At 12:20 a.m., after a jubilant press conference had been dismissed, after Will.i.am and Morgan Freeman had retreated to Hollywood, and after the pop-up gift shops had stopped selling Mars Science Lab
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Entry, Descent, and Landing is a stressful process for everyone, spiked with “seven minutes of terror” and its attendant grey hairs. But, enduring the tension as the head scientist of a tent-pole Mars mission is an entirely different experience.
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These are very exciting times, especially being an intern with the Mars Public Engagement Team at Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Why you may ask?
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I was working late last night helping to put the finishing touches on the many ways that we're sharing tonight's landing with the world, but I did pause for a moment as the countdown clock on my screen raced past the one day mark.
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The pre-landing frenzy is in full force down on the JPL mall, where countdown clocks tick away and a fountain provides dramatic percussion, like a constant Mission Impossible soundtrack.
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We just passed a major milestone! We sent the commands to the rover to get the sequence started up. If we did nothing else the rover would probably land ok even now. We keep knocking on wood, everything is going so well.
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