Boneyard Safari
Preserving Aviation HIstory

Orbiter OV-102 Columbia touches down on lakebed runway 23 at Edwards AFB, CA to conclude the first orbital shuttle mission STS-1, 14 April 1981. Note the split rudder open to slow it down. #sts1 #spaceshuttle #nasa #boneyardsafari #aviationsafari

New Glenn’s successful 2nd landing after launch #newglenn #nasa #boneyardsafari #aviationsafari

Check out the Space Shuttle Simulator in 1980! #spaceshuttle #nasa #boneyardsafari #aviationsafari

Bravo to the Navy diver that photographed the heat shield of the Orion capsule after splashdown of the Artemis II mission around the moon! #artemisii #nasa #boneyardsafari #aviationsafari

Today NASA moved the core stage of the SLS (Space Launch System) rocket that will launch the crewed Artemis III mission in 2027 from the agency’s Michoud Assembly Facility to the agency’s Pegasus barge in New Orleans. #artemisiii #nasa #boneyardsafari #aviationsafari

Artemis III is beginning with the Solid Rocket Boosters in the VAB. #artemisiii #nasa #boneyardsafari #aviationsafari

Here is NASA 905 747SCA with Orbiter Discovery OV-103 on top preparing to take off from KSC in 2012. #747sca #spaceshuttle #nasa #boneyardsafari #aviationsafari

Here is the first of four emergency egress baskets on the mobile launcher at Launch Complex 39B at KSC being tested in Jan 2026. The baskets, similar to gondolas on ski lifts, are used in the case of a pad abort emergency to enable astronauts and other pad personnel a way to quickly escape away from the mobile launcher to the base of the pad and where waiting emergency transport vehicles would then drive them away. #artemisii #nasa #boneyardsafari #aviationsafari

On Nov. 13 2025 Blue Origin’s New Glenn launched from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. #newglenn #nasa #boneyardsafari #aviationsafari

On March 28th 1963 a Saturn I (SA-4) lifted off from Kennedy Space Center launch Complex 34. The typical height of a Block I vehicle was approximately 163 feet and had only one live stage. It consisted of eight tanks, each 70 inches in diameter, clustered around a central tank, 105 inches in diameter. Four of the external tanks were fuel tanks for the RP-1 (kerosene) fuel. The other four, spaced alternately with the fuel tanks, were liquid oxygen tanks as was the large center