NASA Social - SpaceX CRS-2
Kennedy Space Center
Day One - 28 February 2013
Page Five of Eight
  
A view of the Falcon 9 rocket looking from the engines at right toward the Dragon spacecraft at the opposite end.
The Dragon spacecraft attached to the second stage of the Falcon 9 rocket. The panel with the Dragon logo is a fairing covering one of the two spacecraft solar arrays that deploy upon reaching orbit.
The Falcon 9 first stage showing the fairings over the nine Merlin engines. Two Merlin engine bells can be seen right of the fairings.
The dark structure to the right of the rocket channels the exhaust away from the rocket and launch pad at liftoff.
A close-up of the Dragon spacecraft, which can be seen attached to a glass-walled room below through which final cargo loading takes place in the hours before launch.
A view of the massive hanger where the Falcon 9 rocket is assembled before being hauled out to the launch pad.
The NASA Social folks mixed in with the regular media at SLC 40. Many of the regular media were setting up remote cameras that would take close-up views of the launch.
A view of the buses used by the media. The tower holds cameras to photograph the launch.
We had enough time to stop off at Launch Complex 39A from where Space Shuttles were launched to view the pad in the late afternoon light.
The pad has been mothballed since the end of the Space Shuttle Program. NASA is hoping to find a commercial rocket company to use the pad.
The end of a full day of NASA Social activities.
NASA Social - SpaceX CRS-2
Kennedy Space Center
Day Two - 1 March 2013
Page Five of Eight
Sunrise on 1 March 2013 saw a cloud deck hovering overhead that would persist throughout the morning and ruin any extended photography of the Falcon launch. Note the big countdown clock at the press site reads 2 hours and 53 minutes until launch.
The NASA Social gathered in the Annex to meet Lori Garver, NASA's Deputy Administrator.
 
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