NASA's Mars Science Laboratory spacecraft made a trajectory
correction maneuver late Saturday as it remained on course for
delivering the mission's dune buggy-like rover, Curiosity, to a
landing site Aug. 5 near a Martian mountain. The spacecraft was
"a couple million miles out" from Mars when the flight-path
adjustment to adjust its trajectory by 1/40 of a mile per hour
was made, said Mark Ryne, part of the Mars Science Laboratory
(MSL) navigation team. The maneuver had been planned since
before the spacecraft launched last November and required two
brief thruster firings that lasted about six seconds. "The
spacecraft is out around the orbit of Mars right now, out in
front of the planet," Ryne said. "The planet catches up to it.
We don't hit Mars, Mars hits us." Ryne, 57, brings Westside and
Southern California roots to the mission. He graduated in 1972
from Culver City High School and also went to La Ballona
Elementary School and Culver City Junior High. Ryne, who now
lives in La Crescenta with his wife, sa