KSC-02PD-0576

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. -- The NASA Comet Nucleus Tour (CONTOUR) spacecraft arrived at KSC on April 24 and was transported to the Spacecraft Assembly and Encapsulation Facility-2 (SAEF-2) to begin final preparations for launch. CONTOUR will provide the first detailed look into the heart of a comet - the nucleus. The spacecraft will fly as close as 60 miles (100 kilometers) to at least two comets, Encke and Schwassmann-Wachmann 3, taking the sharpest pictures yet of the nucleus while analyzing the gas and dust that surround these rocky, icy building blocks of the solar system. The Applied Physics Laboratory of Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Md., built CONTOUR and will also be in control of the spacecraft after launch, scheduled for July 1, 2002, from LC 17A at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station