Station Processing Facility atthe KSC Industrial Area. By late 2002, more thannine elements had been processed, launched and

assembled in space, including the Unity Node 1,U.S. Lab Destiny, Russian modules Zarya andZvezda, various truss segments and pressurizedmating adapters, plus the Canadian remote ma-nipulator system needed to continue construction.Multi-Purpose Logistics Modules, built by the Ital-ian Space Agency, have enabled transporting ex-periments to the U.S. Lab plus needed suppliesand equipment. The first crews have set up resi-dence of three- to six-month duration.

Unmanned interplanetary exploration will con-tinue, with highly sophisticated spacecraft launchedon expendable vehicles. KSC serves as NASA’slead center for managing Expendable Launch Ve-hicle launch services.

Two probes, the Mars Global Surveyor andMars Pathfinder, were launched in late 1996. Twoadditional orbiters were launched in late-1998 andearly-1999 but were lost after arrival at Mars. TheMars Odyssey spacecraft was successfullylaunched in 2001 and is designed to map theMartian surface. Cassini was launched in 1997 ona 4-year exploratory mission of Saturn, its ringsand moons. The Mars Exploration Rovers werelaunched in 2003 to determine the history of climateand water on Mars.

A Space Launch Initiative (SLI) was introducedin 2001 as a research and development effort tosubstantially improve safety and reduce the highcost of space travel in a second-generation reusablelaunch vehicle. The Next Generation LaunchTechnology (NGLT) Program in 2003 combinedprevious SLI research and development efforts –focused on rocket propulsion – with cutting-edge,advanced space-transportation programsdeveloping air-breathing propulsion technologiesto achieve speeds of Mach 10-12. The resultingNGLT program is intended to increase the safety,reliability and cost-effectiveness of the nation’snext-generation reusable launch vehicle. Theprogram will place emphasis on reusable, kerosene-fueled rocket engine designs and — in concert withDepartment of Defense initiatives — on a variety ofother launch system technologies, includingdevelopment of air-breathing hypersonic propulsionsystems.The pioneering efforts are expected tomake the new reusable launch vehicle at least 10times safer and crew survivability 100 times greater.

A Look Back - A Look Ahead

Discovery’s robot arm lifts the Hubble Space Telescope out of the payload bay after a successful servicing mission,STS-103, in December 1999.

In the interim, the Shuttle fleet, with its upgradesand improvements, continues to serve the spaceprogram.

Since the creation of NASA in October 1958,the Kennedy Space Center has pioneered indeveloping the launch procedures, facilities,

equipment and skills needed to place and keep theUnited States in space. Whatever path the futuretakes, the space program will depend in large parton the unique experience and resources of thepeople of KSC.

Backdropped against the blackness of space on March18, 2001, the International Space Station is separatedfrom Space Shuttle Discovery after several days of

activities and an important crew exchange. One of theastronauts aboard Discovery took this photograph fromthe aft flight deck.

Dr. Kurt H. Debus1961 - 1974

Lt. Gen. Forrest S. McCartney1986 - 1991

Lee R. Scherer1974 - 1979

Richard G. Smith1979 - 1986

Robert L. Crippen1992 - 1995

Jay F. Honeycutt1995 - 1997

Roy D. Bridges Jr.1997 - 2003

Directors of the Kennedy Space Center

James W. Kennedy2003 - Present

National Aeronautics andSpace Administration

John F. Kennedy Space Center