spacetoday.net: Delta launches SIRTF

Posted: Mon, Aug 25, 2003, 8:32 AM ET (1232 GMT)
Delta 2 Heavy launch of SIRTF (NASA/KSC)

A Delta 2 successfully launched early Monday an astronomy spacecraft that is the last in a series of orbiting "Great Observatories". The Delta 2 Heavy lifted off at 1:35:39 am EDT (0535:39 GMT) Monday from pad 17B at Cape Canaveral, Florida. The rocket's payload, the Space Infrared Telescope Facility (SIRTF), separated from the booster about 50 minutes after launch, having been placed into a heliocentric orbit that will gradually trail away from the Earth. The $1.2-billion spacecraft, 20 years in the making, will operate for at least two and a half years, conducting astronomical observations at infrared wavelengths. Project officials consider the spacecraft anywhere from one hundred to one million times more capable that any previous infrared telescope. The telescope will now undergo a 60-day checkout period followed by a 30-day scientific verification period, after which normal operations will begin. NASA plans to announce a new name for SIRTF shortly thereafter, when the first science results from the telescope are announced.