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KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. -- On the launch tower at Launch Complex 17-A, Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, technicians prepare to mate the Comet Nucleus Tour (CONTOUR) spacecraft (above) to the Boeing Delta II rocket (below). CONTOUR will provide the first detailed look into the heart of a comet -- the nucleus. Flying as close as 60 miles (100 kilometers) to at least two comets, the spacecraft will take the sharpest pictures yet of a nucleus while analyzing the gas and dust that surround these rocky, icy building blocks of the solar system. Launch of CONTOUR is scheduled for July 1, 2002