Kennedy Space Center

Deep Space 1 can be seen here in the final stages of its preparation for flight in the payload hazardous servicing facility at the Kennedy Space Center. Workers at the facility have put their signatures on a poster and placed it inside Deep Space 1, wrapped around the left-hand spar.

Umbilical tower being moved to the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) at the Kennedy Space Center. The awaiting spacecraft will undergo final assembly and checkout on the tower before it is moved to the launch pad.

A Super Guppy transport aircraft is unloaded at the Kennedy Space Center's shuttle landing facility. Its cargo is a truss segment destined for the International Space Station that will provide power and other vital systems.

NASA launch site on Merritt Island, near Cape Canaveral, Florida, used for Apollo project and space shuttle launches. It was established in 1962 and celebrated its 40th anniversary in 2002. The first Apollo flight to land on the Moon (1969) and Skylab, the first orbiting laboratory (1973), were launched from the site. In 2003, it launched the two spacecraft of the Mars Exploration Rover mission.

The centre, named after US president John F Kennedy, is dominated by the Vehicle Assembly Building, 160 m/525 ft tall, used for assembling Saturn rockets and space shuttles. The centre is in charge of the checkout, launch, and landing of shuttles. On 12 August 2003, the deputy director, James W Kennedy, succeeded Roy D Bridges, to become the eighth director of KSC.