KSC-04pd1539
KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. - Inside the environmental curtain suspended around the MESSENGER (Mercury Surface, Space Environment, Geochemistry and Ranging) spacecraft while in the mobile service tower at Launch Complex 17-B, Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, a worker removes the protective material wrapped around MESSENGER. Visible at right is the sunshade that will protect MESSENGER’s instruments during exposure to the sun as it orbits Mercury. Scheduled to launch Aug. 2, MESSENGER will return to Earth for a gravity boost in July 2005, then fly past Venus twice, in October 2006 and June 2007. It is expected to enter Mercury orbit in March 2011. MESSENGER was built for NASA by the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory in Laurel, Md. Processing is being done at Astrotech Space Operations in Titusville, Fla.
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Details
NASA ID
KSC-04pd1539
Date Created
July 21, 2004
Center
KSC
Media Type
image
Location
Kennedy Space Center, FL
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