Tested at the NASA InSight Rocket Launch to Mars!
**Witnessing History: A Journey to Vandenberg Air Force Base for NASA’s Insight Mission Rocket Launch**
This past weekend, I had the incredible opportunity to attend our first NASA rocket launch—the Insight mission, which aims to send a robot lander to Mars to conduct geophysics experiments. This was not only my first NASA rocket launch but also the first interplanetary rocket to take off from the west coast. Joining me on this journey was Tested contributor and host of our Offworld show, Ariel Waldman. Together, we drove down to Vandenberg Air Force Base in hopes of watching this historic West Coast launch.
Our first stop was the NASA mission briefing, which would help us understand the purpose and operations of Insight. We arrived at Vandenberg Air Force Base, located about an hour south of San Luis Obispo. For those not familiar with California, it’s roughly halfway between San Francisco and Los Angeles. While there have been many rocket launches here before, this was the first interplanetary rocket launch from the west coast. Typically, rockets are launched east to take advantage of Earth’s rotation, but this rocket is powerful enough to go south, avoiding the busy Florida launch site during this time of year.
It was Thursday morning as we arrived, and we were about to watch a briefing that would be streamed on NASA TV. The launch was scheduled for 4:00 a.m. on Saturday morning, which meant we wouldn’t get much sleep—we were ready to stay up all night and “party with science.” However, the chances of clear visibility were only 20%, meaning there was a good chance we might end up tired and disappointed. Still, we were hopeful that if they scrubbed the launch for a day or two, we might still get to see it.
For me, this was my first rocket launch, while Ariel had attended several before. We were eager to learn more about Insight, the launch, and the rocket itself, hoping to capture some cool videos and photos along the way.
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### The Briefing: Insights into the Mission
As we settled in for the briefing, we learned that the Insight mission would send a robot lander to Mars to study its geophysics. The spacecraft would carry instruments to detect seismic activity, measure heat conductivity, and even dig up to 16 feet below the surface. One of the highlights was seeing a life-size mock-up of the Insight Lander, which left us in awe. Equally intriguing were the Marco Cube Satellites that would hitch a ride on the Atlas rocket.
We had the chance to chat with JPL engineers working on the project. Andy Clash, the chief engineer for Marco, explained how the propulsion system worked. The cold gas propulsion system took up almost half the spacecraft and was pressurized inside. It functioned like a fire extinguisher, using compressed gas to steer the spacecraft during its journey to Mars. This system would allow the Cube Satellites to make five trajectory correction maneuvers over the course of the mission.
The engineers also mentioned that Marco would augment the Deep Space Network by providing additional data from the Insight launch. While not dependent on it, Marco’s radio would play a crucial role in transmitting data during Insight’s entry, descent, and landing phase. This was particularly important for the seven minutes of terror—the critical period when the lander would touch down on Mars.
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### Preparing for the Launch
After the briefing, we explored Vandenberg Air Force Base, driving around to soak in the local “space pride.” The town of Lompoc, adjacent to the base, seemed like a fitting spot for such a mission. We then returned to set up our remote cameras. At 5 p.m., as we approached the launch pad, the fog began to roll in, adding a dramatic backdrop to the scene.
The rocket, an Atlas V 401 version, stood 200 feet tall with Insight inside its cone. Our team was tasked with setting up multiple cameras to capture the launch. We positioned our equipment and secured everything with gaff tape, ready for the countdown.
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### The Final Hours: Anticipation Builds
By 3:30 a.m., we were four miles away from the launch pad, eagerly awaiting the event. The fog had not lifted, making it difficult to see anything beyond a few glimpses of cars in the distance. We had brought every device capable of capturing photos or videos—phones, tablets, and cameras—hoping to document this historic moment.
As the minutes ticked down, the excitement grew. At 3:30 a.m., we heard the countdown begin over the speakers:
“Six... five... four... three... two... one...”
