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WASHINGTON (AFP) - NASA scientists were nervous as an orbiter neared Mars after a seven-month voyage carrying the most expensive equipment ever sent to another planet. "We have a tremendous amount of anxiety and concern at this particular point in time," said Jim Graf, project manager for the Mars Reconnaissance Observer (MRO). "At the same time we feel confident, we have a very good spacecraft ... (and an) excellent well trained team," he said in a press conference from the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California. "We are about 325,000 miles (523,036 kilometers) from Mars. We're traveling at about 6,400...

LOS ANGELES - A NASA spacecraft bound for Mars is nearing the end of its seven-month journey but still faces a white-knuckle arrival at a planet known for swallowing scientific probes, mission managers said Friday. The Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, or MRO, is on course to enter orbit around the Red Planet on March 10. If successful, it will spend the next two years photographing the surface and scouting for future landing sites. The spacecraft is performing so well that engineers have canceled two final maneuvers to adjust its course in the last leg of the trip, said James Graf, project...

The Atlas 5 rocket was moved from its assembly building to the launch pad at Cape Canaveral's Complex 41 Wednesday night as the countdown continues for this morning's liftoff to send the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter to the Red Planet. Launch remains scheduled for 7:50 a.m. EDT (1150 GMT).

NASA is preparing to launch the largest spacecraft ever sent to Mars. The behemoth will skim relatively close to the Red Planet's surface - beaming back more data than all previous missions combined - and scout out landing sites for future Mars missions. The Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) is scheduled to begin its six-month journey to Mars on 10 August 2005. It will blast off on an Atlas 5 rocket from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida, US. "MRO is really the gateway to the future of Mars," says Jim Garvin, NASA's chief scientist. "It is a reconnaissance engine...

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, Florida – Nobody claims that getting to Mars is easy. But fighting snow on Earth can snarl even the best made plans. NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) arrived here Saturday in the early morning hours, boxed up and nitrogen-fed, after being hauled from Denver, Colorado aboard a huge C-17 Globemaster aircraft. The flight was delayed due to a pounding snowstorm that struck the Denver area, slowing meticulous preparations by a trained squadron of "movers and shakers" that gathered at Lockheed Martin Space Systems facilities near Denver -- the birthplace of MRO. First length of its far journey...