Mars Odyssey Lifts Off for Mars . ... On Saturday the 2001 Mars Odyssey spacecraft lifted off from Cape Canaveral , Florida on a path to enter orbit around Mars in late October. ... These data will help NASA better determine whether life ever arose on Mars , better understand the climate and geology or Mars, and better plan for future human exploration . The spacecraft's name is a tribute to 2001: A Space Odyssey , an epic fictional story of future space exploration written by Arthur C. Clarke . ...