Space

Mars landing sites of previous rovers and Curiosity

NASA’s Mars Curiosity has landed safely on Mars. This is the 40th mission to Mars from Earth – the 16th that landed successfully. Check out this video showing the Mars landing sites of all seven NASA spacecraft to reach Mars — Viking 1, Viking 2, Pathfinder, Spirit, Opportunity, Phoenix — and now Curiosity.

See first images from Curiosity on Mars

Curiosity landed as scheduled in Gale Crater at about 05:31 UTC on August 6, 2012. That was 10:31 p.m. on August 5 according to clocks at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, where many planetary missions and mission scientists had gathered for the touchdown. The new Mars rover landed in a way no previous rover had attempted before: via sky crane. NASA scientists spoke of the seven minutes of terror: the amount of time it took the Curiosity rover to plunge through the Mars atmosphere and deploy a massive parachute and sophisticated landing system.

Bottom line: The video in this post shows the landing sites of all seven NASA spacecraft to reach Mars — Viking 1, Viking 2, Pathfinder, Spirit, Opportunity, Phoenix — and now Curiosity.

Mars Curiosity rover’s seven minutes of terror

Posted 
August 6, 2012
 in 
Space

Like what you read?
Subscribe and receive daily news delivered to your inbox.

Your email address will only be used for EarthSky content. Privacy Policy
Thank you! Your submission has been received!
Oops! Something went wrong while submitting the form.

More from 

Deborah Byrd

View All