Spacecraft for its move to a payload attach fitting that will be used to mate GLAST to the Delta II vehicle.

At the Astrotech payload processing facility, technicians begin lifting and moving NASA's Gamma-Ray Large Area Space Telescope, or GLAST, spacecraft for its move to a payload attach fitting that will eventually be used to mate GLAST to the Delta II launch vehicle. 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. A launch date still is to be determined. Photo credit: NASA/Jim Grossmann