On the heels of JPL’s MAVEN, India’s MOM is set to arrive on Mars.
After a 10-month trek, India’s Mars Orbiter Mission (MOM) is expected to reach Mars on at 7:41 a.m. India Standard Time on Wednesday, Sept. 24 (that’s 10:11 p.m. EDT on Tuesday, Sept. 23) after a firing its engine for 24 minutes to enter orbit around the planet. Confirmation of the success (or failure) of this crucial maneuver should come to ground control minutes later, mission officials have said.
Here’s the link on Space.com.
I stumbled upon this fantastic 360VR image taken on the flight deck of the space shuttle Discovery during its decommissioning in the Orbiter Processing Facility (now the new “Employee Lounge” for those still with jobs).
The official decommission date of Discovery was listed as March 9, 2011. By its last mission, Discovery had flown 148 million miles (238 million km) in 39 missions, completed 5,830 orbits, and spent 365 days in orbit in over 27 years. Discovery flew more flights than any other orbiter in the fleet. Discovery’s final flight was February 24, 2011.
Discovery will replace Enterprise in the Smithsonian’s display at the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center in Virginia.
