This artist rendition provided by NASA shows the Kepler space telescope. Kepler is designed to search for Earth-like planets in the Milky Way galaxy. The first opportunity to launch the unmanned Kepler space telescope aboard a Delta II rocket from the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida is Friday March 6, 2009 at 10:48 p.m. EST. (AP)

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The Kepler space telescope is on the launch pad at Cape Canaveral. At 10:49 tonight, it’s scheduled to go up.

Now, rockets go up and rockets come down. Some too early, like the atmospheric satellite that landed in the Antarctic drink last week. But assuming Kepler makes it up, it has a huge story to tell us. Essentially, whether or not we’re alone in the universe.

If Kepler spots a lot more Earth-like planets, odds are it’s a crowded cosmos of life out there. If not, we really are a lonely planet.

This hour, On Point: Is there anybody out there? We’ll talk about the Kepler telescope, its mission, and the ongoing search for life beyond Earth.

-Tom Ashbrook

Guests:

From Los Angeles we’re joined by Emily Lakdawalla, correspondent for Planetary.org, where she covers space exploration and space science for the Planetary Society Blog.

From Orlando, Florida, on his way to Cape Canaveral and the launch of the Kepler telescope, is Alan Boss. He’s a member of the Kepler Mission’s science team and an expert on extrasolar planets and planet formation. His new book is “The Crowded Universe: The Search for Living Planets.” (Read an excerpt.)

And joining us from London, Ontario, is Seth Shostak, senior astronomer at the SETI Institute, which has been searching for extraterrestrial life since 1960. His latest book is “Confessions of an Alien Hunter: A Scientist’s Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence.” (Read an excerpt.)

More links:

NASA’s Kepler Mission site offers a useful overview, a rich collection of multimedia, and much more.

Here are some of the online videos about the Kepler mission made available by NASA:

Robotic Mars exploration has been no picnic. Half of all Mars missions have ended in failure. But right now, the Mars Phoenix Lander is up there, well-landed, sending back astonishing images, and — it appears — shaking off its problems extending the eight-foot arm that will dig for ice.

The Phoenix is looking for conditions that would support life on Mars. But the bigger search for life “out there” goes way beyond the Martian north pole, to “weird life” and “exoplanets.”

This hour, On Point: The Phoenix has landed: the new mission to Mars, and the search for life beyond Earth.

-Tom Ashbrook

Guests:

Peter Smith, principal investigator and project leader of the Phoenix Mars Mission and a scientist at the University of Arizona’s Lunar and Planetary Laboratory.

Sara Seager, professor of planetary science and associate professor of physics at MIT.

Michael Meyer, lead scientist for NASA’s Mars Exploration Program.

Fifty years ago this week, Americans were smacked awake on space by the orbiting wonder called Sputnik. The Soviets were up there. We were not. And only a first foot on the moon could ease the shock. America was number one in space.

Fast forward to 2007, and the high frontier is looking like nobody’s backyard and everyone’s. China, India, Japan, Europe, even oil-rich Russia — they’re all talking about the moon, and more. President Bush has targeted Mars, but there’s fear the US could end up in the backseat of this century’s lift-off.

This hour, On Point: fifty years after Sputnik, the new race in space.

-Tom Ashbrook

Guests:

Joan Johnson-Freese, department chair of national security studies at the U.S. Naval War College, is author of “Space as a Strategic Asset.”

Andrew Chaikin, science writer and author of “A Man on the Moon: The Voyages of the Apollo Astronauts.”

Bill Anders, Apollo 8 astronaut, executive secretary of the National Aeronautics and Space Council under President Richard Nixon, and former CEO of General Dynamics.