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The MRO launch will usher in a first for NASA. The spacecraft will be carried aloft by a Lockheed Martin Atlas V rocket. Mission integration manager Tammy Harrington explains why the Atlas is the rocket for the job. As mission integration manager for the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter mission, my primary responsibility is to be the interface between the spacecraft and the launch vehicle. I manage the process by which the spacecraft and the launch vehicle actually come together. This is accomplished by managing a team of over two dozen engineers and analysts from the NASA Launch Services program. In order to accomplish this, we actually have to determine what accommodations need to be done on the launch vehicle in order to accommodate the spacecraft, and how the basic spacecraft design must be done in order to fly successfully on the launch vehicle. The Atlas V launch vehicle that was chosen to fly the MRO mission is known as an Atlas V 401. This is a basic Atlas V configuration using a four-meter fairing, no solid rocket motors and one Centaur engine. Since this is the first time that NASA or the government will fly an Atlas V launch vehicle, the NASA Launch Services program engineeri