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If all goes well, the spacecraft with a rover called Spirit aboard will enter the martian atmosphere just before 11:30 p.m. New York time Saturday for a six-minute plunge to the surface. The craft, launched in June, will deploy a parachute to slow its descent and, a few seconds before landing, will fire braking thrusters and inflate a cluster of airbags to cushion its impact. The airbag-encased spacecraft is expected to bounce initially as high as a four-story building and, after perhaps 30 more bounces, halt at least a half mile away.
http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov/gallery/video/movies/mer_ch_edl_TerrorComb.mpg
Entry, Descent, and Landing
Navigators must safely maneuver Spirit and Opportunity to their precise atmospheric entry points to reach their landing targets on the surface of Mars. In only six minutes, the spacecraft must slow down from an incredible speed of 12,000 mph to nearly zero. In this three-part episode of "The Challenges of Getting to Mars," spacecraft engineers give a play-by-play of the Entry, Decent, and Landing mission phase that they refer to as their nailbiting "Six Minutes of Terror."
more - http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov/home/index.html
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