KSC-98pc1831
KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. -- Inside the gantry on Pad 17B, Cape Canaveral Air Station, the fairing for the upper stages of the Delta II rocket carrying the Mars Polar Lander waits to be lowered into the white room. The rocket will be used to launch the Mars Polar Lander on Jan. 3, 1999. The lander is a solar-powered spacecraft designed to touch down on the Martian surface near the northern-most boundary of the south pole in order to study the water cycle there. The lander also will help scientists learn more about climate change and current resources on Mars, studying such things as frost, dust, water vapor and condensates in the Martian atmosphere. It is the second spacecraft to be launched in a pair of Mars '98 missions. The first is the Mars Climate Orbiter, to be launched aboard a Delta II rocket from Launch Complex 17A in December 1998
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Details
NASA ID
KSC-98pc1831
Date Created
December 2, 1998
Center
KSC
Media Type
image
Location
Kennedy Space Center, FL
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