NASA's Kennedy Space Center

“Dishing” out the latest data 🛰️ Technicians recently installed the nearly 10 feet (3 meters) wide dish-shaped high-gain antenna to NASA’s Europa Clipper Mission at the Payload Hazardous Servicing Facility at @nasakennedy . The spacecraft will perform a series of flybys of the Jupiter moon Europa to gather data on its atmosphere, icy crust, and the ocean underneath, and the high-gain antenna will send the research data to scientists on Earth to determine if the moon can support habitable conditions. The Europa Clipper spacecraft is scheduled to launch atop a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket from Launch Complex 39A no earlier than October 2024. Images description: Technicians prepare to install the nearly 10 feet (3 meters) wide dish-shaped high-gain antenna to NASA’s Europa Clipper, a spacecraft to study Jupiter’s icy moon, at the agency’s Payload Hazardous Servicing Facility at Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Monday, June 17, 2024. Photos credit: NASA/Kim Shiflett #NASA #KennedySpaceCenter #NASAKennedy #science #space #Europa #Jupiter #EuropaClipper #GoEuropaClipper

Today marks 62 years since the Launch Operations Center was established in 1962 - our anniversary! The center was later renamed the John F. Kennedy Space Center in November 1963 by President Lyndon B. Johnson, and the rest is history. 🚀 Image description: Fellow Mercury astronaut Alan Shepard watches launch at the CAPCOM console in Mercury Control during Gus Grissom's July 21, 1961, Mercury-Redstone 4 (Liberty Bell 7) flight. Credit: NASA #NASA #KennedySpaceCenter #NASAKennedy #History #OTD #OnThisDay

#OnThisDay in 1969: The 402-foot-tall mobile service structure is moved away from the Apollo 11 spacecraft at Launch Pad 39A. The move was made during the Countdown Demonstration Test with Apollo 11 astronauts Neil A. Armstrong, Michael Collins and Edwin E. Aldrin Jr. The trio later launched to the Moon on July 16, 1969. Credit: NASA #NASA #KennedySpaceCenter #Rocket #Space #Apollo #Apollo11 #Launch

Florida!!! 🎶 @nasaastronauts and Expedition 71 Flight Engineer Michael Barratt captured these images of @nasakennedy (image 1), Tampa, St. Petersburg, Clearwater (image 2), and Tampa and Tampa Bay (image 3) from the @iss as it orbited 261 miles above the Sunshine State. #NASA #InternationalSpaceStation #KennedySpaceCenter #Space #SpaceCoast #florida

Seeing double 😵💫 The SpaceX Falcon Heavy dual side boosters return to SpaceX Landing Zones 1 and 2 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida shortly after liftoff. The rocket carrying @noaasatellites Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite (GOES-U) launched from @NASAKennedy in Florida on Tuesday, June 25, 2024, at 5:26 p.m. EDT. The GOES-U satellite is the final satellite in the GOES-R series, which serves a critical role in providing continuous coverage of the Western Hemisphere, including monitoring tropical systems in the eastern Pacific and Atlantic oceans. Photo credit: NASA/Amber Jean Notvest #NASA #NASAKennedy #KennedySpaceCenter #Rocket #Launch #SpaceX

U GO, GOES-U! 🛰 @NOAA ’s GOES-U weather satellite launched from @NASAKennedy on June 25, 2024, at 5:26 p.m. EDT (2126 UTC) atop a @SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket. GOES-U is the last in the Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellites (GOES)-R Series, a series of advanced satellites that provide fast, high-resolution imagery and atmospheric measurements of Earth’s Western Hemisphere, real-time mapping of lightning activity, and monitoring of solar activity and space weather. Aboard GOES-U are seven instruments, including a new, operational Compact Coronagraph-1 instrument. The coronagraph will observe the Sun’s outermost layer, called the corona, for large explosions of plasma that could produce geomagnetic solar storms. These solar storms can impact satellites and communications systems on Earth. Image descriptions: 1. A white SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket carrying GOES-U lifts off. Flames shoot out from under it as white smoke billows around the launchpad. A tall, black structure called the gantry with criss-cross metals bars disappearing into the white smoke is in front of the rocket. A white water tower with the words “SpaceX” across the top, rounded section can be seen on the left. 2. The white rocket flies upward through the deep blue sky, flames still blazing. Credit: NASA/Amber Jean Notvest #NASA #Space #Launch #FalconHeavy #Rocket #Satellite #Liftoff #Meteorology

