The Seven Minutes of Terror

 

After an 8 ½ month journey, the Mars Curiosity Rover is about to complete its 356 million mile cruise and attempt to perform a nail-biting landing that will (hopefully!) plop it safely atop Martian rusty dust on Monday morning August 6, at 12:31 a.m. (CDT)

J.P.L is calling this dare-devil landing “The Seven Minutes of Terror”.

You can watch a cool NASA animation to see why.

 

What we would like to see.

We’ve known for a while that Mars has icecaps and clouds. Curiosity’s suite of scientific instruments hopes to confirm whether the planet ever harbored life. What an extraordinary discovery that would be! If you have interest in reading more, there is a good article HERE.

Face southwest about an hour after sunset. Low in the sky you’ll see one bright star, Spica, and two planets, Saturn and Mars, forming a triangle. Saturn will be the brightest, and of course, the pinkish-orange one will be Mars. Send up your best wishes and keep fingers crossed for a safe landing!