SPACEPHOTOS

(12/17/1998) --- In the Spacecraft Assembly and Encapsulation Facility-2 (SAEF-2), workers mate the Mars Polar Lander to the third stage of the Boeing Delta II rocket before it is transported to Launch Pad 17B, Cape Canaveral Air Station. The lander, which will be launched on Jan. 3, 1999, is a solar-powered spacecraft designed to touch down on the Martian surface near the northern-most boundary of the south pole in order to study the water cycle there. The lander also will help scientists learn more about climate change and current resources on Mars, studying such things as frost, dust, water vapor and condensates in the Martian atmosphere. It is the second spacecraft to be launched in a pair of Mars '98 missions. The first is the Mars Climate Orbiter, which was launched aboard a Delta II rocket from Launch Complex 17A on Dec. 11, 1998