NASA's Mars Science Laboratory MSL spacecraft clears the tower at Space Launch Complex 41 on Cape Canaveral Air Force Station.

NASA's Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) spacecraft, sealed inside its payload fairing atop the United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket, clears the tower at Space Launch Complex 41 on Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. MSL lifted off from at 10:02 a.m. EST Nov. 26, beginning a 9-month interplanetary cruise to Mars.

MSL's components include a car-sized rover, Curiosity, which has 10 science instruments designed to search for signs of life, including methane, and help determine if the gas is from a biological or geological source. For more information, visit http://www.nasa.gov/msl. Photo credit: NASA/Bill White