And then, *boom*! The rocket roared to life, sending震waves through the ground. We didn’t see a single thing due to the fog and haze, but the sound was deafening. The rumble of the rocket launch reverberated through the air, leaving us in awe of what we had just experienced.
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### Reflections on the Event
While we didn’t get visuals of the launch, we were witnesses to history. The energy among the thousands of people gathered—reporters, scientists, engineers, and enthusiasts—was electric. The collective exhale as the rocket lifted off was a testament to the power of human achievement.
Though we couldn’t see the rocket in the sky, we felt it. The vibrations from the launch pad traveled through the ground, shaking us as if we were on Mars, experiencing the lander’s descent. This was not just a moment for science; it was a reminder of our place in the universe and the incredible feats humanity can accomplish.
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### Conclusion: A Newfound Passion for Rocket Launches
As we left Vandenberg Air Force Base, exhausted but exhilarated, we couldn’t help but feel hooked on rocket launches. This experience has only deepened our appreciation for the work being done to explore Mars and beyond. We’ll be back for the next one—wherever it may take us.
Thank you for joining us on this journey. Stay tuned for more updates from the front lines of space exploration.
"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enthis past weekend tested had the opportunity to attend our first NASA rocket launch the insight mission to send a robot lander to Mars to conduct geophysics experiments not only would it be our first NASA rocket launch insight is the first interplanetary rocket to take off from the west coast joining tested contributor and host of our offworld show Ariel Waldman I drove down to Vandenberg Air Force Base in hopes of watching this historic West Coast launch our first stop the NASA mission briefing that would help us understand the purpose and operations of insight we're here yeah finally it's been a morning yes bus trip long bus trip through the Air Force Base yeah so we are in an air force base right now this is Vandenberg Air Force Base somewhere south of an hour south of san luis obispo for people not in california it's like halfway between San Francisco and LA approximately and a bunch of here yeah yeah a lot of rocket launches but this is the very first interplanetary rocket launch because typically you want to go east with the motion of the earth but this rocket is powerful enough to go south so they don't have to rely on that extra momentum and Florida was really busy this time of year so there's no line to Florida for us yes so it's Thursday as we're here we're about to watch a briefing there's gonna be the same briefing that everyone watches on NASA TV stream and the launch is scheduled for 4:00 a.m. on Saturday morning so we're not gonna get any sleep we're gonna stay up all night and party with science yes party with science just because it's scheduled for a.m. does that mean it will launch it for you whatever chance is right now our chances are 20 percent due to visibility so it's quite likely you might see us being tired and sad at the same time okay but maybe we will get in there for like a scrub or two so if they do scrub for a day or two there's a chance we might still see it but we might also go home empty-handed so we don't know yet we don't know it's gonna be exciting a lot of uncertain it's your first rocket long yes my first rocket launched a trace here from seeker ah he's been a bunch of rocket launches before so we're gonna learn more about insight learn more about the launch the rocket and hopefully get some cool videos and photos alright let's see what the next two days hold while was super cool to see the life-size mock-up of the insight Lander we didn't expect to be so enamored by the marco cube satellites that would also be hitching a ride on the Atlas rocket here is Ariel chatting with JPL engineers who work on that project my name is Andy Clash I'm the Marcos chief engineer I'm an Marin and I am a systems engineer working on Marco so we had a lot of questions we totally love that it's nicknamed wall-e and that is just adorable but like the propulsion could you talk about a bit about like how that works and just you know some basics of how they're actually going to get to Mars on their own sure the cold gas propulsion system that we have on board takes up almost half the spacecraft there we need a lot of Compellent to go out there and that propellant is basically a fire extinguisher it's called ëthe e36 as a replacement for Halon fire extinguishers out there which led us to wall-e and Eva as names for the spacecraft but kind of like a fire extinguisher the propellant is pressurized on the inside and we just open a valve in what's called blowdown we just push out the propellants and it will steer us around along the way we use the propellant for two different main functions of the spacecraft one is get ourselves to Mars orient the spacecraft so we can go out there and we have five to jentry correction maneuvers over the course of the