United Launch Alliance Provides Important Details On Upcoming Atlas V Rocket and Mars Perseverance Rover

Launch Date set for July 30

BREVARD COUNTY, FLORIDA – The Atlas V rocket, ready to make its fifth launch to Mars for the scientific exploration and discovery at the red planet, is loaded with NASA’s Perseverance rover and Ingenuity helicopter to begin the Mars 2020 mission.

Mission Information: A United Launch Alliance Atlas V 541 rocket will launch NASA’s Perseverance rover to Mars. The spacecraft will explore the Jezero Crater to study the planet’s habitability, seek signs of past microbial life, collect and store samples of selected rock and soil and prepare for future human missions.

• Rocket: Atlas V 541

• Mission: NASA’s Mars Perseverance Rover

• Launch Date: Thurs., July 30, at 7:50 a.m. ET, with a two-hour window

• Launch Location: Space Launch Complex-41, Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida

The rover also carries the Ingenuity helicopter, a technology demonstration to prove that powered flight can be achieved at Mars.

Launch Notes: The Perseverance launch will mark the 85th Atlas V mission since the inaugural launch in 2002 and the 7th in the 541 configuration.

Launch Updates: To keep up to speed with updates to the launch countdown, dial the ULA launch hotline at 1-877-852-4321 or join the conversation at www.facebook.com/ulalaunch, twitter.com/ulalaunch and instagram.com/ulalaunch; hashtags #AtlasV and #Mars2020.

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