A Phoenix rises from fire for its flight to an icy red planet this week on planetary Radio. Radio. Hi everyone, welcome to Public Radio's travel show that takes you to the Final

Frontier.

I'm Matt Kaplan. This particular Phoenix may head for

Mars as soon as this week.

With the countdown underway, we'll talk to principal

investigator Peter Smith about what it will

accomplish when it touches down much farther north than any previous Mars Lander and

digs down to a layer of ice.

All the

regulars check in this week with Emily Lockwala's Q&A just seconds away.

Bruce Betts will tell us about the night sky and a very busy week in space history

just before he gives away another stylish planetary radio t-shirt.

With any luck, Phoenix will start its journey to Mars just before a space shuttle endeavor

lives off for the International Space Station on August 7.

A crew of six under commander Scott Kelly have planned an 11 day mission.

It has been four and a half years since Endeavor's last passage into the void. The July 26 accident at Bert Rutan

Scaled Composits Facility in California's Mojave Desert is still being

investigated. The explosion that killed three workers reportedly took place as a

propellant test was being conducted on spaceship two, the company's passenger

carrying follow-up to record-breaking spaceship one.

Want to see how bad the Martian follow-up to record-breaking spaceship one.

Want to see how bad the Martian duststorm is?

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