NASA's Space Infrared Telescope Facility (SIRTF) lifts off from Launch Pad 17-B, Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, on Aug. 25, 2003 at 1:35:39 a.m. EDT. SIRTF will obtain images and spectra by detecting the infrared energy, or heat, radiated by objects in space. Consisting of a 0.85-meter telescope and three cryogenically cooled science instruments, SIRTF will be the largest infrared telescope ever launched into space. It is the fourth and final element in NASA’s family of orbiting “Great Observatories.” Its highly sensitive instruments will give a unique view of the Universe and peer into regions of space that are hidden from optical telescopes.
NASA or National Aeronautics and Space Administration
Taken on 25 August 2003
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