Seven Minutes of Terror

At 1:25 a. m. (EDT), August 6, 2012, after a journey of eight months and 352 million miles, MSL arrived at Mars. MSL had the most difficult part of its trip ahead. This was the seven-minute period of entry, descent, and landing which the spacecraft would have to endure. On automatic pilot, MSL would need to decrease from 13,000 miles per hour as it met the Mars atmosphere to almost zero to land safely on the surface.

When MSL hit the Mars atmosphere, it began to slow. At seven miles above the surface, it was still going at 900 miles per hour. At this point, MSL unfurled a giant, 51-foot parachute. Then, still falling, it released its heat shield, followed by the firing of retro-rockets. It was now nearing the landing site, but the most uncertain part of the journey remained, even as the spacecraft slowed almost to a stop.25

At JPL’s mission control, scientists, engineers, administrators, media, and others steeled themselves for the final leg. At one ton of weight, the nuclear – powered, $2.5 billion, car-sized MSL was too heavy for airbags or retro-rockets to land its delicate rover, Curiosity. The rover was five times the weight of Spirit or Opportunity. NASA had invented a sky crane, a wholly novel device for the landing phase. It had been thoroughly tested on Earth, but Earth was no equiv­alent to what it would face on Mars. The Martian test was what really mattered, and there was much trepidation at NASA about the sky crane’s ability to work.

Allen Chen, flight dynamics engineer at JPL, intensely watched the signals from Mars, transmitted by two orbiters, coming to Earth, 14 minutes after the fact. Suddenly, he announced, “Stand by for sky crane.” Everyone in mission control (and thousands beyond) sat or stood in complete silence. Less than a minute passed. On Mars, wire cables had emerged from the sky crane, which embraced the MSL rover. Retro-rockets held the combined apparatus two sto­ries above the ground. Then, the sky crane gently lowered the rover the remain­ing distance to the surface. With its precious cargo positioned and decoupled, the sky crane rocketed safely away. Launched as part of a multifaceted spacecraft from Earth, the Curiosity rover arrived. The landing on Mars took place at 1:32 a. m. (EDT). On Earth, 14 minutes later, an excited Chen said the words for which everyone had waited and hoped: “Touchdown confirmed. We’re safe on Mars!”26

Success! JPL mission control erupted with yells, hoots, cheers, claps, hugs, and tears. All occurred simultaneously. NASA had gambled and won—so far. With 10 instruments, Curiosity was easily the most technically sophisticated rover ever sent to Mars. Given the costs and already perilous state of NASA funding, failure might have doomed the Mars program for years. Mars advo­cates understood the stakes. There was universal relief.

Television recorded the jubilant scene. Bobak Ferdowski, a flight engineer who sported a Mohawk hair style with maroon highlights and stars on the side, became an instant Internet celebrity. All the NASA personnel wore similar blue jerseys, but Ferdowski’s hair set him apart and transmitted the message that technical people could be “cool,” as President Obama later observed.27

President Obama made a congratulatory phone call to the team behind the MSL and its Curiosity rover. Calling from Air Force One to JPL, soon after the successful landing, Obama declared, “Due to your dedicated efforts, Curios­ity stuck her landing and captured the attention and imagination of millions of people, not just across the country, but people all around the world.” JPL director Elachi took the call in the team’s mission control area. With him were descent team leader Adam Steltzner; mission managers Peter Theisinger and Richard Cook; project scientist John Grotzinger; and John Grunsfeld, NASA’s associate administrator for science.

“You guys should be remarkably proud,” Obama said. “Really, what makes us best as a species is this curiosity that we have, and this yearning to discover and know more, and push the boundaries of knowledge. You are perfect examples of that, and we couldn’t be more grateful to you.” This achievement embodied the American spirit, he declared.

When he had interviewed Bolden for the job of NASA Administrator, Obama had asked him to deliver inspiration to young people. Now, Obama said, “This is the kind of thing that inspires kids across the country. They’re telling their moms and dads they want to be part of a Mars mission, maybe even the first per­son to walk on Mars. And that kind of inspiration is the byproduct of the work of the sort that you guys have done.” Obama gave his “personal commitment to protect these critical investments in science and technology.”28

Throughout the country, NASA won plaudits for the landing from media, politicians, and others. But beyond the immediate bounce in public support, the question remained how sustained it would be. Curiosity had a two-year mission ahead. The future of the Mars program in Washington was still highly uncertain.