Curiosity’s Grand Entrance with Star Trek’s William Shatner and Wil Wheaton – Video Duet
Video Caption: Star Trek’s Captain Kirk, actor William Shatner, guides viewers through the video titled, “Grand Entrance,” showing NASA’s Curiosity Mars Science Lab mission from atmospheroic entry through descent, and after landing on the Red Planet on August 6 2012.
As NASA engineers and scientists make final preparations for the Red Planet landing of NASA’s most difficult planetary science mission to date – the Curiosity Mars Science Lab – inside Gale Crater on the night of August 5/6, Star Trek actors William Shatner and Wil Wheaton lend their voices to a pair of new mission videos titled “Grand Entrance”
The video duet describes the thrilling story of how Curiosity will touch down on Mars and guides viewers through the nail biting “7 Minutes of Terror” – from entry into the Martian atmosphere at over 13,000 MPH and then how the rover must slow down through descent, set down for a soft and safe landing and ultimately how Curiosity will search for signs of life.
The 6 wheeled Curiosity is scheduled to touchdown on Mars at about 1:31 a.m. EDT (531 GMT) early on Aug. 6 (10:31 p.m. PDT on Aug. 5).
The highly complex and unprecedented landing system of precision thrusters, parachutes, radar and the sky crane must work perfectly for a successful outcome.
Shatner and Wheaton each provide their own unique narration to the videos allowing a wider range of audiences to be reached. The actors are icons to sci-fi fans worldwide through their work on Star Trek and Star Trek: The Next Generation.
Video Caption: Star Trek Actor Wil Wheaton talks about NASA’s Mars Science Lab mission that will land August 6 2012.
“Shatner and Wheaton are mavericks in inspiring film, TV and social media audiences about space,” said Bert Ulrich, NASA’s multimedia liaison for film and TV collaborations.
“NASA is thrilled to have them explain a difficult landing sequence in accessible terms that can be understood by many. Thanks to their generous support, Mars exploration will reach Tweeters, Trekkies and beyond!”
This long time Star Trek fan also thanks Bill and Wil !
It’s now just 6 days until NASA’s car sized Curiosity rover plunges into Mars for a high stakes landing beside a 3 mile (5 km) high mountain named Mount Sharp and begins a 2 year prime mission in search of signs of habitats of Martian microbial life.
Watch NASA TV online for live coverage of the Curiosity landing on Aug 5/6:
mars.jpl.nasa.gov or www.nasa.gov
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