Boeing workers at Astrotech Space Operations in Titusville Fla. prepare to lift the upper canister.

Boeing workers at Astrotech Space Operations in Titusville, Fla., prepare to lift the upper canister (at left) and move it over to the MESSENGER (Mercury Surface, Space Environment, Geochemistry and Ranging) spacecraft. The canister will be attached to the lower protective panels around the Delta II upper stage booster for the transportation of MESSENGER to Launch Pad 17-B at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Fla. Liftoff of MESSENGER aboard a Boeing Delta II Heavy rocket is scheduled for Aug. 2. The spacecraft is expected to reach orbit around the planet in March 2011. MESSENGER was built for NASA by the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory in Laurel, Md.