Six Minutes of Terror - Going to Mars

This clip, from NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), explains how the Mars Exploration Rovers (Spirit and Opportunity) reached the Martian surface.

The spacecraft hits the atmosphere of Mars at about 12,000 miles per hour.  Then ... it goes from twenty times faster than a speeding bullet to ... nearly zero.  How does that happen?

Credits

NASA, JPL Video.