Latest Steve Sell Stories

10:32 p.m. on the evening of Aug. 5 was turning out to be one long minute for Steve Sell. Of course, the previous six had been significantly protracted as well. When added together, the entry, descent and landing of NASA's Curiosity Mars rover had been touted as "Seven Minutes of Terror," and as far as Sell was concerned things were trending in that direction. What the 42-year-old engineer from Gettysburg, Pa., wanted more than anything in that seventh minute was to hear the words "UHF...

[ Watch the Video "Seven Minutes of Terror" ] On August 5th at 10:31 p.m. Pacific Time, NASA will gently deposit their new, 2000-pound Curiosity rover on the surface of Mars, wheels-first and ready to roll. Quite a feat – because it will come screaming through the Martian atmosphere at 13,000 mph. Curiosity, aka the Mars Science Laboratory, will be the largest mission ever to land on another planet. It's big because it has a big mystery to solve: was Mars ever or is it still capable...