KSC-2009-2908

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. –– On Cape Canaveral Air Force Station's Launch Complex 41, the Centaur upper stage is raised from its transporter. When it is vertical, it will be lifted into the Vertical Integration Facility for installation onto the Atlas V first stage, already in the tower. The Atlas V/Centaur is the launch vehicle for NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, or LRO, and NASA's Lunar CRater Observation and Sensing Satellite, known as LCROSS. LCROSS and LRO are the first missions in NASA's plan to return humans to the moon and begin establishing a lunar outpost by 2020. Photo credit: NASA/Jack Pfaller