The payload canister with the Space Infrared Telescope Facility waits to be lifted up the tower on Launch Complex 17-B.

The payload canister with the Space Infrared Telescope Facility (SIRTF) inside waits to be lifted up the tower on Launch Complex 17-B, Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. SIRTF will be mated with the Delta II launch vehicle in the tower. 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.