Live coverage of NASA’s Mars 2020 Perseverance rover landing is about to start on NASA TV and YouTube. More information about how to watch these streams, which include a 360-degree view from inside mission control, is on the mission’s watch online page. Share photos of you and your loved ones watching landing with the hashtag #CountdownToMars.
In the next several minutes, mission controllers are expected to turn off the transmitter sending commands to the spacecraft. At that time, they will have effectively taken their hands “off the wheel,” leaving Perseverance to complete the programmed landing sequence on its own. The spacecraft is expected to hit the top of the Martian atmosphere at around 3:48 p.m. EST (12:48 p.m. PST) and touch down at around 3:55 p.m. EST (12:55 p.m. PST). Perseverance will land with NASA’s Ingenuity Mars Helicopter attached to its belly.