In this artist's concept, a two-stage United Launch Alliance Atlas V launch vehicle speeds the Mars 2020 spacecraft toward the Red Planet.

June 17, 2020

In this artist's concept, a two-stage United Launch Alliance (ULA) Atlas V launch vehicle speeds the Mars 2020 spacecraft toward the Red Planet. The rocket stands at 197 feet (60 meters) tall.

This will be the 11th Mars launch on an Atlas rocket and the fifth by the Atlas V following NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter in 2005, Curiosity rover in 2011, MAVEN orbiter in 2013 and InSight lander in 2018.

Charged with returning astronauts to the Moon by 2024, NASA will establish a sustained human presence on and around the Moon by 2028 through NASA's Artemis lunar exploration plans.

For more information about the mission, go to: https://mars.nasa.gov/mars2020/.

Credits

NASA/JPL-Caltech

ENLARGE

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