Media Briefing for Upcoming Launch of NASA'S Space Infrared Telescope Facility.

Byline: Jet Propulsion Laboratory

PASADENA, Calif., Aug. 19 (AScribe Newswire) -- The launch of NASA's Space Infrared Telescope Facility aboard a Boeing Delta II Heavy expendable launch vehicle is scheduled for Friday, August 22, at the opening of an instantaneous launch window that occurs at 10:37:29 p.m. Pacific Daylight Time (1:37:29 a.m. Eastern Daylight Time on August 23). Launch will occur from Pad 17-B on Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida.

The Space Infrared Telescope Facility marks the finale of NASA's Great Observatories Program, which includes the Hubble Space Telescope, the Chandra X-ray Observatory and the Compton Gamma Ray Observatory. Its unprecedented infrared sensitivity will allow astronomers to study the most distant, coldest, and most dust- obscured objects and processes in the universe.

The observatory's amazing ability to sleuth around for low-temperature objects will also aid in the search for planetary systems in the making, some of which may breed Earth-like planets. The mission is a cornerstone of NASA's Origins Program, which seeks to answer the questions, "Where did we come from? Are we alone?"

NASA has scheduled a media …