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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