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Last Stop: Launch Pad
JPL launch vehicle manager Arden Acord gives the "thumbs up" as the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter reaches its final Earth-bound destination - Space Launch Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station.
In the pre-dawn hours of Thursday, July 28th, the spacecraft was transported inside its Atlas four-meter (13-foot) fairing to the Atlas Vertical Integration Facility at the launch pad.
In the background is Atlas V-401, tail number AV-007 stacked in the facility awaiting hoisting of the fairing and orbiter on top.
At the present time, the spacecraft is mechanically mated to the Centaur upper stage and electrical connections are underway.
Credit: NASA
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