The sun rises Saturday as the countdown was underway for launch of the Delta 2 rocket carrying GPS 2R-11 from pad 17B. Credit: Carleton Bailie/Boeing

For the Delta launch team at Cape Canaveral, there is little time to spare following Saturday's successful mission as workers refurbish pad 17B for its next mission.

NASA's MESSENGER space probe to orbit the planet Mercury is slated for liftoff May 11 from the seaside complex aboard a Boeing Delta 2-Heavy rocket. Assembly of the rocket's stages begins at the pad on March 31.

But before the first stage can be delivered to the pad, routine post-launch cleaning has to be performed after Saturday's fiery flight that carried a Global Positioning System satellite into orbit.

"We have about a week-and-a-half to basically scrub the pad down, take care of any damage that occurs from either fire or blast," said Lt. Col. Brad Broemmel, Air Force launch director and commander of the 1st Space Launch Squadron at the Cape.

"That is typically a two-week process. We've done it in as short as four or five days. So we believe we have the team primed and ready to do the maintenance required to be ready for MESSENGER."

MESSENGER must be launched during a 12-day period that opens May 11 when planetary conditions are right for its journey to begin.

Neighboring pad 17A is currently out of service for upgrades and maintenance. And MESSENGER must launch from pad 17B because that complex is equipped to handle the larger solid rocket motors used by its Delta 2-Heavy launcher.

Saturday's launch was the 111th for the Delta 2 rocket over the past 15 years, and marked the 56th consecutive successful flight dating to 1997.

In addition, it was the first Delta 2 to fly in 2004. The Cape expects a total of six Delta 2 launches this year including two more GPS satellite missions, NASA's Swift gamma-ray observatory this fall and the Deep Impact comet probe at year's end.

Three additional Delta 2s are slated to fly from Vandenberg Air Force Base, California, starting April 17 with NASA's long-delayed Gravity Probe-B mission to test predictions of Albert Einstein's general theory of relativity.

Video coverage for subscribers only:
   VIDEO: DELTA 2 ROCKET BLASTS OFF WITH GPS 2R-11 QT
   VIDEO: LONGER LENGTH LAUNCH MOVIE QT
   VIDEO: SPACECRAFT SEPARATION ANNOUNCED QT
   VIDEO: FIRST COUNTDOWN HALTED BY ALARM QT
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