STS launch http://images.jsc.nasa.gov/images/pao/STS47/10064946.htm NASA Photo ID: STS047(S)039 File Name: 10064946.jpg Film Type: 35mm Date Taken: 09/20/92 Title: STS-47 Endeavour, Orbiter Vehicle (OV) 105, liftoff from KSC Description: STS-47 Endeavour, Orbiter Vehicle (OV) 105, atop its external tank (ET) and flanked by two solid rocket boosters (SRBs), is recorded in this low angle view as it heads for its second trip into space. From this angle, the space shuttle main engines (SSMEs) are clearly visible as well as the diamond shock effect produced during firing. Exhaust plumes trail from the SRB skirts. OV-105 is just about to begin its roll maneuver. Liftoff from Kennedy Space Center (KSC) Launch Complex (LC) 39 pad occurred at 10:23:00:0680 am (Eastern Daylight Time (EDT)). Subject terms: ENDEAVOUR (ORBITER) EXHAUST CLOUDS EXTERNAL TANKS FLORIDA KENNEDY SPACE CENTER LIFTOFF (LAUNCHING) SPACE SHUTTLE BOOSTERS SPACE SHUTTLE MAIN ENGINE STS-47

SSME firing http://www.msfc.nasa.gov/NEWSROOM/background/facts/ssme.htm Space Shuttle Main Engine Enhancements When a NASA Space Shuttle lifts off the launch pad, it does so with the help of three reusable, high-performance rocket engines. Each of these powerful main engines is 14 feet (4.2 meters) long, weighs approximately 7,000 pounds (3,150 kilograms) and is 7.5 feet (2.25 meters) in diameter at the end of its nozzle. Developed in the 1970s by NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala., the Space Shuttle Main Engine is the world's most sophisticated reusable rocket engine. The engines operate for about eight-and-one-half minutes during liftoff and ascent -- long enough to burn more than 500,000 gallons (1.9 million liters) of super-cold liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen propellants stored in the huge external tank attached to the underside of the Shuttle. Liquid oxygen is stored at -298 degrees Fahrenheit (-183 degrees Celsius) and liquid hydrogen at -423 degrees Fahrenheit (-250 degrees Celsius). The engines shut down just before the Shuttle, traveling at about 17,000 mph, reaches orbit. NASA continues to increase the reliability and safety of Shuttle flights through a series of enhancements to the Space Shuttle Main Engines. The engines were modified in 1988, again in 1995, and more improvements are being developed in 2000. The newest modifications include new high-pressure fuel and oxidizer turbopumps, a two-duct powerhead, a single-coil heat exchanger and a large-throat main combustion chamber.

STS 114 MISSION

STS! http://science.ksc.nasa.gov/shuttle/missions/sts-103/images/captions/KSC-99PP-1305.html Space Shuttle Discovery, atop the mobile launcher platform and crawler transporter, nears the top of Launch Pad 39B after a 4.2-mile crawl from the Vehicle Assembly Building. At left are the Rotating Service Structure and the Fixed Service Structure, which will enable final preparations of the orbiter, external tank and solid rocket boosters for the STS-103 launch targeted for Dec. 6, 1999, at 2:37 a.m. EST. The mission is a "call-up" due to the need to replace and repair portions of the Hubble Space Telescope. Although Hubble is operating normally and conducting its scientific observations, only three of its six gyroscopes are working properly. Four EVA's are planned to make the necessary repairs and replacements on the telescope. The STS-103 crew members are Commander Curtis L. Brown Jr., Pilot Scott J. Kelly, Steven L. Smith, C. Michael Foale (Ph.D.), John M. Grunsfeld (Ph.D.), and Claude Nicollier of Switzerland and Jean-Frangois Clervoy of France, both with the European Space Agency. (Photo Release Date: 11/13/1999 )

Engine close up http://science.ksc.nasa.gov/shuttle/missions/sts-99/images/captions/KSC-00PP-0223.html A clear blue sky is the perfect setting behind Space Shuttle Endeavour as it hurtles into space. Launch of mission STS-99 occurred at 12:43:40 p.m. EST from Launch Pad 39A with a crew of five aboard: Commander Kevin Kregel, Pilot Dominic Gorie, and Mission Specialists Janet Kavandi, Janice Voss, Mamoru Mohri of Japan and Gerhard Thiele of Germany. Mohri is with the National Space Development Agency (NASDA) of Japan, and Thiele is with the European Space Agency. Known as the Shuttle Radar Topography Mission (SRTM), STS-99 will chart a new course to produce unrivaled 3-D images of the Earth's surface. The result of the SRTM could be close to 1 trillion measurements of the Earth's topography. The mission is expected to last 11days, with Endeavour landing at KSC Tuesday, Feb. 22, at 4:36 p.m. EST. This is the 97th Shuttle flight and 14th for Shuttle Endeavour. (Photo Release Date: 02/11/2000 ) KSC-00PP-0223 - Raw ASCII Text Caption file KSC-00PP-0223 - Low (GIF Format, 320x240 pixels x 256 colors, approx 50 Kbytes) KSC-00PP-0223 - Medium (JPEG format, 1024x768 pixels x 256 colors, approx 250 Kbytes) KSC-00PP-0223 - High (JPEG, 2040x2640 pixels x 16 million colors, approx 400 Kbytes)

http://images.jsc.nasa.gov/images/pao/STS31/10063621.htm NASA Photo ID: STS031(S)131 File Name: 10063621.jpg Film Type: 35mm Date Taken: 04/29/90 Title: STS-31 Discovery, Orbiter Vehicle (OV) 103, glides toward EAFB landing Description: STS-31 Discovery, Orbiter Vehicle (OV) 103, approaches Edwards Air Force Base (EAFB), California landing facility. This view was captured moments before the landing gear was deployed and shows OV-103's port side and its underside of carefully placed heat shield tiles. OV-103 came to a complete wheel stop at 6:51:00 am (Pacific Daylight Time (PDT)) on concrete runway 22. Subject terms: AERIAL PHOTOGRAPHY APPROACH DISCOVERY (ORBITER) SPACECRAFT LANDING STS-31 THERMAL PROTECTION TILES