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First Picture of the Earth and Moon in a Single Frame

This picture of the Earth and Moon in a single frame, the first of its kind ever taken by a spacecraft, was recorded September 18, 1977, but NASAs Voyager 1 when it was 7.25 million miles (11.66 million kilometers) from Earth. The moon is at the top of the picture and beyond the Earth as viewed by Voyager. In the picture are eastern Asia, the western Pacific Ocean and part of the Arctic. Voyager 1 was directly above Mt. Everest (on the night side of the planet at 25 degrees north latitude) when the picture was taken. The photo was made from three images taken through color filters, then processed by the Image Processing Lab at Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL). Because the Earth is many times brighter than the Moon, the Moon was artificially brightened by a factor of three relative to the Earth by computer enhancement so that both bodies would show clearly in the prints. Voyager 1 was launched September 5, 1977 and Voyager 2 on August 20, 1977. JPL is responsible for the Voyager mission

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The First Space Shuttle External Tank

The first Space Shuttle External Tank (ET), the Main Propulsion Test Article (MPTA), rolls off the assembly line on September 9, 1977 at Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans, Louisiana. The MPTA was then transported to the National Space Technology Laboratories (currently called Stennis Space Center) in southern Mississippi where it was used in the static test firing of the Shuttle's cluster of three main engines. Marshall Space Flight Center was responsible for developing the External Tank. External Tank contains two tanks, one for liquid hydrogen and one for liquid oxygen, and a plumbing system that supplies propellant to the Main Engines of the Space Shuttle Orbiter. 77

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NASA Langley Magnetic Suspension/Balance System

A shuttle model is magnetically suspended in the transparent hexagonal test section of the MIT/NASA Langley 6 inch MSBS. Massive power supplies are required to drive electromagnets for model position control. A unique electromagnetic position sensor, similar to a linear variable differential transformer, provides five degrees of freedom for the test model. The low speed (Mach 0.5) wind tunnel was hand crafted from mahogany. Aerodynamic forces on the test model are measured by the proportional electrical current used to hold the model in place. The system was built by MIT in the late sixties, and was relocated to Langley in the mid eighties. In a joint effort with Old Dominion University in 1992 the MSBS was used to test the aerodynamics of store separation, simulating a bomb released from an aircraft. The system has been donated to Old Dominion University

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