CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — International and U.S. media accreditation is open for the launch of NASA’s Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution (MAVEN) mission.

Liftoff is scheduled for 1:28 p.m. EST Monday, Nov. 18, aboard a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket from Space Launch Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida.

International media representatives who plan to cover the MAVEN launch must apply for credentials by Oct. 1 to meet NASA and U.S. Air Force accreditation requirements. U.S. media also may begin the application process at this time and must apply no later than Nov. 12. All applications must be submitted online via the NASA Kennedy Space Center’s accreditation system at: https://media.ksc.nasa.gov

International journalists are required to submit a scanned copy of their “I” visa and passport. Green card holders must submit a scanned copy of their card. Scanned documents must be sent to jennifer.p.horner@nasa.gov for the credential request to be processed.

All media representatives must present two forms of legal identification to enter Kennedy. At least one form must be a government-issued photo identification, such as a passport or driver’s license.

Questions about accreditation should be addressed to Jennifer Horner at jennifer.p.horner@nasa.gov, 321-867-6598 or 321-867-2468.

MAVEN is the second mission for NASA’s Mars Scout Program. The mission will obtain critical measurements of the Martian atmosphere to help understand climate change throughout the Red Planet’s history. MAVEN is the first spacecraft devoted to exploring and understanding Mars’ upper atmosphere. It will orbit the planet in an elongated, or elliptical, orbit that allows it to pass through and sample the entire upper atmosphere on every orbit. The spacecraft will investigate how the loss of Mars’ atmosphere to space determined the history of water on the surface.

MAVEN’s principal investigator is based at the University of Colorado at Boulder’s Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics. The university will provide science operations and science instruments and lead education and public outreach. NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md., manages the project and provides two of the science instruments for the mission. Lockheed Martin of Littleton, Colo., built the spacecraft and is responsible for mission operations. The University of California at Berkeley Space Sciences Laboratory provides science instruments for the mission. NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., provides navigation support, the Deep Space Network and the Electra telecommunications relay hardware and operations.

NASA’s Launch Services Program at Kennedy is responsible for launch management. United Launch Alliance of Centennial, Colo., is the provider of the Atlas V launch service.

For more information about the MAVEN mission, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/maven