A very smooth launch by NASA and lift-off exactly as planned.
And with the power of the Atlas V, just 52 minutes 42 seconds after launch MAVEN had separated from the launch vehicle and had been inserted into a Hohmann Transfer Orbit and on trajectory to reach Mars on 22nd September 2014.
At 1:28 p.m. EST, NASA’s Mars Atmosphere and Volatile EvolutioN (MAVEN) spacecraft began its 10-month journey to Mars orbit, launching aboard a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. MAVEN will take critical measurements of the Martian upper atmosphere to help scientists understand climate change over the Red Planet’s history.
The Centaur’s single RL-10A-4-2 engine ended its second burn on time. The next major milestone is the release of NASA’s MAVEN spacecraft.
Separation! Maven is now on its own.
Very smooth and absolutely flawless.
In the meantime the Indian Mars Orbiter Mission’s Mangalyaan has another 13 days in Earth orbit in its current orbit (193,000 km apogee) before one more burn of its motors puts it also into a Hohmann Transfer Orbit which should get it to Mars orbit on 24th September 2014. Spacecraft systems – most being operated for the first (or second) time – will be tested while in earth orbit.
The “poor man’s route” to Mars!
And India and ISRO have some 49 years of US NASA Mars missions to catch up to.
And while NASA is showing live feed of the launch, ISRO’s web-site is down – presumably because it could not handle the traffic. The FB page seems fine.
isro down 20131118
Tags: Atlas V, Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, ISRO, Mangalyaan, Mars, Mars Orbiter Mission, MAVEN, MOM, NASA
The k2p blog 
November 19, 2013 at 7:06 pm
“The “poor man’s route” to Mars!
And India and ISRO have some 49 years of US NASA Mars missions to catch up to.”
How sarcastic! Derision by “first world” ignorants!
November 19, 2013 at 7:27 pm
The perceived “sarcasm” is entirely in your mind.
India and ISRO are catching up a 49 year handicap at one-tenth the cost!!