NEW YORK — On Tuesday, the Empire State Building will light up red in honor of NASA's Mars Perseverance Rover landing on the Red Planet.
The iconic building in New York City will shine its lights in a red hue on Feb. 16.
The latest Mars rover is set to land on the Red Planet after blasting off from Launch Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida last July.
After a nearly seven-month journey, the Mars 2020 Perseverance rover mission is about to come to its most critical point.
The rover, named by a seventh-grader from Virginia, will plunge through the thin Martian atmosphere at more than 12,000 mph come Feb. 18. According to NASA, a parachute and powered descent will slow the rover down to about two mph before it touches the planet's surface.
“If there’s one thing we know, it’s that landing on Mars is never easy,” said NASA Associate Administrator for Communications Marc Etkind.
And its successful touchdown is crucial to further exploration and data collection needed for future human missions to Mars and the Moon.
Space lovers will be able to experience what it is like to land on the Red Plant in high-definition on Feb. 18. You can thank the spacecraft's microphones and 19 cameras for the up close and personal look.
The 10.9 million Earthlings who submitted their names to be stenciled on the rover's plate will get to explore Mars with Perservence in spirit.