The Planetary Society Blog
By Emily Lakdawalla
Phoenix has safely arrived at the Cape (updated with pictures)
May. 8, 2007 | 09:26 PDT | 16:26 UTC
I posted too soon earlier; now there are snapshots of Phoenix's safe arrival.
NASA's next Mars mission, the Phoenix lander, has winged its way to Florida aboard a C-17 transport plane, according to Leonard David, who apparently got to hitch a ride with the spacecraft yesterday. He says the landing was smooth, so Phoenix should be good to go for its final assembly and testing before its planned August launch. It's going to be an exciting summer, bracketed by the launch of two small but capable missions, Dawn to the asteroid belt and Phoenix to Mars! Phoenix arrives in FloridaThe Phoenix lander was shipped from Buckley Air Force Base in Colorado to the Kennedy Space Center's Shuttle Landing Facility on May 7, 2007, aboard a C-17 "Globemaster" cargo plane (upper left). The spacecraft was gently rolled out of the cargo hold and loaded onto a flatbed truck for its transportation to the Payload Hazardous Servicing Facility, where it will undergo its final assembly and testing. Credit: NASA |
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