KSC-2011-3969

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- On the Skid Strip at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida, workers unload the first stage of the United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket slated to launch NASA's Juno spacecraft from a Volga-Dnepr Antonov AN-124-100, a Ukranian/Russian cargo aircraft. Juno is scheduled to launch aboard an Atlas V rocket from Cape Canaveral, Fla., Aug. 5.The solar-powered spacecraft will orbit Jupiter's poles 33 times to find out more about the gas giant's origins, structure, atmosphere and magnetosphere and investigate the existence of a solid planetary core. For more information, visit www.nasa.gov/juno. Photo credit: NASA/Kim Shiflett