KSC-08pd4052

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- On Complex 17-B at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida, the second stage of the Delta 2 rocket for the launch of NASA's Kepler spacecraft is lifted alongside the mobile service tower. In the tower, the second stage will be mated to the first stage of the Delta 2. The Kepler mission is specifically designed to survey our region of the Milky Way galaxy to discover hundreds of Earth-size and smaller planets in or near the habitable zone and determine how many of the billions of stars in our galaxy have such planets. Results from this mission will allow us to place our solar system within the continuum of planetary systems in the Galaxy. NASA's planet-hunting Kepler mission is scheduled to launch no earlier than March 5, 2009. Photo credit: NASA/Jim Grossmann

Date: 2008-12-17
Collection: KSC
Archive: NASA Image and Video Library
Type: photograph