KSC-98pc1888
KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. -- Workers mate the Mars Polar Lander (top) to the Boeing Delta II rocket at Launch Complex 17B, Cape Canaveral Air Station. The rocket is scheduled to launch 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 Surveyor '98 missions. The first is the Mars Climate Orbiter, which was launched aboard a Delta II rocket from Launch Complex 17A on Dec. 11, 1998
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Details
NASA ID
KSC-98pc1888
Date Created
December 21, 1998
Center
KSC
Media Type
image
Location
Kennedy Space Center, FL
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