KSC-2009-1696

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. – At the Astrotech payload processing facility in Titusville, Fla., the top of the canister is lowered over NASA's Kepler spacecraft where it will be attached to the lower segments. The canister surrounding Kepler provides protection during the spacecraft's transport to the pad. The liftoff of Kepler aboard a Delta II rocket is currently targeted for 10:48 p.m. EST March 5 from Pad 17-B. Kepler is designed to survey more than 100,000 stars in our galaxy to determine the number of sun-like stars that have Earth-size and larger planets, including those that lie in a star's "habitable zone," a region where liquid water, and perhaps life, could exist. If these Earth-size worlds do exist around stars like our sun, Kepler is expected to be the first to find them and the first to measure how common they are. Photo credit: NASA/Troy Cryder

Date: 2009-02-18
Collection: KSC
Archive: NASA Image and Video Library
Type: photograph