KSC-02PD-0596

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. -- In the Spacecraft Assembly and Encapsulation Facility 2 (SAEF-2), the Comet Nucleus Tour (CONTOUR) spacecraft is ready for installation of the antenna and solar panel. At left is seen the mechanism that enables rotation of the spacecraft for whatever procedures are needed. 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. It will take 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, which is scheduled for July 1, 2002, from LC 17A at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station