Video: Preparing Delta 2 and SMAP for flight

This narrated footage shows the preparations that shuttle Atlantis and the mission payloads underwent at Kennedy Space Center for launch on STS-135 to the International Space Station.

From weather forecasting to agricultural benefits, a new NASA mission launching this week will provide unprecedented resolution, accuracy and coverage of soil moisture on a world-wide basis every three days for the next three years.

Installation of the Delta 2 rocket’s nose cone was completed Tuesday in the cleanroom of Vandenberg’s Space Launch Complex 2 gantry as preparations continue for the SMAP mission’s liftoff next Thursday.