Q&A with Earl Maize, Cassini project manager (members only)

NASA’s InSight spacecraft, the next lander to head for Mars, lifted off Saturday from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California aboard a United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket. Launch occurred in a blanket of fog at 4:05 a.m. PDT (7:05 a.m. EDT; 1105 GMT).

After a six-month voyage from Earth, NASA’s InSight Mars lander, streaking through space at at some 12,300 mph, will slam into the thin martian atmosphere Monday afternoon to begin a nail-biting six-and-a-half-minute descent to the surface, kicking off a billion-dollar mission to probe the red planet’s hidden interior.

With plans to put 11 new-generation communications satellite on SpaceX’s next Falcon 9 rocket launch, Orbcomm has moved first in line on the launch company’s manifest after a failure in June. Orbcomm’s CEO, Marc Eisenberg, spoke with Spaceflight Now’s Stephen Clark after announcing his firm’s launch plans.