NASA on May 5 blasted off its latest Mars lander, InSight, designed to perch on the surface and listen for “Marsquakes” ahead of eventual human missions to explore the Red Planet.
“Three, two, one, liftoff!” said a NASA commentator as the spacecraft launched on a dark, foggy morning atop an Atlas V rocket at 4.05 a.m. Pacific time (4.35 p.m. IST) from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, marking NASA’s first interplanetary launch from the U.S. west coast.