meteor. if it goes more shallow, it will bounce off the atmosphere. and while it's falling, it's essentially, a meteor, falling into the martian atmosphere. the martian atmosphere is very thin, and that's what makes landing on mars so very difficult. it's 1% the amount of air that we have on earth, and that makes it difficult to slow down. >> let me -- >> once it's about halfway down -- >> can i hit pause on the science for a second, because i want to explain to people, and miles, let me go to you. we have another box on the screen, and i'm assuming, this is pasadena. is this the jpl lab? are these the folks that are steering this thing for lack of a better word? >> well, at this point, they're just going for the ride, brooke. as he pointed out, this is an automated thing. the people in that room, they are the river boat gamblers of science, brooke. they put their chips on the table, they spend a decade or so working on a mission and it all comes down to 6 1/2 minutes and it's either a great day or you just see them droop and get sad,