KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. - On Launch Pad 17-B at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, the MESSENGER spacecraft is lowered into position for mating with the Boeing Delta II Heavy rocket. Liftoff is scheduled for Aug. 2. The spacecraft is expected to reach orbit around the planet 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 21, 2004