KSC-2009-1105

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- At the Astrotech payload processing facility in Titusville, Fla., a Ball Aerospace and Technologies Corp. technician Phil Mislinski checks data from the light sensor test conducted on NASA's Kepler spacecraft. Ball Aerospace was responsible for the flight segment design and fabrication. A NASA Discovery mission, Kepler 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. After processing at Astrotech, Kepler will be carried to its launch pad at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station.NASA's planet-hunting Kepler mission is scheduled to launch no earlier than March 5 atop a United Launch Alliance Delta II rocket. Photo credit: NASA/Kim Shiflett

Date: 2009-01-12
Collection: KSC
Archive: NASA Image and Video Library
Type: photograph