Orbit insertion is 'make it or break it' time. You either do it or you don't, and if you don't, you're done. We're making sure that the spacecraft has the best shot of making it into orbit around Mars.

With this spacecraft, we never had a quiet cruise to Mars. We didn't do just basic maintenance, we conducted major science and engineering calibrations to test how well the instruments were doing in space. These activities help shorten the learning curve for us when we get to Mars and start mapping.

Operational readiness tests are where the bugs come out. We train so that these problems do come up and we can work through them.

This just goes to show how low the paparazzi will go trying to get a photo. If they break the law, they will be arrested. This one got away, but the next one won't.

Why would I want one more mother -- either Iraqi or American -- to go through what I'm going through? I don't want him to justify my son's honorable sacrifice to continue his murderous killing policies,

Chances are, we're going to break a levee before we reach those flows. We haven't seen levels like this since 1997, and these are significant levels on the lower San Joaquin River.