Thursday, August 04, 2011

READY FOR LAUNCH... The Juno spacecraft begins its 5-year journey to Jupiter tomorrow morning. The last time the Atlas V rocket was in the flight configuration shown below was back in January of 2006, when the 200-foot-tall launch vehicle blasted off with NASA's Pluto-bound New Horizons probe onboard. New Horizons will fly past the dwarf planet in July of 2015, while Juno will arrive at the solar system's largest world on July 4 the following year. Best of luck to both missions.

The Atlas V rocket carrying the Juno spacecraft stands poised for launch at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station's Pad 41, on August 4, 2011.
NASA / Kim Shiflett

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