KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. - A solid rocket booster (SRB) is lifted to vertical on Launch Complex 17-B, Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. The SRB will be attached to the Delta II Heavy rocket that will launch the Space Infrared Telescope Facility (SIRTF). The Delta II Heavy features nine 46-inch-

Credit lineKENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. - A solid rocket booster (SRB) is lifted to vertical on Launch Complex 17-B, Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. The SRB will be attached to the Delta II Heavy rocket that will launch the Space Infrared Telescope Facility (SIRTF). The Delta II Heavy features nine 46-inch-diameter, stretched SRBs. Consisting of three cryogenically cooled science instruments and an 0.85-meter telescope, 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.. NASA/KSC, 2003-07-22. Public domain. ID: KSC-03pd2149.