MAVEN Launch

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The MAVEN Countdown is Underway

An Atlas V rocket is being prepared for liftoff at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station's Space Launch Complex 41.The mission is to boost the Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution, or MAVEN, spacecraft on a 10-month journey to explore the Red Planet's climate history.

Credit: NASA's Kennedy Space Center

Source: NASA/Kennedy - Multimedia

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Atlas V with MAVEN Lift off! On time and at the first attempt.

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Liftoff of MAVEN

An Atlas V rocket lifts off at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station's Space Launch Complex 41.The mission is to send the Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution, or MAVEN, spacecraft on a 10-month journey to explore the Red Planet's climate history.

Credit: NASA's Kennedy Space Center

Source: NASA/Kennedy - Multimedia

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NASA Launches Mission to Study Upper Atmosphere of Mars

A NASA mission that will investigate how Mars lost its atmosphere and abundant liquid water launched into space at 1:28 p.m. EST Monday from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida.

The agency's Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution (MAVEN) spacecraft separated from an Atlas V Centaur rocket's second stage 53 minutes after launch. The solar arrays deployed approximately one hour after launch and currently power the spacecraft. MAVEN now is embarking on a 10-month interplanetary cruise before arriving at Mars next September.

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MAVEN Separates from Centaur Upper Stage

Following liftoff at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station's Space Launch Complex 41, the Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution, or MAVEN, spacecraft separates from the Centaur upper stage as it begins a 10-month journey to explore the Red Planet's climate history.

Credit: NASA's Kennedy Space Center

Source: NASA/Kennedy - Multimedia

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NASA Manager Discusses MAVEN Launch

Following liftoff from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station's Space Launch Complex 41, the Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution, or MAVEN, spacecraft is on its way to the Red Planet. NASA officials discuss the launch and the mission.

Credit: NASA's Kennedy Space Center

Source: NASA/Kennedy - Multimedia

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NASA Administrator Congratulates MAVEN Launch Team

Following liftoff of the Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution, or MAVEN, spacecraft from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, NASA Administrator Charles Bolden congratulated the agency and contractor launch team. (Note: Not optimum sound quality.)

Credit: NASA's Kennedy Space Center

Source: NASA/Kennedy - Multimedia

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MAVEN launch—multiple angles

On November 18, 2013, at 1:28 p.m. (EST), the MAVEN spacecraft rocketed away from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station and Space Launch Complex 41 atop a United Launch Alliance Atlas V booster. The picture-perfect lift off was captured from a variety of angles adjacent to the launch pad and spread across NASA's Kennedy Space Center.

The launch began a 10-month journey to Mars for MAVEN, where it will enter orbit on September 22, 2014, and become the first mission devoted to understanding the processes involved in the evolution of the planet's upper atmosphere. Doing so will add a critical piece to the puzzle of Mars' climate history and help to answer the question of what happened to the once abundant water present on the ancient Martian surface and the denser atmosphere that made it possible.

Credit: NASA

Source: University of Colorado, MAVEN site - Multimedia