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In the Payload Hazardous Servicing Facility at NASAs Kennedy Space Center, a worker guides the gimbal across the floor to the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) in the background. The gimbal will be installed on the MRO solar panel. A gimbal is an appliance that allows an object to remain horizontal even as its support tips. In the PHSF, the spacecraft will undergo multiple mechanical assembly operations and electrical tests to verify its readiness for launch. A major deployment test will check out the spacecrafts large solar arrays. The MRO was built by Lockheed Martin for NASAs Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California. It is the next major step in Mars exploration and scheduled for launch from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in a window opening Aug. 10. The MRO is an important next step in fulfilling NASAs vision of space exploration and ultimately sending human explorers to Mars and beyond.