--- title: NASA's 'Flying Saucer' Prepared for Take Off description: NASA will launch a disc-shaped vehicle into space on Wednesday, in order to test a roomier spacecraft designed for long-haul missions to Mars. canonical: https://time.com/3904665/nasa-flying-saucer-mars-mission/ author: Dan Kedmey article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-06-02T11:36:03.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T07:59:05.036Z article:section: Science og:title: NASA's 'Flying Saucer' Prepared for Take Off og:description: NASA will launch a disc-shaped vehicle into space on Wednesday, in order to test a roomier spacecraft designed for long-haul missions to Mars. og:url: https://time.com/3904665/nasa-flying-saucer-mars-mission/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt9f2682eac0ce126d/6988528a06f2c16d8233a701/nasa-flying-saucer.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 2036 og:image:height: 1145 og:image:alt: NASA flying saucer og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: NASA's 'Flying Saucer' Prepared for Take Off twitter:description: NASA will launch a disc-shaped vehicle into space on Wednesday, in order to test a roomier spacecraft designed for long-haul missions to Mars. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt9f2682eac0ce126d/6988528a06f2c16d8233a701/nasa-flying-saucer.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # NASA Prepares 'Flying Saucer' for Take Off > Sponsored content. 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Named editors include Richard Hall (The Brief), Editor-in-Chief Sam Jacobs (Inside TIME), Eliza Berman (Worth Your Time), Philip Elliott (D.C. Brief), Justin Worland (Future Proof) and Harry Booth (In the Loop). Health Matters is written by TIME's health desk. #### How do I sign up for a TIME newsletter? Go to time.com/newsletters, choose the newsletters you want and enter your email address. There is no cost and no subscription requirement. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-network-2026q3/newsletters?i=6e1ae623-55ed-4dd5-8338-4174198a90c5&cr=time-nl-network-2026q3-v1) ## Video: Curiotisty Rover: One Year on Mars [Watch (HLS stream): Curiotisty Rover: One Year on Mars](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/eVfZ9UKE.m3u8) (3:59)  _Published 2013-08-05. It's been one year since the Curiosity Rover touched down on the red plantet._  by [Dan Kedmey](https://time.com/author/dan-kedmey/)  ## Dan Kedmey Jun 2, 2015 11:36 AM UTC  NASA/JPL-Caltech  by [Dan Kedmey](https://time.com/author/dan-kedmey/)  ## Dan Kedmey Jun 2, 2015 11:36 AM UTC **Correction appended, June 4** NASA will launch a disc-shaped vehicle into space on Wednesday, in order to test a roomier spacecraft designed for long-haul missions to Mars. The Low-Density Supersonic Decelerator will lift off from a launchpad off the coast of Kauai, Hawaii, carried into the stratosphere by a massive high-altitude weather balloon. The vehicle will detach from the balloon and blast off at four times the speed of the sound, soaring to a peak altitude of more than 22 miles above the Earth. [**MORE: 20 Breathtaking Photos of the Earth From Space**](http://time.com/11534/20-breathtaking-images-of-the-earth-as-seen-from-space/) “As NASA plans ambitious robotic science missions to Mars, laying the groundwork for even more complex human expeditions to come, the spacecraft needed to land safely on the Red Planet’s surface will become larger and heavier in order to accommodate explorers’ extended stays on the Martian surface,” [read](http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.php?feature=4607) a statement from NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory. **Correction**: The original version of this story misstated the peak altitude the spacecraft will reach. It is more than 22 miles above the earth. ## Transcript [00:00] [ MUSIC ] [00:09] That great [00:14] things take many people working together to [00:18] make them happen is one of the fantastic things of [00:21] human existence. We've not only driven the Rover, [00:24] we've moved its arms, put it all through its paces, but [00:27] it's been in a thermal vacuum chamber and kept very [00:29] cold. Parts of it have been in a centrifuge. We've done [00:33] drop tests, pull tests, drive tests, load tests, stress [00:36] tests. Just amazing amount of testing this vehicle has [00:40] gone through. We've tried every way of operating of [00:43] the vehicle using the software. Literally thousands and [00:45] thousands of hours of software testing. It's been just [00:50] a, an amazing several years, really, of constant testing [00:54] and development. Finding problems, fixing those [00:56] problems and going on to the next problem. I, I think [01:00] she's ready to go. LC this is the [01:04] LD on channel one. LC you have permission to launch. [01:05] Roger. Proceeding with the count. Minus ten, nine, [01:05] eight. Seven, six, five, four. Three, two. One. [ NOISE ]. [01:08] Am I confident that she's [01:37] gonna go and she's gonna be successful? Absolutely. It, [01:41] it's gonna go and she'll be good. Vehicle? [ MUSIC ] We [01:48] should have parachute deploy around Mach 1. 7. [01:49] Parachute is deployed. We are decelerating. Heat [01:57] shield has separated, we're on the ground, standing [01:59] by for back shield separation. We are at hard flight. [02:04] We're at altitude of one kilometer, descending. [02:06] Standing by for sky crane. Sky crane has started. [02:06] [ NOISE ]. Touchdown confirmed. We're safe on Mars. [02:07] Whoohoo! Whoa! [ INAUDIBLE ] Curiosity. [ MUSIC ] [02:18] [ NOISE ] What a [02:39] fantastic demonstration of what our nation and what [02:42] our agency can do. I could only think of the words [02:47] of Teddy Roosevelt as I was sitting there. It is far [02:50] better to dare mighty things even though we might fail, [02:54] than to stay in the twilight that knows neither victory [02:57] nor defeat. And the team brought us victory today. [03:01] Today, right now, the wheels of Curiosity have begun [03:04] to blaze the trail for human footprints on Mars. This is [03:08] an amazing achievement. Well, today on Mars, history [03:11] was made on Earth. The successful landing of Curiosity [03:16] marks what is really an unprecedented technological [03:19] tour de force. It will stand as an American point of [03:22] pride far into the future. We've got a long mission [03:26] ahead of us and, and because of that and the [03:29] capabilities of this rover, we have this possibility for [03:31] just monumental science accomplishments. Within two [03:35] months the team found an ancient river bed, evidence [03:38] of flowing water. We have found a habitable [03:40] environment, that is so benign and supportive of life [03:44] that probably if this water was around and you had [03:47] been on the planet, you would have been able to drink [03:48] it. 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