NASA launches new infrared space telescope

WASHINGTON (AFP) Aug 25, 2003
NASA's new infrared space telescope, strapped to a Delta II rocket, soared into the sky over Florida early Monday on a mission to peek into the corners of the universe and unveil objects that have eluded existing observatories, officials said.

"Liftoff of the Delta II rocket with SIRTF, seeking hidden secrets of the evolution of our universe," a launch official exclaimed as the rocket blasted off from the Kennedy Space Center at Cape Canaveral, Florida.

The Space Infrared Telescope Facility (SIRTF) 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.

SPACE.WIRE