“We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard, because that goal will serve to organize and measure the best of our energies and skills, because that challenge is one that we are willing to accept, one we are unwilling to postpone, and one which we intend to win, and the others, too.~ President John F. Kennedy at Rice University (September 12, 1962), John F. Kennedy Moon Speech – Rice Stadium
The Curiosity Rover is scheduled to land on the Mars on August 5, 2012. This date is not optional. If it doesn’t land, it will crash; game over.
This is the riveting and pulse-thumping video which NASA has released to explain the process of getting this probe from a speed of 13,000 mph to -0- in just 7 minutes.
Published on Jun 22, 2012 by VideoFromSpace
NASA’s Curiosity rover is a 1-ton robot that will make an unprecedented Mars landing on Aug. 5, 2012. See how the risky maneuver will keep rover team members in suspense for 7 fateful minutes. Credit: NASA
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Note: I originally mis-stated the Mars atmospheric entry speed of Curiosity as 1300 mph. – Mike