PHSF

Assembly of Mars rover’s rocket to begin this week

May 24, 2020 Stephen Clark

Two key pieces of hardware needed for NASA’s next Mars rover — an Atlas rocket booster and sterile components of the rover’s sample collection system — recently arrived at Cape Canaveral ahead of the mission’s scheduled launch July 17.

Ground teams fuel Perseverance rover landing system, attach Mars Helicopter

April 13, 2020 Stephen Clark

Working under the cloud of the global coronavirus pandemic, technicians and engineers at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center have installed a rotor-driven drone on the agency’s next Mars rover and fueled the spacecraft’s “sky crane” landing system in preparation for launch in July.

Video: Walk around NASA’s new asteroid sample probe

August 23, 2016 Stephen Clark

Take a walk around NASA’s OSIRIS-REx spacecraft less than three weeks before its Sept. 8 launch on top of an Atlas 5 rocket. Rich Kuhns, the mission’s program manager from Lockheed Martin, points out some of the major features on the probe.

Photos: OSIRIS-REx prepped for encapsulation

August 23, 2016 Stephen Clark

NASA’s OSIRIS-REx spacecraft is about to be sealed inside the nose fairing of its Atlas 5 rocket booster for a seven-year voyage to asteroid Bennu and back to Earth on a mission to seek out clues to the origin of life and the chaotic early solar system.

One of NASA’s cleanest spacecraft ever is ready to fly

August 23, 2016 Stephen Clark

Five years after winning $1 billion from NASA to mount the first U.S. asteroid sample return mission, scientists and engineers will get their last look at the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft this week as it is closed up inside the nose cone of an Atlas 5 rocket for launch in September.

Assembly of Mars rover’s rocket to begin this week

Ground teams fuel Perseverance rover landing system, attach Mars Helicopter

Video: Walk around NASA’s new asteroid sample probe

Photos: OSIRIS-REx prepped for encapsulation

One of NASA’s cleanest spacecraft ever is ready to fly

Photos: Cygnus encapsulated for journey into space atop Atlas 5

Photos: Cygnus packed up and fueled for trip to the space station

Photos: Cargo vessel enclosed in Atlas rocket nose cone

Station-bound cargo ship shown to press before launch