KSC-2012-1517

VANDENBERG AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. -- At Vandenberg Air Force Base's processing facility in California, this separation ring, installed on the aft end of NASA's Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array, or NuSTAR, is the mating interface between the spacecraft and the upper stage of the Orbital Sciences Pegasus XL rocket which will place it in orbit. Behind the ring is part of the turnover rotation fixture, the C-plate, which protects the spacecraft during mating operations. The conjoining of the spacecraft with the rocket is a major milestone in prelaunch 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