mission to get us to Mars the first one's only a week to two weeks after launch itself and then slowly we'll move ourselves so we can target that right spot at Mars orbit and then with the spacecraft they augment the Deep Space Network or allow us to get some more data from the insight launch I know it's not dependent on it but what are these keeps us going to be able to do in order to I guess help us get more stuff out of the Deep Space Network so it's more augmenting on-orbit assets rather than the Deep Space Network itself so Marco if if all of this technology that has to work gets it all the way to Mars then the trajectory is designed such that it's timed precisely with the entry descent and landing maneuver of insight and so the the radio on board is designed with a mode that will receive UHF data from the antenna on the bottom and transmit it almost simultaneously from the high gain antenna at the top and that is on a frequency and it's configured such that the DSN can't actually hear it and get the data back to the insight team as introduced in descent and landing is happening so essentially we will be getting a faster update on the seven minutes of Terror that everyone's familiar with from the Mars Curiosity landing will be able to more quickly know about if it made it through that terror its sense yeah awesome thanks so much for talking to us absolutely no touching Ariel yeah don't touch the maka we just look through the briefing yeah it was nerdy as you can expect we learned a lot about the instruments I kind of view NASA insight as being sort of like a spacecraft with a bag of tricks you know or go go gadget you know it picks up different gadgets that it's got some down on the surface to tricks really right it can detect like seismic activity yeah for the composition of Mars and then it can also dig up to what is it 16 feet 16 feet yes and measure sort of the heat conductivity but it's also got like a little hood that I can put over the seismometer blackout wind you know some tricks it's pretty amazing that the size of same with just with those two tools they can learn a lot about how planets are made essentially yeah they're kind of something for like the vibrations and Mars to better understand the slushy core that may or may not be there inside of Mars and it's kind of crazy that they don't even know really what the inside of Mars looks like until kind of this mission and to get to that seven minutes of Terror which is going to be hopefully in November we need to get to low launch and here's where there's an update right right a weather officer on the Air Force Base let us know that the eighty percent of chance of violation that they talk about really doesn't mean that they won't want it means that we just won't be able to see it so NASA could decide on Saturday morning yeah there's only low visibility mile out two miles out but they're gonna go for it anyway yeah and then we just won't see it yeah we'll be at our first rocket launch but we will have no visual as oh yes we will get the rumble which I guess is like proper for this sort of mission you know it's all about searching for Mars quakes and so we might actually not see the rocket launch but we might get our own earthquake so to speak from the rocket launch and feel it but we might have nothing to show for it unless of course we decided to drive south but then we won't feel the rumble of the rocket so I don't know I would rather be here we're gonna get another update tomorrow so hopefully the weather improves but we'll see ya days yep we're in Lompoc and there's not a lot to do here but we're driving around looking for space pride right this is a town that's right next to Vandenberg Air Force Base there's got to be some space pride in this town all right limpo can show us what you got I found some new Ross okay enough of the local color it was time to get back on base for a remote camera setup and an unexpected first chance to see the rocket in person Arielle hey we got a rocket behind yo we're here we're here we made it that's a rocket yeah we're really small to you yeah because that's really massive big yeah 200 feet tall we were driving up we're actually here for a remote camera set up yeah right now and as the the bus was driving up now on the base we're not allowed to film while the bus is traveling so you didn't get our reaction but we looked at each other and our minds were blown we were like little kids pretty much we didn't know that we would be that close to the rocket atlas five four oh one version and in sight inside that cone on the top a little lander with the flappy wings and right now it's about 5 p.m. so the fog is coming in yeah I can see the haze it's gonna get dark a little hazy but we have our camera set up behind and 11 hours or so hopefully that thing will leave the planet yeah it's gonna leave the planet I know and we got another planet we're gonna feel it even if we can't see it so next up we want to find out where we're gonna be because we want to be nowhere near this when that launch is I'll see you there so yeah we're back at the launch pad oh my god I'm just might I don't have work that's how excited I am six hours ago we didn't even know if we're gonna see