Sandy Marshall

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Backstage Door to Space

Photo: Sandy Marshall

This is the famous walkway at the Neil Armstrong Operations and Checkout Building at Kennedy Space Center. The building is the astronaut’s version of a green room, home to crew quarter dorms and suit-up rooms. This specific set of doors has been made famous by countless photos and films documenting the 10-second walk down the ramp. On launch days, astronauts would wave to cameras before hopping in the Astrovan (or in 2020: a Tesla Model X) for the 9-mile ride to Launch Complex 39-A. Today, for the first time since the shuttle era, NASA is scheduled to launch 2 astronauts from KSC aboard the SpaceX Falcon 9 & Crew Dragon at 4:33 EST for a trip to the ISS. Great second screen content for when you’re muted and multitasking on that afternoon conference call.