Liftoff
NASA’s Maven, atop a United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket, lifts off from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Cape Canaveral, Fla., Monday. The spacecraft will orbit
Mars and study the planet’s upper atmosphere.
By Jeremiah Shelor
Times-West Virginian staff writer
FAIRMONT — At 1:28 p.m. Monday, NASA’s MAVEN spacecraft launched from Cape Canaveral, Fla., and set off for Mars.
More than 900 miles away, in a viewing room at the site of NASA’s Independent Verification and Validation (IV&V) program in Fairmont, officials and members of the public watched the launch through a live video stream.
Based in Fairmont, employees of NASA’s IV&V program have been involved with the MAVEN project from the beginning, working hard to ensure the success of the spacecraft’s software…
