Video: Atlas 5 rocket launches space station cargo mission

The launch of NASA’s Mars 2020 rover is less than a year away, and the steady pace of work inside the craft’s pristine assembly hall in California is keeping the mission on schedule for liftoff from Cape Canaveral next July, despite growing costs, according to mission managers.

As his year-long mission aboard the International Space Station draws to a close, Expedition 46 commander Scott Kelly of NASA gives a final in-flight news conference with U.S. media on Feb. 25.

The United Launch Alliance Delta 2 rocket lifts off with NASA’s SMAP observatory at 6:22 a.m. local time on Saturday, Jan. 31 from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California.