Ready, set, GOES! @NOAASatellites GOES-U spacecraft lifted off at 5:26 p.m. EDT from Launch Complex 39A at @NASAKennedy aboard a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket. This mission, the last in the GOES series, will improve @NASAEarth weather observing, environmental monitoring, as well as space weather observations. Video: A SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket lifts off from @NASAKennedy during the daytime. #NASA #KennedySpaceCenter #Rocket #Launch #Weather #WeatherSatellite #EarthObservation

Hubble Space Telescope or Stanley Cup? 🤔 Pictured first is a photo of the @NASAHubble Space Telescope, not the @nhl ’s Stanley Cup, but we wanted to congratulate the @flapanthers on their first championship win! Their triumph on the ice highlights Florida’s growing dominance in hockey over the past five years. The excitement in the Sunshine State extends far beyond the rink. Florida is home to @NASAKennedy Space Center, America’s premier multi-user spaceport, where some of the most groundbreaking space missions begin – including Hubble’s own launch from Launch Complex 39B in 1990! Just as Florida’s hockey teams lead on the ice, Kennedy Space Center leads the nation in space exploration. Whether it’s lifting the Stanley Cup or launching into space, Florida is at the forefront, driving the U.S. to new heights. Here’s to the Panthers and to the stars! Image descriptions: 1. The Hubble Space Telescope hovers at the boundary of Earth and space in this picture, taken after Hubble’s second servicing mission in 1997. 2. A horizontal view of the launch of the STS-31 mission, which launched April 24, 1990. Onboard space shuttle Discovery are the crew of five veteran astronauts and the Hubble Space Telescope. Credit: NASA #NASA #KennedySpaceCenter #HubbleSpaceTelescope #Space #StanleyCup

Let’s get #ReadyToGOES ! 🚀 @nasa is preparing to launch @noaa ’s GOES-U satellite, the fourth and final GOES-R series satellite. Launch is scheduled for liftoff from @nasakennedy NET June 25 at 5:16pm EDT. GOES-U will continue the legacy of monitoring the contiguous United States, Central and South America, and the Atlantic Ocean. The satellite’s imagery and data will help improve weather forecasts and our ability to predict severe weather, detect lightning strikes, study space weather and monitor tropical cyclones in the Atlantic Basin. #Earth #NOAA #NASA #Weather #Satellite #Launch

It's #NationalSelfieDay and we're #ReadyToGOES ! Soon, @noaasatellites will launch its newest weather observing satellite, GOES-U, aboard a @SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket from Launch Complex 39A at @nasakennedy . Part of a collaborative @NOAA and @NASA program, GOES-U is the fourth in a series of four advanced geostationary weather satellites. Data from the GOES satellite constellation enables forecasters to predict, observe, and track local weather events that affect public safety like thunderstorms, hurricanes, and wildfires. Liftoff is targeted for 5:16 p.m. EDT June 25 aboard a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket. Credit: NASA #NASA #KennedySpaceCenter #NASAKennedy #Weather #WeatherObservation #Earth #Satellite

Happy Summer Solstice! Summer solstice marks the official start of summer here in the Northern Hemisphere, meaning more time to enjoy the outdoors! What are your plans for the longest day of the year? Image description: A beautiful yellow, orange, and red sunset lights up the sky, with the Atlantic Ocean beach landscape in the background and plants in the foreground. Photo credit: NASA/Ben Smegelsky #NASA #KennedySpaceCenter #NASAKennedy #SummerSolstice #Summer #Ocean #Beach

Coming in hot! ⁣ ⁣ When the Orion spacecraft returns from the Moon, over 1,000 tiles help protect the spacecraft from the incredible heat of reentry.⁣ ⁣ The thermal protection system tiles are just one of the systems that Dervens Marseille, a manufacturing engineer for Lockheed Martin at @NASAKennedy , helps install on Orion.⁣ ⁣ The tiles make up a protective cover known as Orion’s backshell, and are made of a silica fiber material similar to those used for more than 30 years on the space shuttle. They will protect the spacecraft from both the coldness of space and the extreme heat of entry into Earth’s atmosphere.⁣ ⁣ Credit: @NASA ⁣ ⁣ #ComingInHot #Reentry #OrionSpacecraft #Spacecraft #STEM #SpaceShuttle #Atmosphere #Orion