Boeing workers at Astrotech Space Operations in Titusville Fla. secure the first part of a transportation canister on the MESSENGER spacecraft.

Boeing workers at Astrotech Space Operations in Titusville, Fla., secure the first part of a transportation canister around the Delta II upper stage booster on the MESSENGER (Mercury Surface, Space Environment, Geochemistry and Ranging) spacecraft. Another panel waits in front of the work stand. MESSENGER will be transferred 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.