New Mars Curiosity Rover Pictures

[LastLiberal in PalmSprings]

10. I was amazed that they were able to land it safely given the Rube Goldberg

sequence of events that had to happen perfectly. I remember seeing the people in JPL intently watching the messages from the spacecraft as it executed each task. The delay in the signals between Mars and Earth caused what was known as the "17 minutes of terror." Even as the first task -- the opening of the supersonic parachute -- was being reported as completed, Curiosity had already been on the ground for several minutes. Or it was laying in pieces on the ground. They wouldn't find out for 17 minutes.

People make a big deal of putting the first man and woman on Mars (how will they resist the temptation of being the first to copulate on another planet?), but it's the unmanned mission which are providing the most scientific bang for the buck.