NASA and contractor managers monitor progress of the countdown for the launch the agency's Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution or MAVEN spacecraft.

At Cape Canaveral Air Force Station's Atlas V Spaceflight Operations Center NASA and contractor managers and engineers monitor progress of the countdown for the launch the agency's Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution, or MAVEN, spacecraft.

MAVEN was launched on Nov. 18, 2013 from Cape Canaveral's Space Launch Complex 41 atop a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket. Positioned in an orbit above the Red Planet, MAVEN will study the upper atmosphere of Mars in unprecedented detail. For more information, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/maven/main/index.html Photo credit: NASA/Kim Shiflett