Atlas

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- In the Astrotech payload processing facility near Kennedy Space Center in Florida, a lifting device rests atop the nose of the Atlas payload fairing enclosing the Juno spacecraft during operations to lift the spacecraft onto a transporter for its trip to Space Launch Complex 41. 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. Juno is scheduled to launch aboard a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket from Cape Canaveral, Fla., Aug. 5.The solar-powered spacecraft will orbit Jupiter's poles 33 times to find out more about the gas giant's origins, structure, atmosphere and magnetosphere and investigate the existence of a solid planetary core. For more information, visit www.nasa.gov/juno. Photo credit: NASA/Frank Michaux