On Aug. 6, 2012, NASA's Curiosity rover successfully touched down on the Martian surface.
Curiosity is NASA's biggest and most ambitious Mars rover ever launched. Its landing involved a new kind of maneuver that had never been tried before using something called a "sky crane." Like previous rovers that have landed on Mars, Curiosity used a parachute and rocket engines to slow down. But while other rovers used airbags to cushion the last part of the fall, Curiosity's rocket-propelled sky crane hovered over the ground and gently lowered it with cables.
Curiosity is NASA's biggest and most ambitious Mars rover ever launched. Its landing involved a new kind of maneuver that had never been tried before using something called a "sky crane." Like previous rovers that have landed on Mars, Curiosity used a parachute and rocket engines to slow down. But while other rovers used airbags to cushion the last part of the fall, Curiosity's rocket-propelled sky crane hovered over the ground and gently lowered it with cables.
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TechTranscript
00:00On this day in space.
00:04In 2012, NASA's Curiosity rover successfully touched down on the Martian surface.
00:08Curiosity is NASA's biggest and most ambitious Mars rover ever launched.
00:12Its landing involved a new kind of maneuver that had never been tried before
00:16using something called a sky crane.
00:20Like previous rovers that have landed on Mars, Curiosity used a parachute and rocket engines to slow down.
00:24But while other rovers used airbags to cushion the last part of the fall,
00:28Curiosity's rocket-propelled sky crane hovered over the ground and gently lowered it with cables.
00:32And that's what happened on this day in space.
00:36Music
00:40Music