
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- NASA's Gravity Recovery and Interior Laboratory, or GRAIL, spacecraft is loaded onto a tractor-trailer for transport to the Astrotech payload processing facility in Titusville, Fla., where it will be processed for launch. An Air Force C-17 cargo plane flew the spacecraft from the Lockheed Martin plant in Denver, Colo., to the Shuttle Landing Facility at Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The United Launch Alliance Delta II rocket that will carry GRAIL into lunar orbit already is fully stacked at NASA's Space Launch Complex 17B and launch is scheduled for Sept. 8. The GRAIL mission is a part of NASA's Discovery Program. GRAIL will fly twin spacecraft in tandem orbits around the moon for several months to measure its gravity field. The mission also will answer longstanding questions about Earth's moon and provide scientists a better understanding of how Earth and other rocky planets in the solar system formed. For more information, visit http://science.nasa.gov/missions/grail/. Photo credit: NASA/Dimitri Gerondidakis
Most NASA images are in the public domain and free to use. Credit NASA as the source. Check NASA's media usage guidelines for details. Images featuring identifiable individuals may require additional permissions.
NASA ID
KSC-2011-3908
Date Created
May 20, 2011
Center
KSC
Media Type
image
Location
Kennedy Space Center, FL
Download this image in multiple resolutions. All NASA media are free for public use.
Large
1920px