Chronicle of Spaceflight

May 27, 1999: STS-96 Discovery launches to the International Space Station

"Space Shuttle Enterprise is rolled into a protective hangar at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York City. Enterprise, a prototype built to test aspects of the space shuttle design, will be displayed at the Intrepid Sea, Air and Space Museum in New York."

Photo credit: NASA/Kim Shiflett.

Date: May 12, 2012

SCAN AND REMASTERED by Dan Beaumont: link

"Artist's rendering shows how Command Service Module (CSM) will dock with the Orbiting Workshop (OWS) during the Skylab mission. Assisting in the docking is the VHF Ranging System designed and built by RCA Government Communications Systems, Camdem, N.J. The system provides the CMS pilot with the range between the two spacecraft. Ranging is performed by sending radio tones from the CSM to the workshop, which retransmits them to the CSM. The range is determined by measuring the time between the transmission of the tones and receipt of the OWS retransmitted."

Date: May 12, 1973

After being assembled, our Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope has passed final tests, and is being prepared to move to our Kennedy Space Center in Florida, where teams will work to prepare it for a launch in early September 2026.

With a field of view at least 100 times larger than Hubble's, Roman can potentially measure light from a billion galaxies in its lifetime. It will also be able to block starlight to directly see exoplanets and planet-forming disks, complete a statistical census of planetary systems in our galaxy, and settle essential questions in the areas of dark energy, exoplanets, and infrared astrophysics.

The observatory is named after Dr. Nancy Grace Roman, NASA’s first chief astronomer who made cosmic vistas readily accessible to all by paving the way for telescopes based in space.

Want to learn more about Roman? Check out our #Roman Space Telescope tag and visit our mission page.