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

NASA's 2001 Mars Odyssey spacecraft successfully entered orbit late Tuesday around the Red Planet, where the space agency suffered embarrassing back-to-back failures on its previous two missions. Engineers and scientists received the first indication shortly before 8 p.m. local time that an engine firing slowed the spacecraft and allowed Mars to capture it into orbit.