Work is under way preparing NASA's Interstellar Boundary Explorer or IBEX spacecraft for a trip to the runway.

In Hangar 1555 on Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, work is under way preparing NASA’s Interstellar Boundary Explorer, or IBEX, spacecraft and attached Pegasus XL rocket on its transporter for a trip to the runway. There, the rocket-spacecraft will be attached to the L-1011 aircraft. The IBEX satellite will make the first map of the boundary between the Solar System and interstellar space. IBEX is targeted for launch from the Kwajalein Atoll, a part of the Marshall Islands in the Pacific Ocean, on Oct. 19 aboard the Pegasus rocket dropped from under the wing of an L-1011 aircraft flying over the Pacific Ocean. The Pegasus will carry the spacecraft approximately 130 miles above Earth and place it in orbit. Photo credit: NASA/Randy Beaudoin, VAFB