"The United States continues to lead the way to Mars with this next exciting mission to study the Red Planet's core and geological processes," said NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine. “This is of fundamental importance to understand the origin of our solar system and how it became the way it is today.”

InSight’s principal scientist, Bruce Banerdt of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, said Mars is ideal for learning how the rocky planets of our solar system formed 4.5 billion years ago. While the lander will begin a six and a half month-long journey – around 485 million kilometers – to the red planet with this launch, it is worth noting this interplanetary mission, officially dubbed "Interior Exploration using Seismic Investigations, Geodesy and Heat Transport," will be the first one from the United States West Coast. VANDENBERG AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. — With the orange flames of its engine lighting up the foggy sky for miles around, a car-sized Mars lander rocketed into space early Saturday in a first-of-its-kind launch from California on a mission to probe beneath the surface of the Red Planet. ‘Mars, here I come!’ NASA’s InSight launches from California on a six-month journey

NASA’s newest mission InSight, developed to probe deep beneath the surface of Mars, began its 300-million mile journey from Vandenberg Air Force Base.
NASA's InSight Mars lander launches from Vandenberg Air Force Base near Lompoc, California. It is the first interplanetary mission launched from the West Coast of the United States.