KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. - The first Solid Rocket Booster (SRB) for the MESSENGER spacecraft launch is lifted up the mobile service tower at Pad 17-B, Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. The SRB will be mated to the Boeing Delta II Heavy rocket for the Aug. 2 launch 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