KSC-04pd1620
KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. - On Launch Pad 17-B, Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, the mobile service tower begins rolling back from the Boeing Delta II rocket with the Mercury Surface, Space Environment, Geochemistry and Ranging (MESSENGER) spacecraft aboard. This is the second launch attempt in two days after the first attempt Aug. 2 was postponed due to lightning potential from residual clouds that were associated with Tropical Storm Alex. The launch of MESSENGER on a seven-year journey to the planet Mercury is rescheduled for this date at 2:15:56 a.m. EDT at the opening of a 12-second launch window. MESSENGER will fly by Earth, Venus and Mercury several times to burn off energy before making its final approach to the inner planet on March 18, 2011. MESSENGER was built for NASA by the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory in Laurel, Md.
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NASA ID
KSC-04pd1620
Date Created
August 2, 2004
Center
KSC
Media Type
image
Location
Kennedy Space Center, FL
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