The Kepler spacecraft lifted off March 6, 2009 aboard a Delta II rocket from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. Launch occurred at 10:49 p.m. EST.
Kepler's Mission The centuries-old quest for other worlds like our Earth has been rejuvenated by the intense excitement and popular interest surrounding the discovery of hundreds of planets orbiting other stars. The Kepler Mission is specifically designed to survey our region of the Milky Way galaxy to discover hundreds of Earth-size and smaller planet and determine the fraction of the hundreds of billions of stars in our galaxy that might have such planets.
Loading...
Launch Coverage Team
Live Coverage Team Blog Updates: Steven Siceloff Site Updates: Anna Heiney Video Uploads/Captions: Elaine Marconi Quality Control: Rebecca Sprague Photo Gallery: Elaine Marconi Video Production: Aly Lee Video Capture/Editing: Chris Chamberland, Michael Chambers and Gianni Woods