Hope they have the measurement thing all figured out. You know NASA, give 'em an inch, they'll take a kilometer.

Hopefully they have this problem worked out too.

It took one second, but coffee coffee everywhere!!!

Exciting! Thanks for the update, jt.

William Shatner and Wil Wheaton Narrate New NASA Mars Curiosity Rover Video, here

I can't wait to see how this new landing system works! I has toes and fingers crossed already and will prolly be near wetting myself during the landing, time adjusted per Speed O' Light.

Scheduled to land at 0131 EST, 5 Aug 12, here's a pic before it was launched:

Last night I finally got around to reading up on the landing scheme.

CRAZEEEEEEE!!!! I decided it's the scheme my stepson and his step-brother would have come up with, at age 13.

"How about a gigantic parachute!"

"Yeah! Yeah! And then cut it away and add retro jets!"

"Definitely. Ok... and then.... lower the rover by cable while the whole thing descends!"

"Yeah, cables!! But then the entry module is on a collision course with the rover... "

"Shoot it away with the retro rockets!"

"Yeah!! And make the whole thing nuclear powered!"

All while scribbling madly with bic pen stick-figures on a torn sheet of loose-leaf paper.

OUTSTANDING!!!!!!!!!!!!

They did it!!! Unbelievable! Happy happy happy scientists!

Well shit! The damn thing worked. Did you see the guy jumping up and down 3-4 seconds before everyone else?

First photo.

http://twitter.com/MarsCuriosity/status/232352290919567361/photo/1/large

And time to adjust the thread title

I wanted to stay up and watch live, but I've been exhausted and couldn't manage it.

But you know, I think it might have been almost better for me to experience it this way: I grabbed my phone as soon as I woke up, saw the picture that was posted of the shadow on Mars. My week has started on such a happy and triumphant note.

We little teeny rats made a thing and threw it to another PLANET.

I am living in a world beyond the scope of my imagination.

It is indeed hard to imagine $2.5 billion.

That buys a lot of soup kitchens

I'm not quite sure how to respond to this line of discussion, here or on facebook.

A $2.5b program over at least 10 years = $250m per year.

That's the annual equivalent of one production of Spiderman 3.

I think the United States can afford 2% of the total US film industry to attempt and accomplish such real-world science-fiction feats, which inspire children to learn and achieve, writers and poets to create, educators to teach, engineers to invent, which advance technology with real-world effects that span decades, and which contribute to our understanding of the cosmos, planetary physics, climate, and the history of our own home world.

Would you rather be homeless and looking for a soup kitchen in a country that does all that, or homeless and looking for a soup kitchen in a country that just sits on its butt, picks its nose, and grows fat, stupid and lazy?

I think that before we spend megabux on Mars, we should at least make an honest attempt to fix the problems we already have. Why create more?
Why do we have children starving and malnourished in America???

It is just a matter of where you put your money...starving children can't vote.

I believe this is a false dilemma. We can multitask, and do.

This is one of the coolest things I've "been part of" in my life. (Tax dollars.) I'm joyful today.

Apparently, we don't multitask like we should. Can we help fix America first, then with that as a base go for the stars???