MAVEN Blasts Off!

Congrats to NASA and team on the successful launch of the MAVEN spacecraft today! Its mission is to travel to Mars and intensely study the planet's atmosphere to understand how it's changed over time. The results should help provide answers regarding past and future habitability. Travel time is ten months.

Although recent advancements haven't always played out large in the headlines, there have been a steady stream of cool achievements lately. Mars Curiosity celebrated its first anniversary on the red planet a couple months back, and India launched its first mission to Mars this month. There are also now two companies successfully delivering supplies to the International Space Station, and commercial crew transports are expected to be in service in the next several years.