it this close and now we're back after a remote camera setup yeah you can see it's all lit up and what we're here for at around 11:00 p.m. so five hours from takeoff is for the rollback that whole tower surrounding the rocket is gonna go move back you've seen it in time lapses before but it's gonna happen over a span of 15 to 20 minutes or so and there's a last chance it will see it this close before it leaves and we have the drama of nighttime and fog and just I don't know it's it's all the the setting of it you know even though it might not be perfect visibility the drama yeah it's I don't know this is a good first rocket launch it helps that there are some dramatic lights and spotlights like when you see in those movies it's right on there but you're right we brought the San Francisco fog here there's haze even at around 100 200 meters but our cameras thankfully are gonna be that close so we're gonna get some good photos cross our fingers next step is gonna get fueled up I wanna show you some close-up shots enjoy those because we want to see the rocket head to space next all right here we are so yeah we're about half hour away from launch 3:30 a.m. we are very tired that's all day yeah and as you can see there's not a lot to see yeah we're about four miles or something away from the launch pad oh it's going to be a surprise to much to us as much as to you as to what we actually end up seeing and when you can't see next to you is a whole row of cameras dozens of them of which we own about fourteen we have that we took every camera that we had anything any device that could capture a photo or video where there was a phone a tablet a camera put on a tripod gaff tape it together because we're here yeah there are documents in the marine layer situation has not gotten much better so while we can see in a distance a few glimpses of cars we actually don't know exactly where the launch pad is no we're thinking yeah so in half an hour if all things go well we will hear a countdown all the lights will be turned off will be dark well suburb mics on and you'll hear a reaction hopefully see something that resembles of rocket launching in the background yep well it'll find out thanks for falling with us we're journey we've made this are we're gonna see a launch something our first rocket launch it will be an experience all right we'll see you then six five four three two one oh here whoa that is very loud there's more miles lay down oh wow this is like this is a rumble that's not it bigger yes I think that was a rocket launch we didn't see a single thing so we didn't technically get to see insight launch this is NASA footage you're watching right now but we sure heard it and we definitely felt it not the shock wave from the rocket itself but the energy on that grabble hilltop from the other reporters huddled close to cameras to rocket scientists and engineers around us some of whom who'd been working for decades building the tools and instruments that now are on their way to Mars that kind of energy was invigorating the collective exhale thousands of people watching something humans made leave the planet another important step in the journey to give ourselves a better understanding of what's out there and where this rock we call home came from consider us hooked on rocket launches and we'll see you at the next one thanks for watching youthis past weekend tested had the opportunity to attend our first NASA rocket launch the insight mission to send a robot lander to Mars to conduct geophysics experiments not only would it be our first NASA rocket launch insight is the first interplanetary rocket to take off from the west coast joining tested contributor and host of our offworld show Ariel Waldman I drove down to Vandenberg Air Force Base in hopes of watching this historic West Coast launch our first stop the NASA mission briefing that would help us understand the purpose and operations of insight we're here yeah finally it's been a morning yes bus trip long bus trip through the Air Force Base yeah so we are in an air force base right now this is Vandenberg Air Force Base somewhere south of an hour south of san luis obispo for people not in california it's like halfway between San Francisco and LA approximately and a bunch of here yeah yeah a lot of rocket launches but this is the very first interplanetary rocket launch because typically you want to go east with the motion of the earth but this rocket is powerful enough to go south so they don't have to rely on that extra momentum and Florida was really busy this time of year so there's no line to Florida for us yes so it's Thursday as we're here we're about to watch a briefing there's gonna be the same briefing that everyone watches on NASA TV stream and the launch is scheduled for 4:00 a.m. on Saturday morning so we're not gonna get any sleep we're gonna stay up all night and party with science yes party with science just because it's scheduled for a.m. does that mean it will launch it for you whatever chance is right now our chances are 20 percent due to visibility so it's quite likely you might see us being tired and sad at the same time okay but maybe we will get in there for like a scrub or two so if they do scrub