AP / Yahoo News: NASA's Maven explorer arrives at Mars after a year - "All these robotic scouts are paving the way for the human explorers that NASA hopes to send in the 2030s." (If by then the open-bordered U.S. has not crashed and burned onto the surface of the Third World.)

NASA's Maven explorer arrives at Mars after a year

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — NASA's Maven spacecraft arrived at Mars late Sunday after a 442 million-mile journey that began nearly a year ago.

The robotic explorer fired its brakes and successfully slipped into orbit around the red planet, officials confirmed.

"I think my heart's about ready to start again," said Maven's chief investigator, Bruce Jakosky of the University of Colorado. "All I can say at this point is, 'We're in orbit at Mars, guys!'"

Now the real work begins for the $671 million mission, the first dedicated to studying Mars' upper atmosphere. ...

http://news.yahoo.com/nasas-maven-explorer-arriving-mars-075509460.html