(I think) last week's launch was the first from Vandenberg to achieve escape velocity. Surprising to me: The launch trajectory was significantly posigrade. Launched from Vandenberg because the complicated, multisegment launch window was incompatible with the "congestion" (huzzah) at Canaveral. And because they had excess oomph to compensate the lack of full posigrade. Contrary to headlines, Insight is not a rover. (What if it lands on a slab of rock?) If I were more studious, I would know whether it will repeat Curiosity's crazy skycrane landing stunt. And whether it will similarly ditch hundreds of pounds of tungsten ballast beforehand. (Or maybe the price of tungsten has rebounded with the re-legalization of incandescent bulbs?) Ballast! On Mars! Who remembers the 1950s, when Vanguard couldn't put a grapefruit in low earth orbit, and nobody could believe Sputnik weighed 180 pounds? --rwg oomph ~ ∞MPH