File:KeplerSpacecraft3-6-2009.jpg

Summary
A timed exposure shows the exhaust of the Delta II rocket launching Kepler into space, Cocoa Beach, Florida, 06 March, 2009.

Managed jointly by JPL and NASA's Ames Research Center, it was launched from Cape Canaveral at 10:49 p.m. (EST) aboard a Delta II rocket. Kepler's telescope has the widest-field of vision ever put in space.

The craft is named for Johannes Kepler and its $590-million mission is to look for planets that show signs of water.

Official tube. Malcolm Denemark / AP Photo, found at: DayLife.com, All contents © copyright 1999-2009 Getty Images, Inc. All rights reserved.