NASA SWAT Team Sharpshooter

A member of a NASA Emergency Response Team (ERT) scans the ground from a Huey II helicopter while flying over Kennedy Space Center (KSC), Cape Canaveral, Florida, July 8th, 2011.

This photo was taken prior to the launch of space shuttle Atlantis on STS-135, the shuttle program's final mission.

The Emergency Response Team is NASA's Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) team.

KSC's ERT carries out special law enforcement operations and is on standby to respond to crises, such as terrorist attacks, active shooters and barricaded suspects, that occur anywhere on the 44,000 acres of ground covered by the complex.

This ERT operator is armed with an AR-10T of the type employed by ERT sharpshooters.

Chambered in 7.62mm x 51mm NATO, it is a derivation of the Armalite AR-10 semi-automatic rifle.

This NASA SWAT officer's AR-10T is fitted with a EOTech holographic sight and fold-down bipod.