On Complex 17 B a crane lifts the second stage of the Delta 2 rocket off its transporter.

On Complex 17-B at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida, a crane lifts the second stage of the Delta 2 rocket off its transporter. The second stage will be lifted into the mobile service tower for mating with the first stage of the Delta 2, which is the launch vehicle for NASA's Kepler spacecraft. The Kepler mission is specifically designed to survey our region of the Milky Way galaxy to discover hundreds of Earth-size and smaller planets in or near the habitable zone and determine how many of the billions of stars in our galaxy have such planets. Results from this mission will allow us to place our solar system within the continuum of planetary systems in the Galaxy. NASA's planet-hunting Kepler mission is scheduled to launch no earlier than March 5, 2009. Photo credit: NASA/Jim Grossmann