NASA Insight Launch to Mars is Saturday May 5 2018 from Vandenberg Air Force Base in Lompoc California.
Your first opportunity to view the launch is at 4:05am on May 5 2018 in the West Coast.
The two-hour launch window will open on May 5 at 4:05am pst (7:05 a.m. EDT).
InSight’s launch period is May 5 2018 through June 8 2018.
This is the first launch to another planet from the West Coast.
A whole new region of the country will witness the start of an interplanetary journey when InSight soars into predawn skies.
InSight, for Interior Exploration using Seismic Investigations, Geodesy and Heat Transport, will launch aboard a United Launch Alliance (ULA) Atlas V rocket.
InSight will study the deep interior of Mars to learn how all rocky planets formed, including Earth and its Moon.
The lander’s instruments include a seismometer to detect marsquakes, and a probe that will monitor the flow of heat from the planet’s interior.
The ULA rocket will carry the spacecraft over the Channel Islands just off the California Coast and continue climbing out over the Pacific, shadowing the coastline south beyond Baja California.
InSight’s Atlas will reach orbit about 13 minutes after launch, when the rocket is about 1,200 miles (1,900 kilometers) northwest of Isabella Island, Ecuador.
NASA will be landing on Mars in the western Elysium Planitia region on Monday November 26 2018 around noon Pacific time.
You will be able to watch a live stream of this landing.
NASA Insight Launch Live Stream Options
