KSC-02PD-0600

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. -- In the Spacecraft Assembly and Encapsulation Facility 2 (SAEF-2), workers check placement of the solar panel and attached antenna before attaching it to the Comet Nucleus Tour (CONTOUR) spacecraft. Scheduled for launch July 1, 2002, from LC 17A at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, 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