NASA controllers successfully removed the protective dust cover from the camera lens of the recently launched Kepler space telescope April 7, a key step in preparations to begin the probe's planet-finding mission.rn"The cover released and flew away exactly as we designed it to do," said Kepler Project Manager James Fanson of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif. "This is a critical step toward answering a question that has come down to us across 100 generations of human history: 'Are there other planets like Earth, or are we alone in the galaxy?'"
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