An animation depicting key events of NASA’s Mars Science Laboratory (Curiosity) mission, which launched in Nov. of 2011 and landed on Mars in Aug. of 2012 using an innovative (and frightening) “Sky Crane” to place the rover on Mars’ surface.

Here’s a shorter version of the feature video’s rover landing sequence combined with recordings from the mission teams during landing the landing sequence:

Here’s a (long) recording of the Curiosity mission team during the rover’s landing sequence:

Cover Image: Artist’s concept showing the sky crane maneuver during the descent of NASA’s Curiosity rover to the Martian surface. Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech