{"id":13830,"date":"2018-04-30T01:43:42","date_gmt":"2018-04-29T17:43:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp-productionenv-bjg9h2g2bgg5b8aa.southeastasia-01.azurewebsites.net\/news\/photos-nasas-insight-lander-buttoned-up-for-trip-to-mars\/"},"modified":"2018-04-30T01:43:42","modified_gmt":"2018-04-29T17:43:42","slug":"photos-nasas-insight-lander-buttoned-up-for-trip-to-mars","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/news\/photos-nasas-insight-lander-buttoned-up-for-trip-to-mars\/","title":{"rendered":"Photos: NASA\u2019s InSight lander buttoned up for trip to Mars"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The payload fairing of InSight\u2019s Atlas 5 launcher was closed around the spacecraft April 16. Credit: USAF 30th Space Wing<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Now cocooned inside a heat shield and the nose shroud of an Atlas 5 rocket that will send it to Mars, NASA\u2019s InSight lander is awaiting launch May 5 from Vandenberg Air Force Base, California.<\/p>\n

These photos show InSight\u2019s heat shield, measuring around 8.7 feet (2.6 meters) in diameter, being lifted onto the spacecraft\u2019s back shell April 12 to enclose the lander for the trip to Mars. The heat shield and back shell will protect the probe during descent through the Martian atmosphere.<\/p>\n

Once fully assembled in its cruise configuration \u2014 with fixed solar array wings to provide electricity during the nearly seven-month journey to Mars \u2014 the 1,530-pound (694-kilogram) InSight spacecraft was encapsulated inside the Atlas 5 rocket\u2019s payload fairing April 16.<\/p>\n

The shroud measures around 13 feet, or 4 meters, in diameter and will jettison from the Atlas 5 rocket approximately four-and-a-half minutes after liftoff.<\/p>\n

InSight and its payload fairing were transported from a payload processing clean room to Space Launch Complex 3-East at Vandenberg on April 23. A crane hoisted the payload on top of the Atlas 5 rocket inside the launch pad\u2019s mobile gantry, capping assembly of the 188-foot-tall (57-meter) launcher.<\/p>\n

Liftoff is set for May 5 during a two-hour launch window opening at 4:05 a.m. PDT (7:05 a.m. EDT; 1105 GMT). The mission has until June 8 to depart Earth during this year\u2019s Mars launch period, or else wait until mid-2020.<\/p>\n

Landing on Mars is scheduled for Nov. 26, when InSight will deploy a parachute and fire braking rockets to touch down on a broad equatorial plain named Elysium Planitia to begin studying the red planet\u2019s seismic activity and probing its interior structure.<\/p>\n

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Credit: USAF 30th Space Wing\/Tony Vauclin<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Credit: USAF 30th Space Wing\/Tony Vauclin<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Credit: USAF 30th Space Wing\/Aaron Taubman<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Credit: USAF 30th Space Wing\/Aaron Taubman<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Credit: USAF 30th Space Wing\/Aaron Taubman<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Credit: USAF 30th Space Wing<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Credit: USAF 30th Space Wing<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Credit: USAF 30th Space Wing\/Daniel Herrera<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Credit: USAF 30th Space Wing\/Daniel Herrera<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Credit: USAF 30th Space Wing\/Daniel Herrera<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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USAF 30th Space Wing\/Leif Heimbold<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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USAF 30th Space Wing\/Leif Heimbold<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Credit: USAF 30th Space Wing\/Leif Heimbold<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Credit: USAF 30th Space Wing\/Leif Heimbold<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Credit: USAF 30th Space Wing\/Leif Heimbold<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Credit: NASA<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Credit: USAF 30th Space Wing\/Leif Heimbold<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Credit: USAF 30th Space Wing\/Leif Heimbold<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Credit: USAF 30th Space Wing\/Leif Heimbold<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Credit: USAF 30th Space Wing\/Leif Heimbold<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Credit: USAF 30th Space Wing\/Leif Heimbold<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Email the author.<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n

Follow Stephen Clark on Twitter: @StephenClark1.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The payload fairing of InSight\u2019s Atlas 5 launcher was closed around the spacecraft April 16. Credit: USAF 30th Space Wing Now cocooned inside a heat shield and the nose shroud of an Atlas 5 rocket that will send it to Mars, NASA\u2019s InSight lander is awaiting launch May 5 from Vandenberg Air Force Base, California. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[724,2964,927,1183,25,472,367,1561],"class_list":["post-13830","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","tag-atlas-5","tag-av-078","tag-insight","tag-jet-propulsion-laboratory","tag-launch","tag-lockheed-martin","tag-mars","tag-planetary-science"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13830"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13830"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13830\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13830"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13830"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13830"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}