NASA launches super-size Mars rover to red planet

The world's biggest extraterrestrial explorer is on its way to Mars.

NASA on Saturday launched the six-wheeled, one-armed robotic rover, nicknamed Curiosity. An unmanned rocket blasted off with the spacecraft from Cape Canaveral.

The journey to Mars will take 8 1/2 months and cover 354 million miles.

Curiosity weighs a ton and is the size of a car. It's a mobile, nuclear-powered laboratory holding 10 science instruments that will sample Martian soil and rocks, and analyze them right on the spot. There's a drill as well as a stone-zapping laser machine.

Curiosity will spend two years looking for evidence that Mars may once have been -- or still is -- suitable for microbial life.

The mission costs $2.5 billion.

Thousands of NASA guests converged on Kennedy Space Center for the launch.

Source: http://feeds.latimes.com/~r/latimes/news/science/~3/1LNWux75lFw/la-sciw-nasa-mars-launch-20111127,0,3191748.story

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Video: Could a third party candidate win the 2012 race?

No. 4 Stanford tops Irish, makes BCS case

??Andrew Luck set the school record for the most career touchdown passes and eclipsed his own single-season mark, throwing for 233 yards and four scores to lead fourth-ranked Stanford past No. 22 Notre Dame 28-14 in his home finale Saturday night.

Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3036697/vp/45406374#45406374

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Mexico City 'zombies' gather to challenge record

MEXICO CITY?? Thousands of self-proclaimed "undead" have gathered in the historic center of Mexico's capital for a "Zombie Walk" that organizers hope sets a world record.

The announced 9,860 registered participants are dressed in rags and ghoulish makeup to look bloody and decaying.

Organizer Pablo Guisa says the fifth annual Mexico City event is meant to celebrate diversity and human rights. The participants also collected donations for a local food bank.

Cities around the world hold zombie walks, and Guinness World Records currently recognizes Asbury Park, New Jersey, as the record holder, with 4,093 participants on Oct. 30, 2010.

A group in Brisbane, Australia, has applied for the record, claiming it massed 8,000 "zombies" last month.

Copyright 2011 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/45448137/ns/world_news-americas/

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