Are you ready to watch the live coverage of NASA’s InSight mission to Mars? Join me online.
Main mission events and planned schedule:
Launch Window at Vandenberg Air Force Base, California: May 5 – June 8, 2018
First planned attempt to launch: May5, 2018 at 07:05 am ET (13:05 pm CEST)
Landing on Mars: November 26, 2018
Note: the live stream you can watch below:
If there are any question that you think I can answer to you, feel free to ask in the discussion below.
Some basic information about InSight and the upcoming launch (source: NASA)
InSight is scheduled to launch from Vandenberg Air Force Base on the central coast of California in May 2018.
The mission’s launch period is May 5 through June 8, 2018, with daily launch windows that last two hours per day. Launch opportunities are set five minutes apart during each date’s launch window. The first opportunity begins at 4:05 a.m. Pacific Standard Time on May 5.
InSight will launch from Launch Complex 3 and ride atop an Atlas V-401 rocket provided by United Launch Alliance, Centennial Colorado, a joint venture of Boeing Co. and Lockheed Martin Corp.
The Atlas V is one of the biggest rockets available for interplanetary flight. This is the same type of rocket that launched the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter in 2005.
The launch is only the beginning; the trip to Mars takes about six months. The journey is about 485 million milometers (301 million miles).
No matter at what particular time and date InSight launches during its launch windows, its date with Mars is set for November 26, 2018.
Are your name on board of InSight? I can tell you that I am there 🙂
Some interesting external links:
External video streams:
Planetary Science Blog 