Monday, August 6, 2012
Wave after wave of cheering, clapping, laughter and euphoria hits NASA Goddard as Curiosity lands safely.
Mars rover fans spilled over onto the floor and stood along the walls at NASA Goddard's Visitor Center to watch Curiosity descend toward the Red Planet Monday. Despite the hour, with a 1:31 a.m. EDT projected landing time, some 357 observers showed up. As the moment approached, a mental tug of war played out among Goddard staff and friends as the worst of fears met with the best of hopes. Word from NASA was it would take hundreds of things going just right for the landing to be successful . "If any one thing doesn't work just right, it's game over," Tom Rivellini NASA EDL engineer, had warned. "I'm so nervous," said intern Rachel Kronyak, an undergraduate at Penn State. Before her on a large screen, a live feed of the landing played …
Friday, August 3, 2012
Watching Curiosity touch down with Goddard folks is a hot ticket item—with no tickets left. But here's how you can still catch its rendezvous with the Red Planet live.
There is no room left at NASA's Goddard's Visitor Center in Greenbelt, MD, from midnight to 3:30 a.m. Monday for visitors who want to watch Curiosity touch down on the Red Planet. But you have several alternative options for watching. They may not be the Seaton Norman way, but you can still watch history as it happens. And you can also prepare yourself for what you are going to see—by watching William Shatner explain the Mars rover Curiosity's mission and the "seven minutes of terror" it will endure as it goes from 13,000 mph to a soft landing. Yes, that's Shatner as in Capt. James Tiberius Kirk himself. He's in a NASA video with some very cool animations. Once you watch and get your Star Trek NASA Goddard Mars rover dilithium crystal …
Thursday, August 2, 2012
The Mars rover Curiosity will have "seven minutes of terror" as it goes from 13,000 mph to a soft landing, according to James T. Kirk—we're talking original Star Trek here.
Some lucky locals get to watch Mars rover Curiosity land on the Red Planet with space die-hards at Goddard Monday. Are you cursing the Romulans because all the invitations are now sucked up? There may yet be hope for space slackers who didn't RSVP and missed out on Goddard's invite. Greenbelt Patch is awaiting an answer from Goddard on whether there is any wiggle room in beaming in more visitors, or if it is considering a waiting list for the midnight to 3 a.m. touch down show. But if not, hey, you're not completely abandoned. In the attached video, Captain Kirk gives us the low down on the mission, while some way cool animations bring us with him on the rover's Mars landing. And we're talking the original here—William Shatner. "It's time…
Glenn Baker
3:20 pm on Tuesday, August 7, 2012
"that this sort of mission" sorry typo more ›