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- Mars rover "curiosity" scale model on display in the press room at NASA
Soooo, you think your Thanksgiving travel was a long haul? The MSL (Mars Science Laboratory) aka the Mars rover "curiosity" left Saturday morning for an eight-and-a-half month trip to the planet Mars — I wonder, did we send some leftover turkey sandwiches in the off chance there is a welcoming committee? Probably not. There were over 13,000 people on hand to watch and cheer the launch of the Atlas V rocket that would deliver the 1-ton mobile science lab to the surface of Mars, there was a NASA Tweet-up event, as well as Will. I. Am from the Black Eyed Peas, on site to promote his S.Y.S.T.E.M.program, (Stimulating Youth Around Technology & Mathematics). He was accompanied by Leland Melvin, astronaut and NASA administrator for education. The sky was cloudy and the wind was perilously close to "scrub" velocity. A few members of the media (including us — hooray!) were escorted to the roof of the LCC building (launch control complex) about an hour before launch to get a better view of launch pad 41, as there is a treeline partially obscuring the launch pad from the ground-level press area. We set up our cameras, did a few test shots and tried to position equipment bags and anything else we could find to keep the wind from buffeting the cameras on tripods. (Long lenses hate movement.) About 20 minutes before launch, a rainbow appeared over the building — we took it as a celestial "go" sign. The scanner set to the launch control announced a four-minute countdown hold, then the various launch parameter stations checked in; everyone followed their log-in by a simple, but welcome word — go! At 10:02 a.m. the candle was lit and Curiosity rode Atlas to the cloudy skies. If all goes well, it will begin providing a historic view and study of Mars in August 2012. Many more photos and a video of the launch,as well as a behind-the-scenes view of the interior of the LCC can be viewed on our site — www.starznbarz.com/spaceshuttle.
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- Singer Will. I. Am. and astronaut Leland Melvin with two unidentified men at the press area in front of the countdown clock.
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- Atlas V rocket with Mars rover 'curiosity' encapsulated on top sit on launch pad 41
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- Curiosity rides Atlas to Mars.
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- The Atlas V rocket carrying the Mars rover winks as it enters the clouds above Cape Canaveral.
This article appears in Nov 24-30, 2011.