An artist's rendering of a rocket launching with the InSight spacecraft later this May. Credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech

NASA’s next mission to Mars - the Interior Exploration using Seismic Investigations, Geodesy and Heat Transport spacecraft (InSight) - is scheduled to launch as early as Saturday, May 5, from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. InSight’s liftoff aboard a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket from Space Launch Complex-3 is targeted for 4:05 a.m. PDT (7:05 a.m. EDT) at the opening of a two-hour launch window, making it also the first planetary mission to take off from the West Coast.

Launch coverage will begin on NASA Television and the agency’s website at 3:30 a.m. PDT.

InSight will be the first mission to peer deep beneath the Martian surface, studying the planet's interior by measuring its heat output and listening for marsquakes. It will use the seismic waves generated by marsquakes to develop a map of the planet’s deep interior. The resulting insight into Mars’ formation will help us better understand how other rocky planets, including Earth, were and are created.

Launching on the same rocket as InSight is a separate NASA technology experiment known as Mars Cube One (MarCO). These two mini-spacecraft are the first test of miniaturized CubeSat technology in deep space. They are designed to test new communications and navigation capabilities for future missions and may aid InSight communications.

NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, manages the InSight mission for the agency’s Science Mission Directorate  (SMD) in Washington. InSight is part of NASA's Discovery Program, managed by the Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama. The spacecraft, including cruise stage and lander, was built and tested by Lockheed Martin Space in Denver. Several European partners, including France's space agency, the Centre National d'Étude Spatiales, and the German Aerospace Center, are supporting the mission. United Launch Alliance of Centennial, Colorado, is providing the Atlas V launch service. NASA’s Launch Services Program, based at its Kennedy Space Center in Florida, is responsible for launch management. The MarCOs were built by JPL, which manages InSight and MarCO for NASA. They were funded by both JPL and NASA's SMD.

The deadline for media to apply for accreditation for this launch has passed. There are two official public viewing sites in Lompoc (one at the Lompoc Airport and the other at St. Mary’s Episcopal Church) that are open to all. For more information on these public sites, visit: https://mars.nasa.gov/insight/mission/timeline/launch/watch-in-person/. To arrange an interview off Vandenberg AFB, please contact the JPL media relations representative in Lompoc at 626-864-0552 and 626-773-0370, or the JPL Media Relations office in Pasadena at 818-354-5011.

L-2 Day (Thursday, May 3)

InSight Prelaunch Briefing

A prelaunch mission briefing will be held at 1 p.m. PDT at building 836 and air live on NASA Television and the agency’s website.

Participants:

• Thomas Zurbuchen, associate administrator for the Science Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters
• Bruce Banerdt, InSight principal investigator at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory
• Tom Hoffman, InSight project manager at JPL
• Annick Sylvestre-Baron, deputy project manager for InSight seismometer investigation at France's space agency, the Centre National d'Études Spatiales
• Philippe Lognonné – InSight seismometer investigation lead at the Institut de Physique du Globe de Paris in France
• Tilman Spohn, investigation lead at the German Aerospace Center (DLR) for the Heat Flow and Physical Properties Probe (HP3), an instrument on InSight
• Andrew Klesh, MarCO chief engineer at JPL
• Anne Marinan, MarCO systems engineer at JPL
• Stu Spath, InSight program manager at Lockheed Martin Space Systems
• Tim Dunn, launch director with NASA’s Launch Services Program
• Scott Messer, ULA program manager for NASA launches
• Col. Michael Hough, commander of the 30th Space Wing at Vandenberg
• 1st Lt. Kristina Williams, weather officer for the 30th Space Wing

Accredited news media who plan to attend the briefing should confirm their participation with 2nd Lt. Amy Rasmussen, 30th Space Wing public affairs officer, at amy.rasmussen@us.af.mil no later than 10 a.m. PDT, Monday, April 30.

Accredited media should meet at the Hawk’s Nest off Highway 1 (about a mile south of the Santa Maria Gate) at 11 a.m. PDT to be escorted. Media must present a driver’s license/passport to receive a base pass.

Media workspace will be available from noon to 4 p.m. PDT in a room adjacent to the briefing.

To participate by phone in the briefing, media must contact JoAnna Wendel, joanna.r.wendel@nasa.gov by noon PDT on Thursday, May 3. Media and the public also may ask questions during the event using #askNASA.

