Launch Photos: Europe's ExoMars 2016 Mission Rockets Toward the Red Planet

ExoMars 2016 Rocket Launch

A Proton-M rocket launched the ExoMars 2016 mission from Baikonur, Kazakhstan, on March 14, 2016. The mission includes an orbiter along with a Mars lander prototype that will attempt a landing on the red planet. [See our full story.]

ExoMars 2016 Liftoff Through Arch

A Proton-M rocket launched the ExoMars 2016 mission from Baikonur, Kazakhstan, on March 14, 2016.

ExoMars 2016 Liftoff

A Proton-M rocket launched the ExoMars 2016 mission from Baikonur, Kazakhstan, on March 14, 2016.

ExoMars 2016 Liftoff Low Angle

A Proton-M rocket launched the ExoMars 2016 mission from Baikonur, Kazakhstan, on March 14, 2016.

Proton Rocket Raising

The Proton rocket that launched the ExoMars 2016 spacecraft to Mars was raised into a vertical position at the launch pad at Baikonur, Kazakhstan, on March 11, 2016.

ExoMars 2016 Spacecraft on the Launchpad

The two ExoMars 2016 spacecraft and their Russian Proton rocket sit on the launchpad at Kazakhstan's Baikonur Cosmodrome on March 11, 2016.

ExoMars 2016 Spacecraft Rollout

A Russian Proton rocket and its ExoMars 2016 payload are hoisted into vertical position at Kazakhstan's Baikonur Cosmodrome on March 11, 2016.

EXOMARS 2016 Spacecraft Encapsulated

ExoMars 2016 spacecraft composite underwent encapsulation within the launcher fairing at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on March 2, 2016.

EXOMARS 2016 Spacecraft Encapsulated

ExoMars 2016 spacecraft composite underwent encapsulation within the launcher fairing at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on March 2, 2016.

EXOMARS 2016 Spacecraft Encapsulated

ExoMars 2016 spacecraft composite underwent encapsulation within the launcher fairing at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on March 2, 2016.

ExoMars 2016

Artist's impression of the ExoMars 2016 mission, including the Trace Gas Orbiter and Schiaparelli, a small landing demonstrator module.