On Pad 17 B on Cape Canaveral Air Force Station a worker attaches the crane.

On Pad 17-B on Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, a worker attaches the crane to a solid rocket booster. The crane will raise the booster to a vertical position. When it has been raised, the booster will be lifted into the mobile service tower for mating with the Delta II rocket that will launch NASA's Gamma-ray Large Area Space Telescope, or GLAST, spacecraft. A series of nine strap-on solid rocket motors will help power the first stage. Because the Delta rocket is configured as a Delta II 7920 Heavy, the boosters are larger than those used on the standard configuration. The GLAST is a powerful space observatory that will explore the Universe's ultimate frontier, where nature harnesses forces and energies far beyond anything possible on Earth; probe some of science's deepest questions, such as what our Universe is made of, and search for new laws of physics; explain how black holes accelerate jets of material to nearly light speed; and help crack the mystery of stupendously powerful explosions known as gamma-ray bursts. Launch is currently planned for May 16 from Pad 17-B. Photo credit: NASA/Jim Grossmann