KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. - In the mobile service tower at Launch Complex 17-B, Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, workers oversee removal of the canister from around the MESSENGER (Mercury Surface, Space Environment, Geochemistry and Ranging) spacecraft. Scheduled to launch Aug. 2, MESSENGER will return to Earth for a gravity boost in July 2005, then fly past Venus twice, in October 2006 and June 2007. It is expected to enter Mercury orbit in March 2011. MESSENGER was built for NASA by the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory in Laurel, Md. Processing is being done at Astrotech Space Operations in Titusville, Fla.
Location Kennedy Space Center, FL
Date July 21, 2004