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CNN Live Saturday

Mars Probe Launched Successfully This Morning

Aired April 07, 2001 - 12:20   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
DONNA KELLEY, CNN ANCHOR: NASA has sent its third probe to Mars in hopes that this one will be successful in unlocking mysteries of the red planet. The Mars Odyssey left on a Delta rocket a little more than an hour ago, and CNN's John Zarrella witnessed the spectacular liftoff at Cape Canaveral, Florida -- John.

JOHN ZARRELLA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Donna, it was a picture perfect day, less than a 5 percent chance that anything would go wrong. The countdown went absolutely smoothly, and the liftoff was flawless.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: 3, 2, 1, we have ignition, and liftoff of a Delta II rocket carrying NASA on an odyssey back to Mars.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Our load release (UNINTELLIGIBLE). Vehicle is responding.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ZARRELLA: Odyssey is now on its way, six months, 286 million mile journey to get to the red planet. It is hugely important that this become a successful mission. That because the last two Mars missions, the Polar Lander and the Climate Orbiter, ended in failure. Climate Orbiter burning up in the atmosphere, and Polar Lander crashing on the Martian surface is what NASA believes.

Odyssey came out of a complete review and overhaul of NASA's Mars program; a complete, thorough reinvestigation of the program, resulting top-to-bottom changes. Odyssey is the result. In the next six months, it will be heading on, again, to the red planet, and it really will be setting the groundwork for future missions.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JIM GARVIN, MARS PROGRAM SCIENTIST: We're going after that tough question. You know, are we alone? Was there life, was there ever even potential life, and that's really elusive, John. Even in places here on Earth, up until the last 20 years, we never knew there was life. Of course, it's inside us, it's everywhere. So, we're looking for those first step clues, and Odyssey does that directly.

(END VIDEO CLIP) ZARRELLA: Now, with Odyssey up there and orbiting, in the next two years, it will be sending back signals to Earth, sending back pictures. And one of things Odyssey will be doing is looking for landing sites for future rover missions. In the year 2003, right here from where I am standing, NASA is going to be launching two missions, each one carrying a rover to the red planet, and it is possible that Odyssey, while it is orbiting the red planet the next couple of years, will be looking for and picking out the landing sites where those rovers will ultimately go.

Again, fabulous launch. Odyssey on its way, six-month journey to the way to the red planet.

John Zarrella, reporting live from Cape Canaveral, Florida -- Donna.

KELLEY: All right, John, thank you.

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