In the Payload Hazardous Servicing Facility workers complete installing segments of the shipping canister around the base of the Phoenix Mars Lander.

In the Payload Hazardous Servicing Facility, workers complete installing segments of the shipping canister around the base of the Phoenix Mars Lander. After the canning, the Phoenix will be transferred to Launch Pad 17-A on Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida for launch on Aug. 3. Phoenix will land in icy soils near the north polar permanent ice cap of Mars and explore the history of the water in these soils and any associated rocks, while monitoring polar climate. Landing on Mars is planned in May 2008 on arctic ground where a mission currently in orbit, Mars Odyssey, has detected high concentrations of ice just beneath the top layer of soil. Photo credit: NASA/Kim Shiflett