Photographs for Space Enthusiasts

Falcon Heavy June 25 Launch - Clearing Pad 39A

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Shuttle crawler-transporter in the foreground, the Vertical Assembly building, Constellation launch tower and the Launch Control Center in the background

Main engine exhaust signature bend as Discovery goes trans-sonic (STS-133)

Endeavour on the Shuttle Carrier Aircraft

Atlantis STS-135 Completes Roll Program

Crawler-way curving toward Pad 39B in the distance. Pad 39B, which served the Apollo and Shuttle programs for decades, was in the process of being torn down to ready it for whatever may come

Atlantis enshrouded in smoke and steam as its main engines reach full thrust, seconds away from SRB ignition

Main engine exhaust signature bend as Discovery goes trans-sonic (STS-133)

Endeavour Ready to Leave KSC

Wide Angle Look at Mate-Demate Structure

The Shuttle’s Thermal Protection System is Shown Off

Atlantis STS-135 Roll-Program

Atlantis on the pad, shortly after dawn, with Banana River in the foreground

Xenon lights rays emanating from Pad 39A the night before the final flight of Atlantis

Endeavour and Her Ride at Sunrise

Alantis STS-135 Clears the Tower

Sunrise lights Pad 39A and Atlantis, poised for her climb to orbit.

Preparing to lower Endeavour onto the Shuttle Carrier Aircraft for the last time

One of NASA’s two space shuttle crawler-transporters parked between the Vehicle Assembly Building (background) and Pad 39A. At six million pounds, it is the largest self-propelled vehicle ever built.

Shadows on Endeavour

Kennedy Space Center’s massive Vertical Assembly Building. Where the Saturn V and Shuttle Stacks Were Assembled

Impressionistic View of Endeavour at the Pad from the NASA causeway

Shadows from Pad 39A play across a fast-moving, low cloud deck as xenon lights illuminate Atlantis during its final tanking ops

Atlantis Tanking Operations the Night before Her Final Flight

Final connections made between Shuttle Endeavour and its 747 carrier aircraft

Atlantis main engines up and burning — seconds away from liftoff

Pad-37A Upclose

Spiral exhaust column created by Shuttle Discovery STS-133

Atlantis STS-135 Climb-out

An upclose photo of the POGO system accumulator, a critical part of the shuttle main engine system. The POGO system’s purpose was to prevent damaging oscillations during combustion

Looking way up into the Vertical Assembly Building

Endeavour and the SCA

Pad 39A Reflected in the Clouds

The Space Shuttle Main Engine (SSME) is an engineering marvel: the most efficient liquid fuel burning rocket engine, with variable thrust control and the ability to be reused for multiple launches. This upclose photo of the powerhead (where fuel flow and combustion are controlled) shows the preburner oxidizer pump in the center.

STS-97 (Endeavour) climbing away from KSC during a late night launch, November 2000. Enroute to ISS

Endeavour meeting up with the Shuttle Carrier Aircraft

Lit bright white by xenon lamps, Atlantis (visible between the rotating service structure and the launch tower) awaits completion of tanking ops for mission STS-135

After a postponed launch, Discovery is “safed” and protected by the Rotating Service Structure. About half-way up the launch tower, see the 7 emergency egress baskets.