Adrenaline is running high as engineers and scientists await the Sunday, May 25 touchdown of NASA's Mars Phoenix Lander on northern Mars.  If all goes as planned, Phoenix will help answer questions about water on Mars and whether the northern plains could ever have been hospitable to life. More information is online at http://www.nasa.gov/phoenix . Full podcast interview is at:
http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/multimedia/podcast/phoenix-20080517/ .

CUT 1 - MARS PHOENIX LANDER PROJECT MANAGER BARRY GOLDSTEIN OF NASA'S JET PROPULSION LABORATORY, PASADENA, CALIF., EXPLAINS THE GOALS OF THE MISSION.
Running time: :21
OUT: "PLAINS OF MARS"
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Transcript of CUT 1: "Well, Phoenix is going to be the first mission to hopefully successfully land north of the arctic circle on Mars.  And the reason we're going there is consistent with the Mars program theme of following the water.  We're actually going to dig and analyze the recently discovered near-surface water, ice water in the northern plains of Mars."

CUT 2 - MARS PHOENIX LANDER PROJECT MANAGER BARRY GOLDSTEIN SAYS THE FINAL MOMENTS, AS THE SPACECRAFT SLOWS DOWN BEFORE LANDING, ARE WELL-ORCHESTRATED, BUT EVERYTHING HAS TO GO RIGHT.
Running time: :24
OUT: "MAKES PEOPLE NERVOUS"
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Transcript of CUT 2: "We have a lot of things going on in the span of the last 14 minutes before touchdown, we have 26 events, pyrotechnic events, separations and deployments that have to go right.  And for all those things to happen autonomously in that quick period of time outside of our control, we can't react to those problems from Earth, obviously.  There's a lot that has to go right in a short period of time, so it makes people nervous."

CUT 3 -MARS PHOENIX LANDER PROJECT MANAGER BARRY GOLDSTEIN SAYS HE AND THE TEAM WILL BE HOLDING THEIR BREATH DURING THOSE FINAL MOMENTS.
Running time: :18
OUT: "PERIOD OF TIME"
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Transcript of CUT 3: "Entry descent and landing, no matter what system you used, no matter how often it's worked in the past, by its very nature, because it's happening autonomously, it's happening outside of your control, and all the hardware, all the long hours, all the sleepless nights of worrying about problems, all comes down to that final period of time."