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Service Structure
A service structure is a permanent steel framework or tower erected on a rocket launch pad that allows assembly, servicing, and crew onboarding of the launch vehicle prior to liftoff. In NASA launches at the Kennedy Space Center, astronauts enter the vehicle through a type of service structure called an " umbilical tower". Immediately before ignition of the rocket's engines, all connections between the tower and the craft are severed, and the connecting bridges swing away to prevent damage to structure and vehicle. An elevator in the tower also allows maintenance crew to service the vehicle. Kennedy Space Center During the NASA Space Shuttle program, the structures at the Launch Complex 39 pads contained a two-piece access tower system, the Fixed Service Structure (FSS) and the Rotating Service Structure (RSS). The FSS permitted access to the Shuttle via a retractable arm and a "beanie cap" to capture vented liquid oxygen (LOX) from the external fuel tank. The RSS con ...
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STS-114 Rollout
STS-114 was the first "Return to Flight" Space Shuttle mission following the Space Shuttle ''Columbia'' disaster. ''Discovery'' launched at 10:39 EDT (14:39 UTC) on her 31st flight on July 26, 2005. The launch, 907 days (approx. 29 months) after the loss of ''Columbia'', was approved despite unresolved fuel sensor anomalies in the external tank that had prevented the shuttle from launching on July 13, its originally scheduled date. The mission ended on August 9, 2005, when ''Discovery'' landed at Edwards Air Force Base in California. Poor weather over the Kennedy Space Center in Florida hampered the shuttle from using its primary landing site. Analysis of the launch footage showed debris separating from the external tank during ascent; this was of particular concern because it was the issue that had set off the ''Columbia'' disaster. As a result, NASA decided on July 27 to postpone future shuttle flights pending additional modifications to the flight hardware. Shuttle fligh ...
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Liquid Oxygen
Liquid oxygen, sometimes abbreviated as LOX or LOXygen, is a clear cyan liquid form of dioxygen . It was used as the oxidizer in the first liquid-fueled rocket invented in 1926 by Robert H. Goddard, an application which is ongoing. Physical properties Liquid oxygen has a clear cyan color and is strongly paramagnetic: it can be suspended between the poles of a powerful horseshoe magnet. Liquid oxygen has a density of , slightly denser than liquid water, and is cryogenic with a freezing point of and a boiling point of at . Liquid oxygen has an expansion ratio of 1:861 and because of this, it is used in some commercial and military aircraft as a transportable source of breathing oxygen. Because of its cryogenic nature, liquid oxygen can cause the materials it touches to become extremely brittle. Liquid oxygen is also a very powerful oxidizing agent: organic materials will burn rapidly and energetically in liquid oxygen. Further, if soaked in liquid oxygen, some materials su ...
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Project Gemini
Project Gemini () was the second United States human spaceflight program to fly. Conducted after the first American crewed space program, Project Mercury, while the Apollo program was still in early development, Gemini was conceived in 1961 and concluded in 1966. The Gemini spacecraft carried a two-astronaut crew. Ten Gemini crews and 16 individual astronauts flew low Earth orbit (LEO) missions during 1965 and 1966. Gemini's objective was the development of space travel techniques to support the Apollo mission to Moon landing, land astronauts on the Moon. In doing so, it allowed the United States to catch up and overcome the lead in human spaceflight capability the Soviet Union had obtained in the early years of the Space Race, by demonstrating mission endurance up to just under 14 days, longer than the eight days required for a round trip to the Moon; methods of performing extravehicular activity (EVA) without tiring; and the orbital maneuvers necessary to achieve space rendezv ...
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STS White Room
STS, or sts, may refer to: Medicine * Secondary traumatic stress, a condition which leads to a diminished ability to empathize * Sequence-tagged site, a gene-reference in genomics * Soft-tissue sarcoma * Staurosporine, an antibiotic * STS (gene), which codes for steroid sulfatase * Superior temporal sulcus * Sinus tarsi syndrome, a foot condition Places * Semipalatinsk Test Site for Soviet nuclear weapons * Staffordshire, county in England, Chapman code Transport * Cadillac STS, a luxury car * NASA Space Transportation System, the system in which the NASA shuttle is part of and only surviving component of; starting as a 1969 NASA proposal system for reusable space vehicles ** NASA Space Shuttle program, the shuttle program itself, whose mission were referred to with STS-numbering * Sail training ship, a ship prefix * Satellite Transit System, now called the SEA Underground, airport transit in Seattle-Tacoma International Airport * Ship-to-ship transfer, between seagoing s ...
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Gantry
A gantry is an overhead bridge-like structure supporting equipment such as a crane, signals, or cameras. Devices and structures *Gantry (medical), cylindrical scanner assembly used for medical 3D-imaging or treatment *Gantry (transport), an overhead assembly on which highway signs or railway signals are posted *Gantry (rocketry), the frame which encloses and services a rocket at its launch pad *Gantry crane, a crane having a hoist fitted in a trolley for parallel movement **Rubber tyred gantry crane, a mobile gantry crane used in intermodal operations *Gantry tower or anchor portal, a structure commonly found in electrical substation or transmission line *Scaffolding, occasionally referred to as a gantry when used as a support framework Places *Gantry Plaza State Park, in New York City Arts, entertainment, and media *''Elmer Gantry'', a 1927 novel by Sinclair Lewis *Elmer Gantry (film), ''Elmer Gantry'' (film), a 1960 film based on the novel *Gantry (musical), ''Gantry'' (musica ...
