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Workers prepare to don SCAPE suits for the fueling of the Comet Nucleus Tour (CONTOUR) spacecraft

Description: KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. -- Workers prepare to don SCAPE suits for the fueling of the Comet Nucleus Tour (CONTOUR) spacecraft in the Spacecraft Assembly and Encapsulation Facility 2 (SAEF-2). SCAPE refers to Self-Contained Atmospheric Protective Ensemble. CONTOUR was intended to provide the first detailed look into the heart of a comet -- the nucleus. Flying as close as 60 miles (100 kilometers) to at least two comets, the spacecraft planned to take the sharpest pictures yet of a nucleus while analyzing the gas and dust that surround them. CONTOUR launched aboard a Boeing Delta II rocket July 3, 2002, from Launch Complex 17-A, Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, but failed shortly after.

 

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Credit: NASA

Image Number: KSC-02PD-0 958

Date: June 6, 2002

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Uploaded on June 6, 2019
Taken on June 6, 2002