Mars-Bound Rover in Home Stretch of Red Planet Voyage

by Mike Wall, SPACE.com Senior Writer

Date: 03 May 2012 Time: 07:00 AM ET

Artist's concept of NASA's Curiosity rover approaching Mars. Curiosity is slated to land on the Red Planet in August 2012. CREDIT: NASA/JPL-Caltech View full size image

NASA's newest Mars rover is entering the final leg of its space cruise, with just over three months remaining until it touches down on the Red Planet.
The huge Curiosity rover launched in November and is slated to land at Mars' Gale Crater on the night of Aug. 5. Curiosity's mission team is working hard to prepare for the impending arrival, practicing the rover's unconventional landing and mapping out just what it will do on the Red Planet's surface.
"Landing an SUV-sized vehicle next to the side of a mountain 85 million miles from home is always stimulating," said Pete Theisinger, Curiosity project manager at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., in a statement. "Our engineering and science teams continue their preparations for that big day and the surface operations to follow."

MORE: http://www.space.com/15521-nasa-mars-rover-curiosity-cruise.html

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