SCIENTISTS SPEAK AFTER 2001 MARS ODYSSEY SPACECRAFT EASES INTO ORBIT, 2001-10-24 (photo)

David A. Spencer (L), the 2001 Mars Odyssey mission manager, answers a question during a news conference as Dr. Steven Saunders, project scientist, looks on October 24, 2001 at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California. The spacecraft eased into orbit around the Red Planet late Tuesday, the first step in a two-year, $297 million mission to study the makeup of the planet and look for frozen reservoirs of water. It took half a year and 286 million miles for Odyssey to reach Mars from Earth. This is the first mission to the planet since two NASA failures in 1999. REUTERS/Jim Ruymen JR/HB