SpaceX is targeting Tuesday, June 30 for a Falcon 9 launch of the GPS III Space Vehicle 03 mission from Space Launch Complex 40 (SLC-40) at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. The 15-minute primary launch window opens at 3:55 p.m. EDT, 19:55 UTC, and a backup opportunity is available on Wednesday, July 1 with a 15-minute launch window opening at 3:51 p.m. EDT, 19:51 UTC.

Following stage separation, SpaceX will land Falcon 9’s first stage on the “Just Read the Instructions” droneship, which will be stationed in the Atlantic Ocean. The spacecraft will deploy approximately 1 hour and 29 minutes after liftoff.

NASA's new Mars rover is launching this summer. It's humanity's first step to studying the Martian surface like never before, and its impact will be on par with the Apollo missions.
»Subscribe to Seeker! http://bit.ly/subscribeseeker
»Watch more Focal Point | https://bit.ly/2s0cf7w  
» Visit our shop at http://shop.seeker.com

Mars sample return has been a high priority for the scientific community for a long time, and an upcoming launch is an ambitious new chapter in Mars exploration.

A Mars Sample-Return mission is exactly what it sounds like—a spaceflight mission to the red planet to collect rock and dust samples and bring them back to Earth.

This mission’s landing site is Jezero Crater, and the launch of the new Mars rover is the first step in a series of proposed missions over the span of a decade to bring samples back, with all of the source material.

In this Focal Point, we speak with Eric Aguilar, Mars 2020 System Testbed Manager at NASA/JPL, and Chris Herd, PhD, a Mars 2020 Return Sample Scientist…

Key Animation: Hideaki Anno (庵野 秀明) Movie: Royal Space Force: The Wings of Honneamise (王立宇宙軍 オネアミスの翼) (1987) https://t.co/wMgJOPAOPS https://t.co/84KvKcRTsS