NASA’s Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) and its Curiosity rover have blasted off on an Atlas V rocket from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. The mission is now on its way to Mars. The historic launch took place on Saturday, November 26, 2011. The MSL spacecraft successfully separated from the Atlas V Centaur stage at 44 minutes 6 seconds after launch.

“The launch vehicle has given us a great injection into our trajectory, and we’re on our way to Mars,” said Mars Science Laboratory Project Manager Peter Theisinger of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif. “The spacecraft is in communication, thermally stable and power positive.”

In August of 2012, MSL’s Curiosity rover will make a careful and dramatic touchdown as it is lowered out of the martian sky by precision landing technology and a sky-crane system. After landing in Mars’s Gale Crater, Curiosity will begin a nearly two-year prime mission to investigate whether the region has ever offered conditions favorable for microbial life, including the chemical ingredients for life.

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