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CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. --  At the Astrotech payload processing facility in Titusville, Fla., workers prepare NASA's Gamma-ray Large Area Space Telescope, or GLAST, spacecraft for star tracker sun shade installation.  The GLAST is a powerful space observatory that will explore the Universe's ultimate frontier, where nature harnesses forces and energies far beyond anything possible on Earth;  probe some of science's deepest questions, such as what our Universe is made of, and search for new laws of physics; explain how black holes accelerate jets of material to nearly light speed; and help crack the mystery of stupendously powerful explosions known as gamma-ray bursts. A launch date is still to be determined.  Photo credit: NASA/Cory Huston

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- At the Astrotech payload processing facility in Titusville, Fla., workers prepare NASA's Gamma-ray Large Area Space Telescope, or GLAST, spacecraft for star tracker sun shade installation. The GLAST is a powerful space observatory that will explore the Universe's ultimate frontier, where nature harnesses forces and energies far beyond anything possible on Earth; probe some of science's deepest questions, such as what our Universe is made of, and search for new laws of physics; explain how black holes accelerate jets of material to nearly light speed; and help crack the mystery of stupendously powerful explosions known as gamma-ray bursts. A launch date is still to be determined. Photo credit: NASA/Cory Huston