Special Event

Learn about the upcoming Laser Communication Relay Device (LCRD), set to launch from right here at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. While the visitor complex is not offering launch viewing due to the current launch window, guests are invited to learn about this exciting new mission with daily admission this week.  

On the bottom floor of Space Shuttle Atlantis, meet a group from Northrup Grumman as they showcase their involvement with the LCRD mission. The will be giving away foam finger rockets, stickers and information on the Space Test Program Satellite-6 (STPSat-6) that hosts LCRD, along with fun facts about the other Northrop Grumman-built products included in the STP-3 launch. 

About LCRD 

LCRD is a significant step towards making operational laser, or optical, communications a reality. The payload’s microwave oven-size optical modules will send and receive data over invisible, infrared lasers at 1.2 gigabits per second – a rate that could download a two-hour movie in about 20 seconds – from geosynchronous orbit to Earth. 

LCRD is led by NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in partnership with NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California and the MIT Lincoln Laboratory. This mission is a NASA payload aboard the Department of Defense’s Space Test Program Satellite-6 (STPSat-6), launching on a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. 

 

BUY ADMISSION

Image Credit: Screenshot of NASA's video "LCRD Ready for Launch"