{"id":86526,"date":"2025-05-01T11:30:34","date_gmt":"2025-05-01T16:30:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/spacecenter.org\/?p=86526"},"modified":"2025-10-31T11:16:29","modified_gmt":"2025-10-31T16:16:29","slug":"pdl-ii","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/spacecenter.org\/pdl-ii\/","title":{"rendered":"Payload Development Laboratory (PDL) II"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

On Friday, December 13, a historic piece of NASA\u2019s training legacy embarked on a new mission. The Payload Development Laboratory II (PDL II), a retired medium-fidelity trainer weighing 26,000 pounds, was carefully transported from NASA Building 9 – the Astronaut Training Facility, to its new, future home at Space Center Houston. Soon, it will become a part of our renovated Dhaval R. Jadav Learning Innovation Center (LINC), where it will continue to inspire generations of explorers, engineers, and innovators. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

As we build this educational space, we invite you to be part of the journey. Your support is still needed to help preserve this legacy and create hands-on learning opportunities that ignite curiosity and imagination. Please consider making a donation to help bring the additions to LINC to life. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Once a vital tool in preparing astronauts for space missions, the PDL II supported real-time mission operations, crew training, engineering assessments, and the development of critical procedures. Behind the scenes, it played an essential role in training nearly every astronaut who visited the International Space Station during its first 25 years. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the near future, this once-operational trainer will begin its next chapter as an educational centerpiece. There, it will help prepare adult learners for the challenges of spaceflight, spark curiosity in visitors of all ages, and inspire future generations to explore, create, and reach for the stars.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Payload Development Laboratory II (PDL II), a retired medium-fidelity trainer weighing 26,000 pounds, was carefully transported from NASA Building 9 – the Astronaut Training Facility, to its new, future home at Space Center Houston.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":21,"featured_media":86528,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[160],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-86526","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-mission-impact"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nPayload Development Laboratory (PDL) II - Space Center Houston<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/spacecenter.org\/pdl-ii\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Payload Development Laboratory (PDL) II\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The Payload Development Laboratory II (PDL II), a retired medium-fidelity trainer weighing 26,000 pounds, was carefully transported from NASA Building 9 - the Astronaut Training Facility, to its new, future home at Space Center Houston.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/spacecenter.org\/pdl-ii\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Space Center Houston\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/SpaceCenterHouston\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-05-01T16:30:34+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-10-31T16:16:29+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/spacecenter.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/MI2024-pdl1.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1837\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1223\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Space Center Houston\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@spacecenterhou\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@spacecenterhou\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Space Center Houston\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacecenter.org\/pdl-ii\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacecenter.org\/pdl-ii\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Space Center Houston\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacecenter.org\/#\/schema\/person\/bd0937df134d02cd8c121487e245339f\"},\"headline\":\"Payload Development Laboratory (PDL) II\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-05-01T16:30:34+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-10-31T16:16:29+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacecenter.org\/pdl-ii\/\"},\"wordCount\":231,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacecenter.org\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacecenter.org\/pdl-ii\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/spacecenter.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/MI2024-pdl1.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Mission Impact\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacecenter.org\/pdl-ii\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/spacecenter.org\/pdl-ii\/\",\"name\":\"Payload Development Laboratory (PDL) II - Space Center Houston\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacecenter.org\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacecenter.org\/pdl-ii\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacecenter.org\/pdl-ii\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/spacecenter.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/MI2024-pdl1.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-05-01T16:30:34+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-10-31T16:16:29+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacecenter.org\/pdl-ii\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/spacecenter.org\/pdl-ii\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacecenter.org\/pdl-ii\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/spacecenter.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/MI2024-pdl1.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/spacecenter.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/MI2024-pdl1.jpg\",\"width\":1837,\"height\":1223},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacecenter.org\/pdl-ii\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/spacecenter.org\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Payload Development Laboratory (PDL) II\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacecenter.org\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/spacecenter.org\/\",\"name\":\"Space Center Houston\",\"description\":\"Gateway to NASA Johnson Space Center\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacecenter.org\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/spacecenter.org\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacecenter.org\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Space Center Houston\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/spacecenter.org\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacecenter.org\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/spacecenter.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/SCH-Galaxy-Logo-Blue-Horizontal.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/spacecenter.