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NASA looking to the future

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Curiosity Taken during mobility testing on June 3, 2011, this image is of the Mars Science Laboratory rover, Curiosity, inside the Spacecraft Assembly Facility at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif. Preparations continue for shipping the rover to NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida in June and for its fall 2011 launch.

NASA/JPL-Caltech

Curiosity

Taken during mobility testing on June 3, 2011, this image is of the Mars Science Laboratory rover, Curiosity, inside the Spacecraft Assembly Facility at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.

Preparations continue for shipping the rover to NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida in June and for its fall 2011 launch.

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  • Curiosity Taken during mobility testing on June 3, 2011, this image is of the Mars Science Laboratory rover, Curiosity, inside the Spacecraft Assembly Facility at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif. Preparations continue for shipping the rover to NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida in June and for its fall 2011 launch.
  • Through the Looking Glass The NASA logo on Bldg. 703 at the Dryden Aircraft Operations Facility in Palmdale, Calif., is reflected in the 2.5-meter primary mirror of the SOFIA observatory's telescope. SOFIA--the Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy-- is an airborne observatory, built to complement the Hubble, Spitzer and Herschel space telescopes, as well as major Earth-based telescopes. SOFIA features a German-built 100-inch (2.5 meter) diameter far-infrared telescope weighing 20 tons mounted in the rear fuselage of a modified Boeing 747SP aircraft. It is one of the premier space science programs of NASA's Science Mission Directorate. SOFIA is a joint program between NASA and the German Aerospace Center.
  • Preparing for the Future NASA continued preparations for the future of space exploration with the installation of a 35,000-gallon liquid oxygen tank atop the A-3 Test Stand under construction at Stennis Space Center in Mississippi. The 300-foot tall stand is being built to test next-generation rocket engines capable of carrying humans beyond low-Earth orbit into deep space. Construction of the stand began in 2007, with completion and activation scheduled for 2013. The A-3 stand is the first large test structure built at Stennis since a trio of stands were constructed in the 1960s to test the massive Saturn V rocket stages used to carry humans to the moon during the Apollo Program.
  • Working Towards the Future Work on the heat shield and thermal protection backshell of the Multi Purpose Crew Vehicle ground test article, or GTA, was completed in preparation for environmental testing. This image is of the crew vehicle at the Lockheed Martin Vertical Test Facility in Colorado. The crew vehicle will undergo rigorous testing to confirm its ability to safely fly astronauts through all the harsh environments of deep space exploration missions.
  • Docked One Last Time Backdropped by a night time view of the Earth and the starry sky, the Space Shuttle Endeavour is photographed docked at the International Space Station on May 28, 2011. The STS-134 astronauts left the station the next day on May 29, after delivering the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer and performing four spacewalks during Endeavour's final mission.

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