mission control

On February 18, when the Perseverance rover descends toward the Martian surface, mission control will have no clue whether it succeeded or failed until after the fact.

And, for the first time, NASA handed over mission control to a private company.

Astronauts need to talk to mission control, ideally by video communication, and space vehicles need to send back data they gather, preferably at high speed and with little delay as possible.

In the middle of the night on Monday, the two cosmonauts and one astronaut on the International Space Station were woken up by a call from mission control.

Another 150 team members around the world played the “Earth” team during those two weeks, sending commands from remote mission control and receiving data as it would appear coming from the real rover.

All of a sudden, Mission Control (voiced by Ed Harris, paying homage to Apollo 13) orders the team to abort immediately.

Come to my quarters after we sign off with mission control for the night.

Actually, I think the guys in Mission Control hold their breath a little bit until the balloon clears 1,200 meters.

Mission control “had no confidence in our ability to get down safely,” he jokes.