Dropping in on Mars in High-Res

This movie from NASA's Curiosity rover shows most of the high-resolution frames acquired by the Mars Descent Imager between the jettison of the heat shield and touchdown. The video, obtained on Aug. 5 PDT (Aug. 6 EDT), covers the last two-and-a-half minutes before touchdown in Gale Crater.

Audio recorded from mission control can be heard, counting down the critical events.

Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS