OTD In Space - November 26: Curiosity Rover Launches to Mars

On November 26, 2011, the NASA Curiosity rover launched to Mars.

Curiosity was the biggest and most powerful rover anyone had ever sent to the Red Planet. The two-ton science laboratory is about the size of a small SUV. The mission's goal was to search for habitable environments on Mars, or evidence that the planet could have been habitable in the past. It launched on an Atlas V rocket from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. About nine months later, Curiosity made a challenging landing on Mars. It successfully used a new landing technology called a sky crane to gently lower it to the surface. Within weeks, Curiosity fulfilled its mission. It found evidence of ancient running water on Mars. It later found organic molecules on Mars as well.