for a day or two there's a chance we might still see it but we might also go home empty-handed so we don't know yet we don't know it's gonna be exciting a lot of uncertain it's your first rocket long yes my first rocket launched a trace here from seeker ah he's been a bunch of rocket launches before so we're gonna learn more about insight learn more about the launch the rocket and hopefully get some cool videos and photos alright let's see what the next two days hold while was super cool to see the life-size mock-up of the insight Lander we didn't expect to be so enamored by the marco cube satellites that would also be hitching a ride on the Atlas rocket here is Ariel chatting with JPL engineers who work on that project my name is Andy Clash I'm the Marcos chief engineer I'm an Marin and I am a systems engineer working on Marco so we had a lot of questions we totally love that it's nicknamed wall-e and that is just adorable but like the propulsion could you talk about a bit about like how that works and just you know some basics of how they're actually going to get to Mars on their own sure the cold gas propulsion system that we have on board takes up almost half the spacecraft there we need a lot of Compellent to go out there and that propellant is basically a fire extinguisher it's called ëthe e36 as a replacement for Halon fire extinguishers out there which led us to wall-e and Eva as names for the spacecraft but kind of like a fire extinguisher the propellant is pressurized on the inside and we just open a valve in what's called blowdown we just push out the propellants and it will steer us around along the way we use the propellant for two different main functions of the spacecraft one is get ourselves to Mars orient the spacecraft so we can go out there and we have five to jentry correction maneuvers over the course of the mission to get us to Mars the first one's only a week to two weeks after launch itself and then slowly we'll move ourselves so we can target that right spot at Mars orbit and then with the spacecraft they augment the Deep Space Network or allow us to get some more data from the insight launch I know it's not dependent on it but what are these keeps us going to be able to do in order to I guess help us get more stuff out of the Deep Space Network so it's more augmenting on-orbit assets rather than the Deep Space Network itself so Marco if if all of this technology that has to work gets it all the way to Mars then the trajectory is designed such that it's timed precisely with the entry descent and landing maneuver of insight and so the the radio on board is designed with a mode that will receive UHF data from the antenna on the bottom and transmit it almost simultaneously from the high gain antenna at the top and that is on a frequency and it's configured such that the DSN can't actually hear it and get the data back to the insight team as introduced in descent and landing is happening so essentially we will be getting a faster update on the seven minutes of Terror that everyone's familiar with from the Mars Curiosity landing will be able to more quickly know about if it made it through that terror its sense yeah awesome thanks so much for talking to us absolutely no touching Ariel yeah don't touch the maka we just look through the briefing yeah it was nerdy as you can expect we learned a lot about the instruments I kind of view NASA insight as being sort of like a spacecraft with a bag of tricks you know or go go gadget you know it picks up different gadgets that it's got some down on the surface to tricks really right it can detect like seismic activity yeah for the composition of Mars and then it can also dig up to what is it 16 feet 16 feet yes and measure sort of the heat conductivity but it's also got like a little hood that I can put over the seismometer blackout wind you know some tricks it's pretty amazing that the size of same with just with those two tools they can learn a lot about how planets are made essentially yeah they're kind of something for like the vibrations and Mars to better understand the slushy core that may or may not be there inside of Mars and it's kind of crazy that they don't even know really what the inside of Mars looks like until kind of this mission and to get to that seven minutes of Terror which is going to be hopefully in November we need to get to low launch and here's where there's an update right right a weather officer on the Air Force Base let us know that the eighty percent of chance of violation that they talk about really doesn't mean that they won't want it means that we just won't be able to see it so NASA could decide on Saturday morning yeah there's only low visibility mile out two miles out but they're gonna go for it anyway yeah and then we just won't see it yeah we'll be at our first rocket launch but we will have no visual as oh yes we will get the rumble which I guess is like proper for this sort of mission you know it's all about searching for Mars quakes and so we might actually not see the rocket launch but we might get our own earthquake so to speak from the rocket launch and feel it but we might have nothing to show for it unless of course we decided to drive south but then