The Lost Art of Waiting

NASA scientists had to wait more than eight months before their rover landed on Mars last summer.

In the late summer of 2012 the Mars rover named "Curiosity" landed on the surface of the red planet. It took just seven minutes for the rover to enter the atmosphere and touch down successfully -- less time than a ride on Splash Mountain at Disney World.

While most of the world tuned in and took notice of this amazing feat, many overlooked the fact that it was a long time coming -- a very long time in fact. NASA engineers spent roughly 8½ months simply waiting.

They had no choice. There was nothing they could do. They had to wait for more than eight months for Curiosity to travel the millions of miles between this planet and Mars. In that time there was certainly much work to be done, much monitoring of progress and planning for landing that took place. However, the primary task of every NASA engineer involved in the project was simply this: to wait, to wait and hope that every dollar spent building it and the dreams of epic Martian discoveries hinging on it would not be lost....