VoidView.Space
KSC01padig188

KSC01padig188

Signs on the side of the launch tower at Launch Complex 17, Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, show the nature of the impending launch. A worker on the side watches the umbilical connections to the Boeing Delta II rocket that is carrying the 2001 Mars Odyssey spacecraft. Liftoff is scheduled for 11:02 a.m. EDT from Launch Complex 17-A at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. After an approximate 7-month journey, Mars Odyssey will orbit the planet Mars. The spacecraft, built by Lockheed Martin Space Systems for the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, will map the Martian surface looking for geological features that could indicate the presence of water, now or in the past. Science gathered by three science instruments on board will be key to future missions to Mars, including orbital reconnaissance, lander and human missions