A United Launch Alliance Delta 2 rocket is prepared for the launch of the Kepler Telescope for NASA Kepler, from Pad 17-B at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida, March 6, 2009. NASA Kepler is a NASA Discover mission, a space-borne telescope designed to search a nearby region of the Milky Way for Earth-size planets orbiting in the habitable zone of stars like the sun. There are two launch windows, 10:49 to 10:52 p.m. and 11:13 to 11:16 p.m. EST. REUTERS/Carleton Bailie/United Launch Alliance/Handout
The Kepler mission and its scope. NASA is preparing to launch the Kepler space telescope Friday to help answer a question that has boggled the minds of astronomers for centuries: is Earth the only habitable planet in the galaxy?(AFP/Graphic)