Close-up of Atlas V

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- The NASA and Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) logos appear above the American flag and Atlas logo on the payload fairing atop the 197-foot-tall United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket. Enclosed inside the fairing is the MSL spacecraft, awaiting its launch on a mission to the Red Planet. At 8 a.m., the rocket rolled out of the Vertical Integration Facility at Space Launch Complex 41 on Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida, arriving at the launch pad at 8:40 a.m. Liftoff is planned during a launch window which extends from 10:02 a.m. to 11:45 a.m. EST on Nov. 26. MSL's components include a car-sized rover, Curiosity, which has 10 science instruments designed to search for signs of life, including methane, and help determine if the gas is from a biological or geological source.

More information about Curiosity is online at: http://www.nasa.gov/msl or http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/msl.