KEY TERMS

• • Payload fairing

    The fairing of a launch vehicle is the cone-shaped section at the front end (the nosecone). The payload fairing protects the spacecraft within (the rocket’s payload) from weather and contamination on the ground prior to launch and from friction with the atmosphere during flight. Once the rocket has reached a height above most of Earth’s atmosphere, the payload fairing splits in half and falls away, landing in the ocean.