NASA's Infrared Survey Explorer is lifted by crane mere inches from its test stand to determine its precise weight.

At the Astrotech processing facility on Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer, or WISE, is lifted by crane mere inches from its test stand to determine its precise weight.

The satellite will survey the entire sky at infrared wavelengths, creating a cosmic clearinghouse of hundreds of millions of objects which will be catalogued and provide a vast storehouse of knowledge about the solar system, the Milky Way, and the universe. Launch is scheduled for Dec. 7. Photo credit: NASA/Doug Kolkow