In the Astrotech payload processing facility sits uncovered before its move to a work stand for a checkout of the scientific instruments aboard.

In the Astrotech payload processing facility, NASA's Gamma-Ray Large Area Space Telescope, or GLAST, sits uncovered before its move to a work stand in the facility for a complete checkout of the scientific instruments aboard. The telescope will launch aboard a Delta II rocket May 16 from Launch Pad 17-B on Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. A powerful space observatory, the GLAST will explore the most extreme environments in the universe, and answer questions about supermassive black hole systems, pulsars and the origin of cosmic rays. It also will study the mystery of powerful explosions known as gamma-ray bursts. Photo credit: NASA/Kim Shiflett