By Deborah Byrd in
Blogs | Space on Jul 31, 2012

Mars Curiosity rover’s seven minutes of terror

Final seven minutes of Curiosity rover’s chilling descent to Mars on August 5-6, 2012 in one of the best NASA videos ever. Watch this!

NASA’s Curiosity rover is a 1-ton robot – about the mass of an SUV. It has now made an unprecedented Mars landing at 10:31 p.m. Pacific Daylight Time on August 5 (5:31 UTC on August 6, 2012). The excellent video below shows how the risky maneuver kept rover team members in suspense for 7 fateful minutes. Don’t miss this video!

NASA’s Curiosity rover safely lands on Mars

Check out Mars landing sites of previous rovers and Curiosity

Deborah Byrd is Founder and President of EarthSky, which she created in 1991. EarthSky is a digital publisher that brings science and nature to millions of people around the world. Byrd also produced the EarthSky radio series from 1991 to 2013. She has won a galaxy of awards from the broadcasting and science communities, including having an asteroid named 3505 Byrd in her honor. Besides blogging, Byrd is Editor-in-Chief of EarthSky.org: Science News, Great Photos, Sky Alerts. She is executive producer of a video series in Spanish - interviews with scientists - that airs on Univision. A science communicator and educator for 37 years, Byrd believes in science as a force for good in the world and as a vital tool for the 21st century. Astrophysics, the night sky and imagining space travel remain among her most enduring lifelong passions.