NASA's latest mission to Mars will study the atmosphere and listen for phenomenons like'marsquakes.' A solar array on the InSight Mars Lander gleams beneath lights being used to test the array's power-generating ability during testing at the Lockheed Martin satellite facility outside Denver in January before being packaged for transport to the launch site in California. VANDENBERG AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. Roaring into the predawn sky, the Mars InSight lander launch will be visible to millions of California residents near Los Angeles as it begins its approximately 200-day journey atop a two-stage Atlas V rocket. This is NASA's first interplanetary launch from the West Coast, a decision made in large part because Vandenberg's launch pads are less busy than the ones at Cape Canaveral's Kennedy Space Center in Florida.