This article was published in Scientific American’s former blog network and reflects the views of the author, not necessarily those of Scientific American
I am having quite the space-filled weekend!
Today, we just had a hangout with astronaut Chris Hadfield and now I'm packing up to head to Cape Canaveral to watch an ATLAS V rocket send the next Mars Orbiter, MAVEN, to space! The launch is slated to happen Monday, November 18 at 1:28 pm EST.
While I could explain the purpose of the mission, I think I'll just let LeVar Burton do it! Welcome to NASA's PSA about the mission:
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It's all you need to know.
BUT, if you want to know more, I also hosted a recent hangout the day after the NASA press conference about the mission here at SciAm. You can watch that to learn even more, and in general, about the importance of robotic space missions.
You'll be hearing from me soon from down at the launch site. Watch my tweets! If I have a good phone connection, I'll try to give some timely updates and maybe tweet a photo of my mouth hanging open in awe after the rocket launches!
I'm just way too excited! Don't forget, for launches and updates, you can always check NASA TV for a live feed.