The vehicle was dropped from a carrier aircraft high above California's Mojave Desert and ignited its rocket engine to go supersonic for a few seconds.
Too big to rely on air bags to cushion its fall as with previous Mars landers, Curiosity landed through an automated system of high-speed maneuvers, asupersonic parachute, eight retro-rockets and a set of "sky-crane" tethers that lowered the vehicle gently the last few feet to the ground.
In 1956, the Supersonic Transport Aircraft Committee met in England to discuss building asupersonic airliner by British aircraft and engine manufacturers and the government.