NASA’s Mars Curiosity Rover left our planet on schedule this morning, atop an Atlas 5 rocket launched from Kennedy Space Center. The capsule containing the rover separated from the rocket and is confirmed to be on its way to Mars at about 229, 369 mph for a landing next August in Gale Crater (image credit: Stephen Clark/Spaceflight Now).

The Mars-bound Curiosity rover, atop an Atlas 5 rocket, is rolled out to Cape Canaveral’s Complex 41 pad in advance of its launch scheduled for early tomorrow morning (image credit: NASA/KSC).