The Space Infrared Telescope Facility (SIRTF) was due to soar into the skies from Cape Canaveral, Florida at 1:35 am (530 GMT) Monday, strapped to a Boeing Delta II rocket.

Launch was originally set for April, but was repeatedly postponed because of technical problems.

The 1.2-billion dollar project complements NASA's existing stable of super-powered telescopes orbiting the Earth: the Hubble Space Telescope, the Chandra X-ray Observatory and the Compton Gamma Ray Observatory.

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration calls its latest creation Hubble's infrared cousin.

Researchers plan to use the telescope to hunt for distant planets and other objects orbiting stars considered possible homes to an Earth-like environment, where life could have developed.

"With this mission, we will see the universe as it was billions of years ago, helping us pinpoint how and when the first objects formed, as well as their composition," said Anne Kinney, director of the astronomy and physics division at NASA headquarters in Washington.

The infrared sensors will look into some of the darkest corners of the universe -- places either too distant, too cold, or too shrouded in dust for existing telescopes to see.

Because light from the farthest reaches of the universe takes so long to travel to Earth, the images picked up by the telescope will show the universe as it was in the distant past.

SPACE.WIRE