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KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. -- In the launch tower on Launch Complex 17-B, Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, workers assist the mating of the Boeing Delta II second stage (above) with the first stage. The mating of the two stages will complete the erection of the launch vehicle for NASA's Space Infrared Telescope Facility. SIRTF will obtain images and spectra by detecting the infrared energy, or heat, radiated by objects in space. Most of this infrared radiation is blocked by the Earth's atmosphere and cannot be observed from the ground. Consisting of an 0.85-meter telescope and three cryogenically cooled science instruments, SIRTF is one of NASA's largest infrared telescopes to be launched.