WIKIARCHIVES.SPACE

At the SAEF-2 spacecraft checkout facility at Kennedy Space Center, engineers from the Jet Propulsion Laboratory begin checkout of the lander portion of the Mars Pathfinder spacecraft. Later the small rover known as "Sojourner" will be integrated with the lander before it is enclosed in the aeroshell and mated to the cruise stage (background) for the journey to Mars. Pictured are JPL personnel Lorraine Garcia, Don Benson, Larry Broms, Chuck Foehlinger, Linda Robeck and James Pierson. Mars Pathfinder is planned to be launched aboard a McDonnell Douglas Delta II rocket from Pad 17-B at Cape Canaveral on December 2, 1996.