The first flight of Columbia ( STS-1 ) was commanded by John Young, a Gemini and Apollo veteran who was the ninth person to walk on the Moon in 1972, and piloted by Robert Crippen, a rookie astronaut originally selected to fly on the military's Manned Orbital Laboratory ( MOL ) spacecraft, but transferred to NASA after its cancellation, and served as a support crew member for the Skylab and Apollo-Soyuz missions.

The Orbital Workshop was renamed " Skylab " in February 1970 as a result of a NASA contest.

* NASA Orbital Debris Program Office

Orbital photo courtesy of NASA.

Prior to his flight, Mr. Shuttleworth completed Space Adventures ’ Orbital Pre-Qualification Program and underwent almost eight months of training and medical exams, including a one-week orientation program at NASA ’ s Johnson Space Center in Houston.

In addition, in a 2003 interview Chief Scientist for Orbital Debris at the NASA Johnson Space Center Nicholas L. Johnson stated:

Partnering with the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory ( JPL ) on the mission are the California Institute of Technology, Orbital Sciences Corporation, University of California, Berkeley, Yonsei University, Johns Hopkins University, Columbia University, and Laboratoire d ' Astrophysique de Marseille, France.

NASA has already awarded SpaceX a contract to deliver unmanned cargo to the ISS under the Commercial Orbital Transportation Services ( COTS ) program.

In December 2010, Orbital Sciences made a commercial proposal to NASA to develop the Prometheus, a lifting-body spaceplane vehicle about one-quarter the size of the Space Shuttle, in response to NASA's Commercial Crew Development ( CCDev ) solicitation.

Orbital photo courtesy of NASA.

While flying separately in the cargo bay, the Orbital Acceleration Research Experiment ( OARE ), sponsored by NASA Lewis Research Center ( now Glenn Research Center ), is an integral part of USMP-04.

To this point, the project had encompassed spending of just under $ 112 million: $ 85. 7M from the original contract with designer Orbital Sciences, $ 16M from NASA and various government agencies for testing, and an additional $ 10M for Orbital Sciences to adapt its L-1011 carrier to accommodate the X-34.

Effective April 11, 1994, Grabe left NASA and the Air Force to join Orbital Sciences Corporation, Dulles, Virginia.

) is a former NASA astronaut currently working for Orbital Sciences Corporation's Advanced Programs Group as Vice President for Human Space Flight Operations.

Several months later, in December 2008, NASA announced that they have awarded the remaining $ 170m to the trusted Orbital Sciences Corporation to develop resupply services to the ISS.

In 2006, NASA awarded the company a Commercial Orbital Transportation Services ( COTS ) contract to design and demonstrate a launch system to resupply cargo to the International Space Station ( ISS ).

On 18 August 2006, NASA announced that SpaceX had won a NASA Commercial Orbital Transportation Services ( COTS ) contract to demonstrate cargo delivery to the International Space Station ( ISS ) with a possible option for crew transport.

The second flight for the Falcon 9 vehicle was the COTS Demo Flight 1 on 8 December 2010, the first launch under the NASA Commercial Orbital Transportation Services ( COTS ) contract, and was similarly successful.

* Commercial Orbital Transportation Services, a NASA program for delivery to the International Space Station by private companies

* NASA Orbital Debris Observatory

* Apophis Orbital Prediction Page at NASA JPL

Orbital parameters of more than 10, 000 objects are maintained in this catalog — which has now gained usage by NASA, weather agencies, and friendly foreign agencies.

* NASA Hopes Laser Broom Will Help Clean Up Space Debris Agence France-Presse story via SpaceDaily

NASA Orbital Debris Observatory, which used a 3 m diameter aperture liquid mirror, and the Large Zenith Telescope uses a 6 m diameter aperture liquid mirror are both zenith telescopes since the use of liquid mirror meant these telescopes could only point straight up.

Monthly global images from NASA Earth Observatory

* NASA Earth Observatory pages on Lake Eyre:,

Image NASA Earth Observatory

MOP was to be performed by radio antennas associated with the NASA Deep Space Network, as well as the radio telescope of the National Radio Astronomy Observatory at Green Bank, West Virginia and the radio telescope at the Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico.

* Coniferous Forest, Earth Observatory NASA

Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy ( SOFIA ) is a joint venture of the U. S. and German aerospace agencies, NASA and the DLR to make an infrared telescope platform that can fly at altitudes high enough to be in the infrared-transparent regime above the water vapor in the Earth's atmosphere.

A picture of the Jupiter 2009 impact event blemish captured by the Keck II telescope and its NASA Infrared Telescope Facility | near-infrared camera at Mauna Kea Observatory, on July 20.

* NASA Earth Observatory

* NASA Earth Observatory biography

* NASA Earth Observatory page on William Smith's Geological Map

* NASA Earth Observatory

Shortly after NASA was formed, the Orbiting Solar Observatory was launched, and was followed by the Orbiting Astronomical Observatory ( OAO ) that carried out ultraviolet observations of stars between 1968 and 1972.

Courtesy NASA Earth Observatory

* Corinth Canal at NASA Earth Observatory

The fate of the EUSO Observatory is still unclear since NASA is considering early retirement of the ISS.

NASA accepts proposals from researchers based in the United States, while the National Optical Astronomy Observatory ( NOAO ) accept proposals from researchers around the world.

* Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy ( SOFIA ), a joint project of NASA and the German Aerospace Center ( DLR ) for an airborne telescope.

The FITS Liberator software is used by imaging scientists at the European Space Agency, the European Southern Observatory and NASA.

The JPL SVLBI project, funded by NASA, supports the VSOP ( VLBI Space Observatory Program ) mission developed by the Institute of Space and Astronautical Science ( ISAS ) in Japan.

* NASA Earth Observatory: Satellite images

The Chandra X-ray Observatory is a space telescope launched on STS-93 by NASA on July 23, 1999.

In 1976 the Chandra X-ray Observatory ( called AXAF at the time ) was proposed to NASA by Riccardo Giacconi and Harvey Tananbaum.

In July 2008, the International X-ray Observatory, a joint project between ESA, NASA and JAXA, was proposed as the next major X-ray observatory but was later cancelled.