The Boeing Delta II second stage arrives to complete the erection of the launch vehicle for NASA's Space Infrared Telescope Facility.

The Boeing Delta II second stage arrives on Launch Complex 17-B, Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, to complete the erection of the launch vehicle for NASA's Space Infrared Telescope Facility. SIRTF will obtain images and spectra by detecting the infrared energy, or heat, radiated by objects in space. Most of this infrared radiation is blocked by the Earth's atmosphere and cannot be observed from the ground. Consisting of an 0.85-meter telescope and three cryogenically cooled science instruments, SIRTF is one of NASA's largest infrared telescopes to be launched.