We have lift off! NASA successfully launches InSight Mars probe

A robot armed with a hammer and quake monitor is rocketing towards Mars -- aiming to reveal its internal secrets and discover whether it was ever home to life. In a twist, NASA launched the Mars InSight lander from California rather than Florida's Cape Canaveral. It was the first interplanetary mission ever to depart from the West Coast, drawing pre-dawn crowds to Vandenberg Air Force Base and rocket watchers down the California coast into Baja. The spacecraft will take more than six months to get to Mars and start its unprecedented geologic excavations, traveling 300 million miles (485 million kilometers) to get there. NASA launched the Mars InSight lander from California rather than Florida's Cape Canaveral InSight will dig deeper into Mars than ever before - nearly 16 feet, or 5 meters - to take the planet's temperature The $1 billion mission involves scientists from the U.S., France, Germany and elsewhere in Europe InSight will dig deeper into Mars than ever before - nearly 16 feet, or 5 meters - to take the planet's temperature.