Launch of NASA's Curiosity Rover
With NASA's Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) spacecraft sealed inside its payload fairing, the United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket rides a tall pillar of smoke and flames as it soars over Space Launch Complex-41 on Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida, after liftoff at 10:02 a.m. EST Nov. 26.
MSL's components include a car-sized rover, Curiosity, which has 10 science instruments designed to search for signs of life, including methane, and help determine if the gas is from a biological or geological source.
Credit: NASA/Ken Thornsley
Image Number: KSC-2011-8036
Date: November 26, 2011
Launch of NASA's Curiosity Rover
With NASA's Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) spacecraft sealed inside its payload fairing, the United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket rides a tall pillar of smoke and flames as it soars over Space Launch Complex-41 on Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida, after liftoff at 10:02 a.m. EST Nov. 26.
MSL's components include a car-sized rover, Curiosity, which has 10 science instruments designed to search for signs of life, including methane, and help determine if the gas is from a biological or geological source.
Credit: NASA/Ken Thornsley
Image Number: KSC-2011-8036
Date: November 26, 2011