Flying a rocket booster from Alabama to Florida
Initially scheduled to launch in exactly one month, on 17 July 2020, an Atlas V-541 rocket booster for Nasa's next Mars Rover Mission was transported from Huntsville, AL to Cape Canaveral, FL by Volga-Dnepr Airlines last month.
The AN-124-100 "Ruslan" is the only aircraft large enough to carry the 32 m long rocket booster together with payload fairings and RD-180 engines for the special mission. After unloading the unique cargo piece from the aircraft, it was moved into the Spaceflight Operations Centre for post-shipment checks. This delivery signalled the start of a new phase of launch preparations for the Perseverance Rover, the centrepiece of Nasa's USD2.5 billion Mars 2020 mission.
Now scheduled to launch at 9:15 a.m. EDT on 20 July, Perseverance will land at Mars' Jezero Crater on 18 February 2021. (ah)