Watch the Falcon 9 launch from pad 39A

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.

The roughly 3.5 to 5-day mission will be the first human spaceflight over the arctic and antarctic poles. Launch happened on the evening of Monday, March 31, from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center.

SpaceX plans to deploy the next group of Starlink internet relay spacecraft Sunday with a liftoff on top of a Falcon 9 rocket from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center, the company’s fourth satellite launch of the month.