KSC-2012-1515

VANDENBERG AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. -- At Vandenberg Air Force Base's processing facility in California, the forward end of NASA's Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array, or NuSTAR, spacecraft protrudes from the turnover rotation fixture used to rotate it into a horizontal position. Preparations are under way to join NuSTAR with the Orbital Sciences Pegasus XL rocket that will launch it into space, a major milestone in launch preparations. After processing of the rocket and spacecraft are complete, they will be flown on Orbital's L-1011 carrier aircraft from Vandenberg to the Ronald Reagan Ballistic Missile Defense Test Site on the Pacific Ocean’s Kwajalein Atoll for launch. The high-energy x-ray telescope will conduct a census of black holes, map radioactive material in young supernovae remnants, and study the origins of cosmic rays and the extreme physics around collapsed stars. For more information, visit http://www.nasa.gov/nustar. Photo credit: NASA/Randy Beaudoin, VAFB