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Take a look at the rollout of the Atlas V rocket carrying MAVEN from the Vertical Integration Facility to the launch pad at Space Launch Complex-41 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida.

MAVEN's launch team began today's countdown on schedule at 6:28 a.m. Managers from NASA and United Launch Alliance are overseeing today's preparations and launch of the MAVEN spacecraft to Mars atop an Atlas V-401 and Centaur upper stage. Liftoff remains on schedule for 1:28 p.m. EST, the start of a 2-hour launch window. Our continuous countdown …

Diapason Experiment:  Flight Engineer (FE)-5 Mastracchio set up and powered on the Diapason instrument for the final test run. This experiment studies nano-particle migration and capture achieved by very small thermal gradients. The particle size range allows the monitoring of combustion-generated pollution and the identification of atmospheric contaminants on-board ISS. Ocular Health (OH) Measurements: FE-6 …

The Atlas V rocket with MAVEN aboard will be rolled from the Vertical Integration Facility or VIF, pictured with the Atlas V inside, to the launch pad at Launch Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station on Saturday morning. Technicians will connect a battery of umbilicals and make the other connections necessary to set …

From installing the solar arrays and instruments to covering the high-gain antenna and packaging the spacecraft inside its payload fairing – not to mention all the intensive testing involved – see in about two minutes what took MAVEN engineers months of careful, precise work to accomplish before the spacecraft is sent into space.

There will be a prelaunch press conference for MAVEN at 1 p.m. EST today on NASA TV. Participants are Geoffrey Yoder, NASA deputy associate administrator, Science Mission Directorate; Omar Baez, NASA launch director; Vernon Thorp, United Launch Alliance's program manager for NASA missions; David Mitchell, NASA's MAVEN project manager; Guy Beutelschies, Lockheed Martin's MAVEN project manager; and Clay Flinn, launch weather officer, …

MAVEN cleared its last mission review today as NASA and contractor managers gave a "go" today at the Launch Readiness Review to proceed to launch Monday at 1:28 p.m. EST, the beginning of a 2-hour launch window for the Mars-bound spacecraft. The weather forecast for Monday remains at a 60 percent change of acceptable conditions …

Selectable Optical Diagnostics Instrument (SODI) Experiment Preparation:  Flight Engineer (FE)-3 Hopkins reviewed SODI setup procedures, activated the Microgravity Science Glovebox (MSG) facility and set up the SODI core hardware and experiment-specific hardware in the MSG Work Volume.  These activities allow performance of an optical checkout prior to the installation of the SODI Diffusion Coefficient in …

Controllers turned on the MAVEN spacecraft today as the spacecraft and the Atlas V rocket that will send it to Mars continue on track for launch Monday at 1:28 p.m. EST from Space Launch Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. The NASA and United Launch Alliance launch teams performed a successful …