The search for worlds orbiting distant stars will intensify in the coming weeks when the American space agency NASA launches a spacecraft. Scientists hope the spacecraft will enlarge the known list of planets that they believe can support life as we know it. The space agency plans to launch the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite, or TESS, from the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. NASA will be using a Falcon 9 rocket from a private company, SpaceX, to send TESS into Earth orbit. Officials say the launch could take place as soon as April 16. They expect the satellite’s mission to last about two years and cost $337 million. The latest NASA astrophysics effort is designed to build on the work of the Kepler space telescope. Scientists used the telescope to discover most of the almost 3,500 exoplanets documented during the past 20 years. Their discovery completely changed one of the newest fields in space science.