NASA's Tracking and Data Relay Satellite stands positioned between two pieces that make up the payload fairing.

NASA's Tracking and Data Relay Satellite, TDRS-K, stands positioned between two pieces that make up the payload fairing that will protect the spacecraft during launch and ascent into space. Technicians working inside the Astrotech payload processing facility in Titusville, Fla., near NASA’s Kennedy Space Center will perform the encapsulation. Launch of the TDRS-K on the United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket is planned for January 29, 2013. The TDRS-K spacecraft is part of the next-generation series in the Tracking and Data Relay Satellite System, a constellation of space-based communication satellites providing tracking, telemetry, command and high-bandwidth data return services. Photo credit: NASA/Frankie Martin