KSC-02PD-0740

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. - In the Spacecraft Assembly and Encapsulation Facility 2, the CONTOUR spacecraft is carried by an overhead crane to the apogee kick motor sitting on a stand below. The spacecraft will be attached to the motor for launch. CONTOUR will provide the first detailed look into the heart of a comet -- the nucleus. The spacecraft will fly close to at least two comets, Encke and Schwassmann-Wachmann 3, taking pictures 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