A prelaunch news conference was held at NASA Kennedy Space Center's Press Site for the Radiation Belt Storm Probes or RBSP mission.

A prelaunch news conference was held at NASA Kennedy Space Center’s Press Site in Florida for the Radiation Belt Storm Probes, or RBSP, mission. From left, are George Diller, public affairs specialist and news conference moderator, Michael Luther, deputy associate administrator for programs in NASA’s Science Mission Directorate, Tim Dunn, NASA launch director at Kennedy, Vernon Thorp, program manager, NASA missions, United Launch Alliance, Richard Fitzgerald, RBSP project manager at Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory in Laurel, Md., and Kathy Winters, launch weather officer with the 45th Weather Squadron at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida.

NASA’s RBSP mission will help us understand the sun’s influence on Earth and near-Earth space by studying the Earth’s radiation belts on various scales of space and time. RBSP will begin its mission of exploration of Earth’s Van Allen radiation belts and the extremes of space weather after its launch aboard an Atlas V rocket. Launch is targeted for Aug. 24. For more information, visit http://www.nasa.gov/rbsp. Photo credit: NASA/Glenn Benson