KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. - At Pad 17-B, Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, the first Solid Rocket Booster (SRB) for the MESSENGER spacecraft launch is held in a vertical position for lifting up the mobile service tower. The SRB will be mated to the Boeing Delta II Heavy rocket for the Aug. 2 launch of MESSENGER to the planet Mercury. The spacecraft is expected to reach orbit around Mercury in March 2011. MESSENGER was built for NASA by the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory in Laurel, Md.
Location Kennedy Space Center, FL
Date July 1, 2004