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More photos: Space shuttle Discovery | Images from the Mars Lander
Phoenix Mars Lander
AFP/Getty Images
In this artist’s illustration obtained from NASA on May 23, 2008, NASA’s Phoenix Mars Lander is seen on the surface of Mars after landing. After a nine-month journey through space, Phoenix will land on the arctic surface of Mars on May 25, 2008, to dig for ice in a new quest for signs of life on the Red Planet. NASA’s 420-million-USD probe will become the first spacecraft to land on the Martian arctic surface and will stay there for a three-month mission. After traveling 679 million kilometers (422 million miles), Phoenix will enter the top of the Martian atmosphere at around 2331 GMT, zipping in at 21,000 kilometers per hour (13,000 miles per hour) to begin a perilous descent that will end with a soft landing seven minutes later. 
