NASA WISE Telescope Launches

NASA WISE telescope was launched today at approximately 9:09 AM from California. If you’ve been following the launch, you know it was previously delayed.
WISE, stands for Wide Field Infrared Sky Explorer. And it has a mission for 10 months to map in incredible detail the sky in infrared. The observatory will scan the sky in 9 months before completing the mission.

NASA WISE telescope was launched Monday at 9:09 a.m. EST from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. The launching of the WISE telescope was already delayed due to a minor glitch.

Wide-Field Infrared Sky Explorer (WISE) was launched into space on a Delta-2 rocket, which produces about 200,000 pounds of thrust, and propelled the craft at over 15,000 miles per hour. Delta quickly broken the sound barrier, rapidly accelerating on the power of its first stage main engine and the three ground-lit strap-on solid-fuel boosters.

The $320 million WISE telescope has an ambitious 10-month mission to map the entire sky in infrared in unprecedented detail. Once in orbit above Earth, the observatory is expected to scan the sky 1 1/2 times in nine months before completing its mission.