The payload fairing is ready to be lifted to Level 5 of Space Launch Complex-2 at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California.

The payload fairing that will protect NASA's National Polar-orbiting Operational Environmental Satellite System Preparatory Project (NPP) satellite as it launches aboard a United Launch Alliance Delta II is ready to be lifted to Level 5 of Space Launch Complex-2 at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California.

NPP will be positioned 512 miles above the Earth's surface and will orbit about 16 times each day to observe nearly the entire globe. The NPP mission for NASA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) is to measure Earth's atmospheric and sea surface temperatures, humidity sounding, land and ocean biological activity, and cloud and aerosol properties. For more information, visit www.nasa.gov/NPP. Photo credit: NASA/VAFB, Roy Allison