NASA launches Mars-bound spacecraft to study quakes

NASA has launched its latest mission to Mars, with its first lander designed entirely for exploring the deep interior of the red planet having taken off from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California this afternoon.


The Mars InSight probe lifted off from the central California coast just after 4am local time (12pm Irish time), treating early-rising residents across a wide swath of the state to the luminous pre-dawn spectacle of the first US interplanetary spacecraft to be launched over the Pacific.

The $993 million spaceship is designed to study quakes on Mars and learn about its inner workings ahead of eventual human missions to explore the Red Planet.
 (RTE)
 5/5/18