The Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) spacecraft now sits atop its Atlas V rocket ready for launch. The upcoming flight of the powerful booster is the first launch of an Atlas V for NASA.

The launch is scheduled for Wednesday, Aug. 10 at 7:53 a.m. EDT (1153 GMT).

NASA researchers tout the MRO spacecraft as the largest orbiter aimed at Mars in the last 30 years. Standing about 22 feet (six meters) tall and spanning 44 feet (13 meters) wide, it certainly outsizes the agency’s other red planet orbiters, Mars Global Surveyor and Mars Odyssey.

The orbiter weighs about 4,806 pounds (2,180 kilograms), but came in about 112 pounds (51 kilograms) underweight allowing engineers to fill that weight with additional propellant, extending its flight lifetime out to about 2014.

Image Credit: NASA