#spacecraft assembly

Vehicle Assembly Building

2015 May 31

Photo Op

Explanation: Members of the media, garbed in protective uniforms, view NASA's New Horizons spacecraft on November 4, 2005 at Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

2015 April 16

Thrusters

Explanation: New Horizons has both spin-stabilized (cruise) and three-axis stabilized (science) modes controlled entirely with hydrazine monopropellant. There are 16 thrusters on New Horizons: four 4.4 N (1.0 lbf) and twelve 0.9 N (0.2 lbf) plumbed into redundant branches. The larger thrusters are used primarily for trajectory corrections, and the small ones are used primarily for attitude control and spinup/spindown maneuvers.

2014 October 10

Attaching the Antenna

Explanation: Team members at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) in Laurel, MD, attach the high-gain antenna assembly to the New Horizons spacecraft on April 13, 2005. The spacecraft's most prominent design feature, the assembly includes high-, medium-, and low-gain antennas. The high-gain antenna consists of a 2.1-meter (nearly 7-foot) reflector dish mounted close to the spacecraft and a subreflector on the back side of the medium-gain reflector. The antenna is also a key component of the mission's Radio Science Experiment - called REX - which will help scientists understand the structure of Pluto's atmosphere by looking at how radio signals change as they are sent from Earth and move through Pluto's atmosphere.

I always used to imagine spacecraft being built in a giant hangar like aircraft, but this image really dispels that thought. I wonder about the rate at which they could produce Lunar Modules in a room of that size--but I suppose speed wasn't really important, once you got a few done.