VANDENBERG AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. – In Building 1555 at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, Orbital Sciences Corp. technicians connect the third stage of the Taurus XL rocket to the avionics of the temporary vehicle interface fixture. The fixture will come off once integrated with the encapsulated Glory spacecraft at the launch site. The Taurus XL rocket, targeted to lift off Feb. 23, 2011, from Vandenberg's Space Launch Complex 576-E, will take NASA's Glory satellite into low Earth. Glory is scheduled to collect data on the properties of aerosols and black carbon. It also will help scientists understand how the sun's irradiance affects Earth's climate. Photo credit: NASA/Randy Beaudoin, VAFB KSC-2010-5725