Mars 2020 Centaur Lift and Mate

The single-engine Centaur upper stage for the United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket for NASA’s Mars Perseverance rover is lifted up inside the Vertical Integration Facility at Space Launch Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida on June 10, 2020. The Centaur will be attached to the rocket’s first stage. The Mars Perseverance rover is scheduled to launch atop the Atlas V 541 rocket from Pad 41 on July 20, 2020. The rover is part of NASA’s Mars Exploration Program, a long-term effort of robotic exploration of the Red Planet. The rover’s seven instruments will search for habitable conditions in the ancient past and signs of past microbial life on Mars. The Launch Services Program at Kennedy is responsible for launch management.