"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 Boeing Delta II Heavy rocket lifted off exactly on schedule at 1:35 am (535 GMT) and reached orbit, at a height of 89.99 nautical miles, eight minutes later, NASA officials said.

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.

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," Anne Kinney, director of the astronomy and physics division at NASA headquarters in Washington, explained ahead of the launch.

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