Washington(CNN) Vice President Mike Pence is set to tour NASA and Army facilities in Alabama before taking the stage to campaign for Republican Sen. Luther Strange on Monday.
NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center, located at Redstone Arsenal in Huntsville, will give Pence an update on the progress of the Space Launch System, which NASA calls "the world's most powerful rocket." He'll also hear about the International Space Station science operations as the agency prepares for missions to deep-space, around the Moon and ultimately to Mars.
Pence will get a first-hand look at Marshall Space Flight Center's Payload Operations Integration Center, where personnel manage scientific research happening aboard the International Space Station 24 hours a day in an effort to learn how to live and work in space for long periods.
And the vice president is set to visit the US Army Aviation and Missile Research, Development and Engineering Center, also located at Redstone Arsenal, where he will receive updates from Army leaders on missile defense projects and Army initiatives.
That evening, Pence will depart for Birmingham, where he is scheduled to speak at a rally for Strange, who is facing off against former Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore on Tuesday in the Republican primary runoff to fill the Senate seat.