Launch Videos

(08/25/2003) --- KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, Fla. --- NASA's Space Infrared Telescope Facility (SIRTF) lifts off from Launch Pad 17-B, Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, on Aug. 25 at 1:35:39 a.m. EDT aboard a Delta II Heavy launch vehicle. SIRTF will obtain images and spectra by detecting the infrared energy, or heat, radiated by objects in space. Consisting of a 0.85-meter telescope and three cryogenically cooled science instruments, SIRTF will be the largest infrared telescope ever launched into space. It is the fourth and final element in NASA's family of orbiting "Great Observatories." Its highly sensitive instruments will give a unique view of the Universe and peer into regions of space that are hidden from optical telescopes.

(08/22/2003) --- KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, Fla. --- Preparations are under way to launch NASA's Space Infrared Telescope Facility (SIRTF) aboard a Delta II Heavy launch vehicle. SIRTF will obtain images and spectra by detecting the infrared energy, or heat, radiated by objects in space. Consisting of a 0.85-meter telescope and three cryogenically cooled science instruments, SIRTF will be the largest infrared telescope ever launched into space. It is the fourth and final element in NASA's family of orbiting "Great Observatories." Its highly sensitive instruments will give a unique view of the Universe and peer into regions of space that are hidden from optical telescopes.

(08/22/2003) --- KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, Fla. --- Preparations are under way to launch NASA's Space Infrared Telescope Facility (SIRTF) aboard a Delta II Heavy launch vehicle. SIRTF will obtain images and spectra by detecting the infrared energy, or heat, radiated by objects in space. Consisting of a 0.85-meter telescope and three cryogenically cooled science instruments, SIRTF will be the largest infrared telescope ever launched into space. It is the fourth and final element in NASA's family of orbiting "Great Observatories." Its highly sensitive instruments will give a unique view of the Universe and peer into regions of space that are hidden from optical telescopes.

(07/18/2003) --- KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, Fla. --- On Launch Complex 17-B, Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, the first stage of a Delta II rocket is lifted into the mobile service tower. The rocket is being erected to launch the Space InfraRed Telescope Facility (SIRTF). 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. 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.

(03/07/2003) --- KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, Fla. --- Processing begins on the Space Infrared Telescope Facility (SIRTF) in one of KSC's spacecraft hanagers. The last mission of NASA's Great Observatories program, SIRTF will obtain images and spectra by detecting the infrared energy, or heat, radiated by objects in space.

(03/06/2003) --- KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, Fla. --- The Space Infrared Telescope Facility (SIRTF) arrives at one of KSC's spacecraft hangers to begin preparations for launch. The last mission of NASA's Great Observatories program, SIRTF will obtain images and spectra by detecting the infrared energy, or heat, radiated by objects in space.