Quick Facts

Mission:

Launched: 3/6/2009 10:49:57 pm EST

Launch Site: Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida, Pad 17B

Launch Vehicle: United Launch Alliance Delta II (7925-10L) with Star 48 upper stage

Fuel: Nine strap-on solid rocket motors
First stage uses kerosene and liquid oxygen.
Second stage uses hydrazine and nitrogen tetroxide.

Orbit: Earth-trailing heliocentric

Orbital Period: 371 days

Mission Duration: 3.5 years

Spacecraft:

Dimensions:
2.7 meters (9ft) diameter
4.7 meters (15.3 ft) high

Weight:
1052.4 kg (2,320.1 lbs) at launch

Consists of:

• Spacecraft- 562.7 kg (1240.5 lbs)
• Photometer- 478 kg (1043.9 lbs)
• Hydrazine Propellant- 11.7 kg (25.8 lbs)

Photometer:

The sole Kepler instrument is a photometer- it had a wide field view of .95-meter (37 inch) aperture Schmidt type telescope with a 1.4-meter (55 inch) primary mirror. Kepler’s photometer has a field of view 33,000 times greater than the Hubble Space Telescope. The photometer features a focal plane array with more than 95 million pixels.  The focal plane array is the largest camera NASA has ever flown in space.