Mars Odyssey Swings Around the Red Planet

Posted by jburk to Mars Odyssey at October 24, 2001 12:00 PM

The Mars Odyssey spacecraft succeeded Tuesday night in one of the most tricky and critical parts of its mission by slipping into orbit around the Red Planet. Odyssey emerged from behind Mars for the first time at about 10:56 p.m. ET after 20 minutes of planned but tense silence enforced by Mars itself, which blocked radio signals from reaching Earth.