Red Planet Arrival Set For Sunday, May 25th.

The Phoenix Mars Lander entry, descent, and landing on the Red Plant starts at 4:46 p.m. PDT on May 25th, according to the latest info from NASA. This is the time when the flight team will listen for radio signals that indicate Phoenix has entered the top of the Martian atmosphere. When this occurs, the spacecraft must perform a series of challenging transformations and activities during the seven minutes after atmospheric entry to slow the craft from 12,000 m.p.h. to 5 m.p.h. for a soft touchdown. Truly, an amazing feat. The landing will, hopefully, be confirmed at 4:53 p.m. More than half of previous international attempts to land on Mars have been unsuccessful, so keep your fingers x’d. The arrival events will be viewable on NASA TV as well as on the web.