KSC-2012-4303

TITUSVILLE, Fla. - Inside the Astrotech payload processing facility in Titusville, Fla. near NASA’s Kennedy Space Center, technicians move one half of the payload faring into position for encapsulation with the two Radiation Belt Storm Probes, or RBSP, spacecraft. The other half, with the RSBP in position, is seen in the background to the right. The fairing will house and protect the RBSP during liftoff and flight through the atmosphere aboard an Atlas V rocket. NASA’s RBSP mission will help us understand the sun’s influence on Earth and near-Earth space by studying the Earth’s radiation belts on various scales of space and time. RBSP will begin its mission of exploration of Earth’s Van Allen radiation belts and the extremes of space weather after its liftoff aboard a United Launch Alliance Atlas V from Space Launch Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Fla. Liftoff is targeted for Aug. 23, 2012. For more information, visit http://www.nasa.gov/rbsp. Photo credit: NASA/ Kim Shiflett