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T-10 days - InSight spacecraft installed atop Atlas V rocket ahead of launch. The first-ever interplanetary mission from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California is a step closer to launch this week as ULA technicians completed critical steps in the launch campaign. On Sunday, April 22, ULA completed a Wet Dress Rehearsal simulating the entire seven-hour countdown of the vehicle. NASA requires all planetary science missions to go through a WDR in order to eliminate any potential issues in the booster prior to launch. InSight was encapsulated inside the Atlas V’s 400-meter payload fairing in a  nearby processing facility during the WDR. The spacecraft was installed atop the rocket the following day, April 23. Atlas V will be flying in the 401 configuration, the smallest version of the launcher with a four-meter payload fairing and no solid rocket boosters attached to the core stage.

InSight is shown encapsulated within its cruise stage prior to encapsulation in the Atlas V’s payload fairing. The cruise stage will protect the spacecraft and provide umbilical connections during the six-month trek to the red planet.

Liftoff is scheduled for 4:05am PDT May 5, with a launch window extending until 6:05am. InSight has a two hour launch window every day from May 5 until June 8, when the orbits of Earth and Mars are no longer in the proper alignment for an efficient interplanetary trajectory. 

Regardless of the spacecraft’s launch date, InSight will land on the martian surface around 3pm EST November 26.

InSight, short for Interior Exploration using Seismic Investigations, Geodesy and Heat Transport, is the first-ever mission designed to study the interior of Mars. The stationary science platform will land in the Elysium Planitia region near Mars’ equator. 

A German-designed heat probe will dig 16 feet into the surface to detect interior thermal properties while a French-deisnged robotic arm will place a seismometer and other equipment on the surface nearby.