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/SCH-Galaxy-Logo-Blue-Horizontal.png\",\"width\":1543,\"height\":194,\"caption\":\"Space Center Houston\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacecenter.org\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/SpaceCenterHouston\",\"https:\/\/x.com\/spacecenterhou\",\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/spacecenterhou\/\",\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/company\/space-center-houston\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacecenter.org\/#\/schema\/person\/bd0937df134d02cd8c121487e245339f\",\"name\":\"Space Center Houston\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacecenter.org\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/287567ace0048cea97916de7c0ef0e90a234c73a6c449b18008e9b8b20b631f3?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/287567ace0048cea97916de7c0ef0e90a234c73a6c449b18008e9b8b20b631f3?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Space Center Houston\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/spacecenter.org\/author\/admin-2\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Payload Development Laboratory (PDL) II - Space Center Houston","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/spacecenter.org\/pdl-ii\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Payload Development Laboratory (PDL) II","og_description":"The Payload Development Laboratory II (PDL II), a retired medium-fidelity trainer weighing 26,000 pounds, was carefully transported from NASA Building 9 - the Astronaut Training Facility, to its new, future home at Space Center Houston.","og_url":"https:\/\/spacecenter.org\/pdl-ii\/","og_site_name":"Space Center Houston","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/SpaceCenterHouston","article_published_time":"2025-05-01T16:30:34+00:00","article_modified_time":"2025-10-31T16:16:29+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1837,"height":1223,"url":"https:\/\/spacecenter.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/MI2024-pdl1.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Space Center Houston","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@spacecenterhou","twitter_site":"@spacecenterhou","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Space Center Houston","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/spacecenter.org\/pdl-ii\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/spacecenter.org\/pdl-ii\/"},"author":{"name":"Space Center Houston","@id":"https:\/\/spacecenter.org\/#\/schema\/person\/bd0937df134d02cd8c121487e245339f"},"headline":"Payload Development Laboratory (PDL) II","datePublished":"2025-05-01T16:30:34+00:00","dateModified":"2025-10-31T16:16:29+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/spacecenter.org\/pdl-ii\/"},"wordCount":231,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/spacecenter.org\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/spacecenter.org\/pdl-ii\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/spacecenter.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/MI2024-pdl1.jpg","articleSection":["Mission Impact"],"inLanguage":"en"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/spacecenter.org\/pdl-ii\/","url":"https:\/\/spacecenter.org\/pdl-ii\/","name":"Payload Development Laboratory (PDL) II - Space Center Houston","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/spacecenter.org\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/spacecenter.org\/pdl-ii\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/spacecenter.org\/pdl-ii\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/spacecenter.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/MI2024-pdl1.jpg","datePublished":"2025-05-01T16:30:34+00:00","dateModified":"2025-10-31T16:16:29+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/spacecenter.org\/pdl-ii\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/spacecenter.org\/pdl-ii\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en","@id":"https:\/\/spacecenter.org\/pdl-ii\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/spacecenter.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/MI2024-pdl1.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/spacecenter.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/MI2024-pdl1.jpg","width":1837,"height":1223},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/spacecenter.org\/pdl-ii\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/spacecenter.org\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Payload Development Laboratory (PDL) II"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/spacecenter.org\/#website","url":"https:\/\/spacecenter.org\/","name":"Space Center Houston","description":"Gateway to NASA Johnson Space Center","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/spacecenter.org\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/spacecenter.org\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/spacecenter.org\/#organization","name":"Space Center Houston","url":"https:\/\/spacecenter.org\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en","@id":"https:\/\/spacecenter.org\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/spacecenter.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/SCH-Galaxy-Logo-Blue-Horizontal.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/spacecenter.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/SCH-Galaxy-Logo-Blue-Horizontal.png","width":1543,"height":194,"caption":"Space Center Houston"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/spacecenter.org\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/SpaceCenterHouston","https:\/\/x.com\/spacecenterhou","https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/spacecenterhou\/","https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/company\/space-center-houston"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/spacecenter.org\/#\/schema\/person\/bd0937df134d02cd8c121487e245339f","name":"Space Center Houston","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en","@id":"https:\/\/spacecenter.org\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/287567ace0048cea97916de7c0ef0e90a234c73a6c449b18008e9b8b20b631f3?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/287567ace0048cea97916de7c0ef0e90a234c73a6c449b18008e9b8b20b631f3?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Space Center Houston"},"url":"https:\/\/spacecenter.org\/author\/admin-2\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/spacecenter.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/86526","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/spacecenter.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/spacecenter.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spacecenter.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/21"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spacecenter.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=86526"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/spacecenter.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/86526\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":86573,"href":"https:\/\/spacecenter.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/86526\/revisions\/86573"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spacecenter.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/86528"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/spacecenter.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=86526"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spacecenter.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=86526"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spacecenter.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=86526"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}