Wing supports Mars mission rocket launch

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  • By 920th Rescue Wing Public Affairs
PATRICK AIR FORCE BASE, Fla. --  Members of the 920th Rescue Wing provided range-clearance and safety support for the successful launch of Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution (MAVEN) mission aboard a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket from Launch Complex 41 at nearby Cape Canaveral Air Force Station at 1:28 p.m. Nov. 18. 

Hours before launch, two wing HH-60G Pave Hawk helicopters took off from Patrick AFB to patrol the Eastern Range, the 70-mile long by 10-mile wide swath of ocean extending east from the Cape that must be cleared of all air & marine traffic prior to every launch
to ensure boaters are a safe distance from potentially falling rocket debris.

The rocket flew in the 401 vehicle configuration with a four-meter fairing, no solid rocket boosters and a single-engine Centaur upper stage.

MAVEN is the second mission under NASA's Mars Scout Program. It will take critical measurements of the Martian upper atmosphere to help scientists understand climate change over the Red Planet's history. MAVEN is the first spacecraft devoted to exploring and understanding the Martian upper atmosphere.

It will orbit the planet in an elliptical orbit that allows it to pass through and sample the entire upper atmosphere on every orbit. The spacecraft will investigate how the loss of Mars' atmosphere to space determined the history of water on the surface.

The 920th performs combat search and rescue as its primary mission, which includes rescuing downed pilots. Additionally, the wing is responsible for civil search and rescue, humanitarian relief and support of rocket launches. To date, the unit has saved more than 3,000 lives both in peacetime and combat.

To date Air Force rescue forces from around the globe have saved more than 12,200 U.S., allied and host nation forces in conflicts worldwide since Sept. 11, 2001, and have rescued more than 5,000 people during catastrophic natural disasters and other responses.

Information in this story taken from a 45th Space Wing news release.