Editing Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (section)

== Launch, trajectory, and orbit ==
{{multiple image | align =right| direction = vertical| width = 
| header   = Animation of WMAP's trajectory 
| image1   = Animation of Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe trajectory.gif
| caption1 = Oblique view
| image2   = Animation of Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe trajectory - Viewd from Earth.gif 
| caption2 = Viewed from Earth
| footer   = {{legend2| RoyalBlue| Earth}}{{·}}{{legend2|Magenta|WMAP}}
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The WMAP spacecraft arrived at the [[Kennedy Space Center]] on 20 April 2001. After being tested for two months, it was launched via [[Delta II]] 7425 launch vehicle from the [[Cape Canaveral Space Force Station]] on 30 June 2001.<ref name="news_facts" /><ref name="2008Limon" /> It began operating on its internal power five minutes before its launching, and continued so operating until the solar panel array deployed. The WMAP was activated and monitored while it cooled. On 2 July 2001, it began working, first with in-flight testing (from launching until 17 August 2001), then began constant, formal work.<ref name="2008Limon" /> Afterwards, it effected three Earth-Moon phase loops, measuring its [[sidelobe]]s, then flew by the Moon on 30 July 2001, en route to the Sun-Earth {{L2}} [[Lagrange point]], arriving there on 1 October 2001, becoming the first CMB observation mission posted there.<ref name="news_facts" />

Locating the spacecraft at [[Lagrange point|Lagrange 2]], ({{cvt|1500000|km}} from Earth) thermally stabilizes it and minimizes the contaminating solar, terrestrial, and lunar emissions registered. To view the entire sky, without looking to the Sun, the WMAP traces a path around {{L2}} in a [[Lissajous orbit]] ca. 1.0° to 10°,<ref name="2003Bennett" /> with a 6-month period.<ref name="news_facts" /> The telescope rotates once every 2 minutes 9 seconds (0.464 [[Revolutions per minute|rpm]]) and [[Precession|precesses]] at the rate of 1 revolution per hour.<ref name="2003Bennett" /> WMAP measured the entire sky every six months, and completed its first, full-sky observation in April 2002.<ref name="news_events" />

<gallery mode="packed" heights="180">
File:WMAP launch.jpg|WMAP launches from [[Cape Canaveral Air Force Station]], 30 June 2001
File:WMAP trajectory and orbit.jpg|The WMAP's trajectory and orbit
File:WMAP orbit.jpg|WMAP's orbit and sky scan strategy
</gallery>