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Saturn V
The Saturn V is a retired American super heavy-lift launch vehicle developed by NASA under the Apollo program for human exploration of the Moon. The rocket was human-rated, had multistage rocket, three stages, and was powered by liquid-propellant rocket, liquid fuel. Flown from 1967 to 1973, it was used for nine crewed flights to the Moon, and to launch Skylab, the first American space station. the Saturn V remains the only launch vehicle to have carried humans beyond low Earth orbit (LEO). The Saturn V holds the record for the largest payload capacity to low Earth orbit, , which included unburned propellant needed to send the Apollo command and service module and Apollo Lunar Module, Lunar Module to the Moon. The largest production model of the Saturn (rocket family), Saturn family of rockets, the Saturn V was designed under the direction of Wernher von Braun at the Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama; the lead contractors for construction of the rocket were ...
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Delta (rocket Family)
The Delta rocket family was a versatile range of American rocket-powered expendable launch systems that provided space launch capability in the United States from 1960 to 2024. Japan also launched license-built derivatives ( N-I, N-II, and H-I) from 1975 to 1992. More than 300 Delta rockets were launched with a 95% success rate. The series was phased out in favor of the Vulcan Centaur, with the Delta IV Heavy rocket's last launch occurring on April 9, 2024. Origins The original Delta rockets used a modified version of the PGM-17 Thor, the first ballistic missile deployed by the United States Air Force (USAF), as their first stage. The Thor had been designed in the mid-1950s to reach Moscow from bases in Britain or similar allied nations, and the first wholly successful Thor launch had occurred in September 1957. Subsequent satellite and space probe flights soon followed, using a Thor first stage with several different upper stages. The fourth upper-stage combinatio ...
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SpaceX Launch Vehicles
SpaceX manufactures launch vehicles to operate its launch service provider, launch provider services and to execute its various exploration goals. SpaceX manufactures and operates two members of the Falcon 9 family, the Falcon 9 Block 5 medium-lift launch vehicle and the Falcon Heavy heavy-lift launch vehicle – both of which are powered by SpaceX Merlin engines and employ VTVL technologies to Reusable launch system, reuse the first stage. As of 2024, the company is also developing the fully reusable SpaceX Starship, Starship launch system, which will replace Falcon 9, Falcon Heavy, and Dragon. SpaceX's first launch vehicle, the Falcon 1, was the first Private spaceflight, privately developed liquid fueled launch vehicle to be launched into orbit, and used SpaceX's Merlin and Kestrel (rocket engine), Kestrel engines for its first and second stages, respectively. It was launched five times from Omelek Island between 2006 and 2009 – the Falcon 1e and Falcon 5 variants were plan ...
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LC-39A
Launch Complex 39A (LC-39A) is the first of Kennedy Space Center Launch Complex 39, Launch Complex 39's three launch pads, located at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Merritt Island, Florida. The pad, along with Launch Complex 39B, was built in the 1960s to accommodate the Saturn V launch vehicle, and has been used to support NASA Human spaceflight, crewed space flight missions, including the historic Apollo 11 moon landing and the Space Shuttle. Since 2014 the site has been leased by SpaceX and supports launches of the Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy rockets. History Apollo program In 1961, U.S. John F. Kennedy, President Kennedy proposed to the United States Congress, U.S. Congress the goal of landing a man on the Moon by the end of the decade. Congressional approval led to the launch of the Apollo program, which required a massive expansion of NASA operations, including an expansion of launch operations from the Cape to adjacent Merritt Island to the north and west. First named ...
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SpaceX
Space Exploration Technologies Corp., commonly referred to as SpaceX, is an America, American space technology company headquartered at the SpaceX Starbase, Starbase development site in Starbase, Texas. Since its founding in 2002, the company has made numerous advancements in rocket propulsion, reusable launch vehicles, human spaceflight and satellite constellation technology. , SpaceX is the world's dominant space launch provider, its launch cadence eclipsing all others, including private competitors and national programs like the Chinese space program. SpaceX, NASA, and the United States Armed Forces work closely together by means of Government contractor, governmental contracts. SpaceX was founded by Elon Musk in 2002 with a vision of decreasing the costs of space launches, paving the way to SpaceX ambition of colonizing Mars, a sustainable colony on Mars. In 2008, Falcon 1 successfully launched into orbit after three failed launch attempts. The company then pivoted towar ...
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Artemis Program
The Artemis program is a Exploration of the Moon, Moon exploration program led by the United States' National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), formally established in 2017 via Space Policy Directive 1. The program's stated long-term goal is to establish a Moonbase, permanent base on the Moon to facilitate Human mission to Mars, human missions to Mars. It is intended to reestablish a human presence on the Moon for the first time since the Apollo 17 mission in 1972 and continue the direct exploration of Mars begun with data from the Mariner 9 probe in the same year. Two principal elements of the Artemis program are derived from the now-cancelled Constellation program: the Orion (spacecraft), Orion spacecraft (with the European Service Module, ESM instead of a US-built service module) and the Space Launch System's Space Shuttle Solid Rocket Booster#Five-segment booster, solid rocket boosters (originally developed for the Ares V). Other elements of the program, such as ...
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