Wrapped in a “double bag” of protective Llumalloy film, the MESSENGER spacecraft is loaded into a moving van Dec. 19 at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory in Laurel, Md. — where MESSENGER was designed and built — for the 20-mile trip to NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md. At Goddard, the Mercury-bound spacecraft will undergo testing in preparation for its May 2004 launch from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Fla.

Credit: Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory

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