SPACEPHOTOS

(01/05/2001) --- In the Spacecraft Assembly and Encapsulation Facility 2, workers place a protective barrier around the 2001 Mars Odyssey spacecraft. Odyssey will undergo final assembly and checkout in the SAEf-2, which includes installation of two of the three science instruments, integration of the three-panel solar array, and a spacecraft functional test. Odyssey, which arrived from Denver, Colo., Jan. 4, will be launched aboard a Boeing Delta II vehicle from Pad A, Complex 17, CCAFS. Launch is planned for April 7, 2001 the first day of a 21-day planetary window. The spacecraft will arrive at Mars on Oct. 20, 2001, for insertion into an initial elliptical capture orbit. Its final operational altitude will be a 250-mile-high, Sun-synchronous polar orbit. Mars Odyssey will spend two years mapping the planet’s surface and measuring its environment