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KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. - In a clean room inside the Payload Hazardous Servicing Facility (PHSF) at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center, the suspended Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) nears the workstand in the background for final assembly and testing. In the PHSF, the spacecraft will undergo multiple mechanical assembly operations and electrical tests to verify its readiness for launch. A test this month will verify the spacecraft’s ability to communicate through NASA's Deep Space Network tracking stations. A June test will check the deployment of the spacecraft's high gain communications antenna. Another major deployment test will check out the spacecraft's large solar arrays. The MRO was built for NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California. It is the next major step in Mars exploration and scheduled for launch from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in a window opening Aug. 10. The MRO is an important next step in fulfilling NASA’s vision of space exploration and ultimately sending human explorers to Mars and beyond.