MER 2003/Athena Update Week Ending May 31, 2003

This is it: show time for MER-A. The spacecraft is on the launch

pad, healthy and ready to fly. The protective fairing that goes
around it at the top of the rocket was put in place over the
weekend. We’re working our way through all the pre-launch paperwork
and reviews… you can’t be too careful about this kind of thing!
But once that’s all done, we’ll be ready to go. And when it happens,
years of work in preparation for flight will come to a thundering
conclusion as our first Delta II climbs off of pad 17A. I know what
it’s going to look like, since I’ve been to Delta launches before.
But I have no idea how it’s going to feel