Cape Canaveral Air Force Station is lowered into the opening where the Delta II launch vehicle waits for mating.

On Launch Complex 17-B, Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, the payload canister with the Space Infrared Telescope Facility (SIRTF) inside is lowered into the opening where the Delta II launch vehicle waits for mating. SIRTF will obtain images and spectra by detecting the infrared energy, or heat, radiated by objects in space. Most of this infrared radiation is blocked by the Earth's atmosphere and cannot be observed from the ground. Consisting of an 0.85-meter telescope and three cryogenically cooled science instruments, SIRTF is one of NASA's largest infrared telescopes to be launched.