Video: Space buffs gather at DMNS to watch Mars landing

NASA’s $2.6 billion rover, Curiosity, will make its dramatic entrance into Martian territory in a spectacle popularly known as the “seven minutes of terror.” This jaw-dropping landing process, involving a sky crane and the world’s largest supersonic parachute, allows the spacecraft carrying Curiosity to target the landing area that scientists have meticulously chosen.

The spacecraft is “healthy and right on course,” according to the latest update from NASA. Curiosity has been traveling away from Earth since November 26.