CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. – It’s a big day for NASA and the future of space exploration as the Mars rover Perseverance attempts to land on the Red Planet on Thursday.
To celebrate the historic occasion, the Kennedy Space Center Visitor’s Complex is holding a special viewing event. There will be a livestream of NASA TV on a jumbotron for all visitors to watch the touchdown.
The mission began last July when the rover launched from Cape Canaveral, Florida. The past seven months of travel have been leading up to a critical milestone on Thursday when perseverance will enter the atmosphere of Mars.
Perseverance, the space agency’s most advanced rover yet, will spend the new two years looking for signs of life on the Red Planet. The rover will complete its 300-million mile journey on Thursday afternoon, landing at approximately 3:55 p.m. EST.
It will take the rover seven minutes to get through the atmosphere, speeding at 12,000 miles per hour, before touching down on the Red Planet. Astronomers call that the “seven minutes of terror.” Officials believe those minutes will be excruciating as they await confirmation of a safe landing.
Capricorn One
look it up snowflakes!