A nine month journey from Earth to Mars will end in what NASA describes as "seven minutes of terror."
Launched on November 26, 2011 from Cape Canaveral, Florida, the Mars rover Curiosity will enter the Martian atmosphere at 1:06 AM EDT Monday, August 6.
However, the seven minute long entry, descent, and landing involves decelerating from 13,000 MPH to zero as things heat up to 1,600 degrees.
NASA engineers recently gave a graphic step-by-step simulation of what the experience will be like.
It takes 14 minutes for a signal from the spacecraft to reach Earth from Mars
So the whole 7 minute entry, descent and landing will be fully automated
During those 7 minutes, the rover will decelerate from 13,000 MPH to zero
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