Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe
WMAP Launch
WMAP was constructed and tested at Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, MD. In the Spring of 2001 the spacecraft was trucked to Cape Canaveral for integration and launch. The WMAP team spent many long days working out details and snags. At the end of June 2001, all the hard work paid of in a near perfect, on time launch.
WMAP mounted to the third stage of the Delta rocket.
WMAP (mated to the third stage) lifted up the launch pad.
The Delta rocket fairing around WMAP.
WMAP rises from the tower in the official launch photo.
WMAP launched from Kennedy Space Center on June 30, 2001, at 3:46 p.m. EDT.
WMAP at L2 as photographed with the KPNO 4m telescope by Ian Dell'Antonio
