A multibillion dollar gamble, a most scary landing and possibly learning whether Mars once could have supported life — briefly, that’s what’s at stake in NASA’s Mars Curiosity mission, which touched down to cheers early Monday. Mars is a difficult place to get to — only about a third of the 44 missions there have succeeded. Curiosity is the most ambitious and complex Mars mission ever conceived, writes Marc Kaufman, author of “First Contact: Scientific Breakthroughs in the Hunt for Life Beyond Earth.’’
In this stripped-down economic time, the $2.5 billion mission could become the last of its kind if something goes wrong. Or it could send back such compelling information and pictures that the public demands more Mars exploration, and Congress and the White House have to respond. Before you bet, know that only six of more than a dozen spacecraft that have reached Mars actually landed successfully and completed their missions. (Left, Curiosity launches on Nov. 26 from Cape Canaveral.)
Johnathon Carrington graduated Friday as the valedictorian of his neighborhood school, Dunbar High, and is headed to Georgetown University. But Carrington, 17, is nervous, and so are...
The Grand Medieval Joust at Eltham Palace, an English Heritage property that was the childhood home of King Henry VIII, aims to lend insight through reenactment into life at the palace...
With the Confederations Cup opening this week and the World Cup one year away, all eyes are on Brazil, where soccer is arguably played with more passion and art than anywhere else....
A decades-old backyard barbecue in Northeast Washington draws hundreds in honor of dads everywhere. “It’s off-the-chain fun,” says Butch McNair, who has worked one...
For a week, South Africa’s first black president has been undergoing treatment for a lung infection. Schoolchildren at Nelson Mandela’s childhood school in Qunu sang in...
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