L-1 Day (Friday, May 4)

Remote Camera Setup

There will be an opportunity for news media to establish sound-activated/timer-set remote cameras to photograph the Atlas V liftoff with InSight at Space Launch Complex-3. Media that do not have a remote camera to set up may not participate in this event.

Accredited media wishing to attend this activity should confirm their participation with 2nd Lt. Amy Rasmussen, 30th Space Wing public affairs officer, at amy.rasmussen@us.af.mil no later than 10 a.m. PDT, Monday, April 30.

Accredited media should meet at the Vandenberg south gate parking lot on California State Road 246 and 13^th Street at 3:30 p.m. PDT to be escorted. Media must present a driver’s license/passport to receive a base pass.

News Media Launch Pad Mobile Service Tower Photo Opportunity

There will be an opportunity for news media to photograph tower rollback at the Space Launch Complex-3. Space is limited.

Media wishing to attend this activity should confirm their participation with 2nd Lt. Amy Rasmussen, 30th Space Wing public affairs officer, at amy.rasmussen@us.af.mil no later than 10 a.m. PDT, April 30.

Media should meet at the Vandenberg south gate parking lot on California State Road 246 and 13^th Street at 10 p.m. PDT to be escorted. Media must present a driver’s license/passport to receive a base pass.

Off-Base Media Opportunities

For interviews in the Vandenberg area and information on other ways to cover the launch, please contact JPL Media Relations at 626-864-0552 and 626-773-0370.

L-0 Day (Saturday, May 5)

Launch Viewing

Media wishing to cover the launch should confirm their participation with 2nd Lt. Amy Rasmussen, 30th Space Wing public affairs officer, at amy.rasmussen@us.af.mil no later than 10 a.m. PDT, April 30.

Media should meet at the Dick DeWees Community Center parking lot (1120 W Ocean Ave, Lompoc, Calif. 93436) at 2 a.m. PDT to be escorted to the viewing site. Media must present a driver’s license/passport to receive a base pass.

Off-Base Media Opportunities

For interviews in the Vandenberg area after launch and information on other ways to cover the launch, please contact JPL Media Relations at 626-864-0552 and 626-773-0370.

Public Viewing Sites

There are two official public viewing sites in Lompoc (one hosted by the city of Lompoc and the other hosted by St. Mary’s Episcopal Church) that are open to all. For more information on these sites, visit: https://mars.nasa.gov/insight/mission/timeline/launch/watch-in-person/.

NASA TV Launch Coverage

NASA TV live launch coverage will begin at 3:30 a.m. PDT. For NASA TV downlink information, schedules and links to streaming video, visit https://www.nasa.gov/live.

Audio only of the news conferences and launch coverage will be carried on the NASA “V” circuits, which may be accessed by dialing 321-867-1220, -1240, -1260 or -7135. On launch day, "mission audio," the launch conductor’s countdown activities without NASA TV launch commentary, will be carried on 321-867-7135.

NASA Web Prelaunch and Launch Coverage

Prelaunch and launch day coverage of InSight will be available on the NASA website. Coverage will include live streaming and blog updates beginning at 3:30 a.m. as the countdown milestones occur. On-demand streaming video and photos of the launch will be available shortly after liftoff. For questions about countdown coverage, contact the newsroom at 321-867-2468. You can follow countdown coverage on our launch blog at https://blogs.nasa.gov/insight/.

Additional information about InSight and MarCO for the media is available in the launch press kit:

https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/press_kits/insight/

Learn more about the InSight mission by visiting:

https://www.nasa.gov/insight

https://mars.nasa.gov/insight/

Join the conversation on social media by following the InSight mission on Twitter and Facebook at:

http://twitter.com/NASAInSight

http://www.facebook.com/NASAInSight/

Photo and video content for InSight is available at:

https://images.nasa.gov/

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Press Contacts

Dwayne Brown/JoAnna Wendel
Headquarters, Washington
202-358-1726/202-358-1003
dwayne.c.brown@nasa.gov/joanna.r.wendel@nasa.gov  

Tori McLendon
Kennedy Space Center, Fla.
321-867-2468
tori.n.mclendon@nasa.gov

DC Agle / Andrew Good
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.
818-393-9011 / 818-393-2433
agle@jpl.nasa.gov / andrew.c.good@jpl.nasa.gov

2nd Lt. Amy Rasmussen
30th Space Wing Public Affairs
805-606-4017
amy.rasmussen@us.af.mil

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