Watch here live, below, for the Mars orbital insertion of the Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution (MAVEN) spacecraft, on Sunday, September 21 (or early Sept. 22 depending on your time zone) from 9:30 to 10:45 p.m. EDT, 01:30 to 02:45 UTC). The NASA TV broadcast feed will originate from the Lockheed Martin Facility in Littleton, Colorado, and will feature live camera views of mission control, interviews with senior NASA officials and mission team members, and mission video footage. The spacecraft’s mission timeline will place the spacecraft in orbit at approximately 9:50 p.m. EDT (01:50 UTC).
Broadcast live streaming video on Ustream
Coverage will wrap up with a post-orbit insertion news conference, targeted for about two hours after orbital insertion begins.
Members of the public are invited to follow the day-long NASA Social event on Sunday by following the hashtags #MAVEN and #JourneytoMars on social media channels including Twitter, Instagram and Facebook. Twitter updates will be posted throughout on the agency’s official accounts @NASA, @MAVEN2Mars and @NASASocial.
MAVEN launched Nov. 18, 2013, from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida, carrying three instrument packages. It is the first spacecraft dedicated to exploring the upper atmosphere of Mars. The mission’s goal is to determine how the loss of atmospheric gas to space played a role in changing the Martian climate through time.
The NASA TV anchors are so awkward it’s painful to watch. Just having a camera on the MAVEN team would be soooo much better than this.