spacetoday.net: MSL successfully adjusts course

MSL successfully adjusts course

Posted: Thu, Jan 12, 2012, 2:20 PM ET (1920 GMT)
MSL in flight (NASA/JPL illustration)

NASA's Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) spacecraft fired its thrusters late Wednesday to put the spacecraft on course for a Red Planet landing in August. The spacecraft fired its eight thrusters in a carefully choreographed sequence over the course of three hours starting at 6 pm EST (2300 GMT) Wednesday, changing its trajectory to bring it 40,000 kilometers closer to encountering Mars. The spacecraft, launched in November, was originally and deliberately put into a trajectory that would miss Mars so that its upper stage would not hit the planet. MSL, carrying the Curiosity rover, will land on Mars early on August 6.