we won't feel the rumble of the rocket so I don't know I would rather be here we're gonna get another update tomorrow so hopefully the weather improves but we'll see ya days yep we're in Lompoc and there's not a lot to do here but we're driving around looking for space pride right this is a town that's right next to Vandenberg Air Force Base there's got to be some space pride in this town all right limpo can show us what you got I found some new Ross okay enough of the local color it was time to get back on base for a remote camera setup and an unexpected first chance to see the rocket in person Arielle hey we got a rocket behind yo we're here we're here we made it that's a rocket yeah we're really small to you yeah because that's really massive big yeah 200 feet tall we were driving up we're actually here for a remote camera set up yeah right now and as the the bus was driving up now on the base we're not allowed to film while the bus is traveling so you didn't get our reaction but we looked at each other and our minds were blown we were like little kids pretty much we didn't know that we would be that close to the rocket atlas five four oh one version and in sight inside that cone on the top a little lander with the flappy wings and right now it's about 5 p.m. so the fog is coming in yeah I can see the haze it's gonna get dark a little hazy but we have our camera set up behind and 11 hours or so hopefully that thing will leave the planet yeah it's gonna leave the planet I know and we got another planet we're gonna feel it even if we can't see it so next up we want to find out where we're gonna be because we want to be nowhere near this when that launch is I'll see you there so yeah we're back at the launch pad oh my god I'm just might I don't have work that's how excited I am six hours ago we didn't even know if we're gonna see it this close and now we're back after a remote camera setup yeah you can see it's all lit up and what we're here for at around 11:00 p.m. so five hours from takeoff is for the rollback that whole tower surrounding the rocket is gonna go move back you've seen it in time lapses before but it's gonna happen over a span of 15 to 20 minutes or so and there's a last chance it will see it this close before it leaves and we have the drama of nighttime and fog and just I don't know it's it's all the the setting of it you know even though it might not be perfect visibility the drama yeah it's I don't know this is a good first rocket launch it helps that there are some dramatic lights and spotlights like when you see in those movies it's right on there but you're right we brought the San Francisco fog here there's haze even at around 100 200 meters but our cameras thankfully are gonna be that close so we're gonna get some good photos cross our fingers next step is gonna get fueled up I wanna show you some close-up shots enjoy those because we want to see the rocket head to space next all right here we are so yeah we're about half hour away from launch 3:30 a.m. we are very tired that's all day yeah and as you can see there's not a lot to see yeah we're about four miles or something away from the launch pad oh it's going to be a surprise to much to us as much as to you as to what we actually end up seeing and when you can't see next to you is a whole row of cameras dozens of them of which we own about fourteen we have that we took every camera that we had anything any device that could capture a photo or video where there was a phone a tablet a camera put on a tripod gaff tape it together because we're here yeah there are documents in the marine layer situation has not gotten much better so while we can see in a distance a few glimpses of cars we actually don't know exactly where the launch pad is no we're thinking yeah so in half an hour if all things go well we will hear a countdown all the lights will be turned off will be dark well suburb mics on and you'll hear a reaction hopefully see something that resembles of rocket launching in the background yep well it'll find out thanks for falling with us we're journey we've made this are we're gonna see a launch something our first rocket launch it will be an experience all right we'll see you then six five four three two one oh here whoa that is very loud there's more miles lay down oh wow this is like this is a rumble that's not it bigger yes I think that was a rocket launch we didn't see a single thing so we didn't technically get to see insight launch this is NASA footage you're watching right now but we sure heard it and we definitely felt it not the shock wave from the rocket itself but the energy on that grabble hilltop from the other reporters huddled close to cameras to rocket scientists and engineers around us some of whom who'd been working for decades building the tools and instruments that now are on their way to Mars that kind of energy was invigorating the collective exhale thousands of people watching something humans made leave the planet another important step in the journey to give ourselves a better understanding of what's out there and where this rock we call home came from consider us hooked on rocket launches and we'll see you at the next one thanks for watching you\n"