Watch: NASA Launches Mars Rover ‘Curiosity’ From Cape Canaveral

Today NASA launched the space rover Curiosity on the Atlas 5 rocket heading to a mission on Mars. The rover is expected to reach the red planet in eight months, and its mission is to study the surface of the planet to determine if it is capable of sustaining life.

According to msnbc.com, the Mars Science Laboratory project has been planned by NASA since 2003, and it was initially expected to launch two years ago but because it was not ready for liftoff the mission had to be delayed.

The rover weighs roughly one ton, much bigger than past rovers that have been sent on missions to Mars.

Watch video of the launch below, courtesy of CNN:

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