At Space Launch Complex 17B on Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida, the second half of the clamshell-shaped Delta payload fairing swings into place around NASA's twin Gravity Recovery and Interior Laboratory spacecraft under the scrutiny of a spacecraft technician.
At Space Launch Complex 17B on Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida, the second half of the clamshell-shaped Delta payload fairing swings into place around NASA’s twin Gravity Recovery and Interior Laboratory spacecraft under the scrutiny of a spacecraft technician.
The fairing will protect the spacecraft from the impact of aerodynamic pressure and heating during ascent and will be jettisoned once the spacecraft is outside the Earth’s atmosphere.
Image credit: NASA/Jim Grossmann
Aug. 24, 2011