Major news to ground control

LA CA—ADA FLINTRIDGE ? After nearly 30 minutes of nail-biting silence, staff at Jet Propulsion Laboratory's Mission Control erupted into whoops and hollers of joy as the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter came back into radio contact on Friday afternoon.

As the spacecraft, one of the largest and most technologically advanced ever to be sent to Mars, briefly disappeared behind the red planet and fell out of radio contact with Earth at 1:46 p.m., the future of the $720-million mission literally hung in the balance.

But a simple electronic ping, signaling that the orbiter was still fully operational at 2:16 p.m., followed by another at 2:30 p.m., indicating that it had been successfully pulled into the planet's gravitational field, pushed all the months of anxiety and worry aside.

Dan McCleese, chief scientist for NASA's Mars Exploration Program at JPL, said he woke up worried on Friday morning but had ended the afternoon feeling elated.

"I have proven today that I am not the reason the other two missions failed," joked a relieved McCleese, who was in charge of the Mars Observer in 1993 and the Mars Orbiter in 1999 ? both spacecraft were lost on the final approach to Mars.

"I am not a jinx!" McCleese said.

The Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, which is now circling the red planet in a 35-hour cycle, was launched at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, in Florida, on Aug. 12 and has traveled about 310 million miles to reach Mars ? a distance that translates to a 12-minute time delay between the spacecraft and ground controllers at JPL and Denver.

After making minor adjustments to its course, the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter fired up its main thrusters and began its "burn" on approach to Mars at 1:24 p.m. on Friday, slowing its velocity so that it would be caught up in the planet's gravitational pull.

Jim Graf, JPL's project manager for the mission, reacted to the news that the spacecraft had successfully entered Mars' orbit by hugging and high-fiving his crew.

"Our spacecraft has finally become an orbiter," he said later.

"The celebration feels great, but it will be very brief because before we start our main science phase, we still have six months of challenging work to adjust the orbit to the right size and shape."