Post Launch

 

ROCKET FIRE: What an amazing experience the NASA Tweetup has been. Two days of tours and presentations, culminating in a rocket launch that went off like clockwork. Here's a NASA press release summing up the launch: 

NASA began a historic voyage to Mars with the Nov. 26 launch of the Mars Science Laboratory (MSL), which carries a car-sized rover named Curiosity. Liftoff from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station aboard an Atlas V rocket occurred at 10:02 a.m. EST.

"We are very excited about sending the world's most advanced scientific laboratory to Mars," NASA Administrator Charles Bolden said. "MSL will tell us critical things we need to know about Mars, and while it advances science, we'll be working on the capabilities for a human mission to the Red Planet and to other destinations where we've never been."

The mission will pioneer precision landing technology and a sky-crane touchdown to place Curiosity near the foot of a mountain inside Gale Crater on Aug. 6, 2012. During a nearly two-year prime mission after landing, the rover will investigate whether the region has ever offered conditions favorable for microbial life, including the chemical ingredients for life.

"The launch vehicle has given us a great injection into our trajectory, and we're on our way to Mars," said MSL Project Manager Peter Theisinger of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, Calif. "The spacecraft is in communication, thermally stable and power positive."

The Atlas V initially lofted the spacecraft into Earth orbit and then, with a second burst from the vehicle's upper stage, pushed it out of Earth orbit into a 352-million-mile (567-million-kilometer) journey to Mars.

Our Tweetup group viewed the launch from a field near the Vehicle Assembly Building - about four miles away from the launch pad. Here's a video taken by someone from our spot: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B6VRflBzH-I&feature=share

There is a great pre-launch image gallery on NASA's Web site. And, of course NASA has up close (and even on rocket) footage worth checking out: http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/videogallery/index.html?media_id=122049781


And then there's a super cool video of MSL separating, leaving Earth's orbit:
http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/videogallery/index.html?media_id=122054061 

I have many videos and memories and images to share. Stay tuned ... 

 

 The historic Apollo launch pad