Live Mars Landing Coverage Begins in Just a Few Days

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration hopes millions of people across the planet will tune in to either NASA TV or the agency's website on November 26 just before 2 p.m. EST and watch the scheduled landing of the MARS InSight on the surface of the red planet. The actual landing should occur about 3 p.m. EST. Launched May 5, InSight is NASA's first Mars landing since the Curiosity rover in 2012.

Live landing commentary begins at 2 p.m. EST on the NASA TV Public Channel with an uninterrupted, clean feed from cameras inside JPL Mission Control and mission audio only also available on NASA TV. NASA has set up 80 public viewing locations across the United States, as well as a provided a full list of websites broadcasting InSight landing events.

The landing kicks off a two-year mission in which InSight will become the first spacecraft to study Mars' deep interior to help scientists understand the formation of all rocky worlds, including our own. InSight is being followed to Mars by two mini-spacecraft comprising NASA’s Mars Cube One (MarCO), the first deep-space mission for CubeSats. If MarCO makes its planned Mars flyby, it will attempt to relay data from InSight as it enters the planet’s atmosphere and lands. InSight and MarCO flight controllers will monitor the spacecraft's entry, descent and landing from mission control at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, California.

Social media viewers can follow the landing on Twitter or Facebook.