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Article: Space Odyssey: Mars Odyssey orbits the red planet in search of life.(National Aeronautics and Space Administration, probe)
- Article from:
- Current Events, a Weekly Reader publication
- Article date:
- November 30, 2001
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2001 Weekly Reader Corp. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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OUTER SPACE--For years, moviemakers and science fiction writers have imagined weird-looking creatures from Mars invading Earth. In real life, however, it is Mars that is being invaded--by weird-looking machines from Earth!
At this moment, in the vast, dark reaches of interplanetary space, the robotic orbiter Mars Odyssey is looping around the Red Planet, slowly moving closer and closer to examine Earth's mysterious neighbor.
It's been a long journey for Odyssey. The boxy, 7-foot-long by 8-foot-wide spacecraft took off from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida on April 7, 2001. About 285 million miles and six months later, it reached Mars on ...