Preparation for launch of the Genesis spacecraft is underway on Launch Complex 17-A, Cape Canaveral Air Force Station.

Despite a cloudy sky and forecast of rain, preparation for launch of the Genesis spacecraft is underway on Launch Complex 17-A, Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. The Mobile Service Tower begins rolling away from Genesis and its launch vehicle, the Boeing Delta II rocket . Genesis will be on a robotic NASA space mission to collect just 10 to 20 micrograms -- or the weight of a few grains of salt -- of solar wind, invisible charged particles that flow outward from the Sun -- and return them to Earth. This treasured smidgen of the Sun will be preserved in a special laboratory for study by scientists over the next century in search of answers to fundamental questions about the exact composition of our star and the birth of our solar system. The spacecraft is scheduled to be launched at 12:21 p.m. EDT, Aug. 3, 2001