A morning hailstorm at Vandenberg Air Force Base leaves is being prepared for launch in the mobile service tower.

A morning hailstorm at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California leaves in its wake a rainbow over Space Launch Complex 2 where the United Launch Alliance Delta II rocket for NASA's Orbiting Carbon Observatory-2 mission, or OCO-2, is being prepared for launch in the mobile service tower.

Launch is scheduled for July 1, 2014. The observatory will collect precise global measurements of carbon dioxide in the Earth's atmosphere and provide scientists with a better idea of the chemical compound's impacts on climate change. Scientists will analyze this data to improve our understanding of the natural processes and human activities that regulate the abundance and distribution of this important atmospheric gas. To learn more about OCO-2, visit http://oco.jpl.nasa.gov. Photo credit: NASA/Randy Beaudoin