SPACEPHOTOS

(08/01/2001) -- After rollback of the Mobile Service Tower (right), the Delta II rocket with the Genesis spacecraft on top sits on Launch Complex 17-A, Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, ready for liftoff. A gray overcast sky forecasts a questionable launch effort due to weather conditions. Genesis will be on a robotic NASA space mission to collect just 10 to 20 micrograms -- or the weight of a few grains of salt -- of solar wind, invisible charged particles that flow outward from the Sun -- and return them to Earth. This treasured smidgen of the Sun will be preserved in a special laboratory for study by scientists over the next century in search of answers to fundamental questions about the exact composition of our star and the birth of our solar system. The Genesis launch is scheduled for Aug. 1, 2001, from CCAFS