KSC-99pc01
KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. -- After launch tower retraction, the Boeing Delta II rocket carrying NASA's Mars Polar lander waits for liftoff, scheduled for 3:21 p.m. EST, at Launch Complex 17B, Cape Canaveral Air Station. 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
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Details
NASA ID
KSC-99pc01
Date Created
January 3, 1999
Center
KSC
Media Type
image
Location
Kennedy Space Center, FL
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