National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Realistic laboratory devices like the Visual Docking Simulator used at the National Aeronautics And Space Administration Langley Research Center play an ever-increased role in NASA's space research as scientists seek to learn how well human pilots can do the job of bringing two orbiting spacecraft to a safe, accurate docking. From the co-pilot's point of view inside the simulated Gemini cockpit, the image of the Agena, with United States painted clearly on its side, looms through the left hand window. Instrument dials glow in the darkness as the pilot gently moves his control handle.

Scientists at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration Langley Research Center complete the first inflation tests of a 135-foot rigidized, inflatable sphere in connection with the Echo II passive communications satellite program. The purpose of the test, which was conducted in the same dirigible hangar at Weeksville, North Carolina, where the 100-foot Echo I sphere was tested some months ago before it was launched into orbit, was to verify the structural strength of the newly designed sphere.

The instrumentation unit for the NASA Saturn V 500 F rocket is lowered onto the S IV-B stage in the Vehicle Assembly Building at the Merritt Island, Florida launch area. The NASA Apollo/Saturn 500 F facilities vehicle and the Apollo verification spacecraft will be used to check out the Vehicle Assembly Building, transporting the full scale vehicle on the Mobile Launcher to Complex 39 and complete checkout at the launch pad.

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration Apollo/Saturn V, 500 F, SII stage is being checked out in the Hi Bay area of the Vehicle Assembly Building. The NASA Apollo/Saturn 500 F facilities vehicle and the Apollo verification spacecraft will be used to check out the Vehicle Assembly Building, transporting the full scale vehicle on the Mobile Launcher to Complex 39 and complete checkout at the launch pad.

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration Apollo/Saturn V, 500 F first stage is being erected in the Hi Bay area of the Vehicle Assembly Building. The NASA Apollo/Saturn 500 F facilities vehicle and the Apollo verification spacecraft will be used to check out the Vehicle Assembly Building, transporting the full scale vehicle on the Mobile Launcher to Complex 39 and complete checkout at the launch pad.

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration Apollo/Saturn V, 500 F facilities vehicle is being erected in the Hi Bay area of the Vehicle Assembly Building. The NASA Apollo/Saturn 500 F facilities vehicle and the Apollo verification spacecraft will be used to check out the Vehicle Assembly Building, transporting the full scale vehicle on the Mobile Launcher to Complex 39 and complete checkout at the launch pad.

The Apollo/Saturn V, 500 F verification spacecraft is being checked out at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration Assembly Building at the Merritt Island, Florida launch area. The NASA Apollo/Saturn 500 F facilities vehicle and the Apollo verification spacecraft will be used to check out the Vehicle Assembly Building, transporting the full scale vehicle on the Mobile Launcher to Complex 39 and complete checkout at the launch pad.

A crawler transporter is shown moving on the roadway to Pad 39 at the Merritt Island, Florida Launch Area. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration giant transporter carries the 445 foot tall mobile launcher during a checkout of Saturn V facilities at the Center.

Nearly 290,000 visitors discovered one of Florida's best bargains in tourism in 1965 in the from of a drive-through tour of NASA's John F. Kennedy Space Center and Cape Canaveral (Cape Kennedy), Florida. This view shows the Vehicle Assembly Building, the launch towers and the Pad 39 complex.

Saturn barge "Promise" docks at Cape Canaveral carrying the SA-3 launch vehicle. The trip from Huntsville to the Cape takes 11 days. This flight is to further test the S-1 booster propulsion and control system of the rocket.