NASA's MAVEN (Mars Atmosphere and Volatile EvolutioN) spacecraft,
inside a payload fairing, is hoisted to the top of a United Launch
Alliance Atlas V rocket at the Vertical Integration Facility at Cape
Canaveral Air Force Station's Space Launch Complex 41. The move and
hoisting operations mark another major milestone for the launch team as
everything proceeds on schedule to launch Nov. 18, when the Atlas V will
lift MAVEN into space and on to Mars. The two-hour launch window
extends from 1:28 to 3:28 p.m. EST.
MAVEN is the first spacecraft devoted to exploring and understanding
the Martian upper atmosphere. It will orbit the planet in an elliptical
orbit that allows it to pass through and sample the entire upper
atmosphere on every orbit. The spacecraft will investigate how the loss
of Mars' atmosphere to space determined the history of water on the
surface.
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