The Wonder of CreationSample

A SOFT LANDING

Imagine hurtling toward the surface of Mars at almost 950 mph (miles per hour). That’s faster than the speed of sound! It looks like it will be a crash landing, but seconds later—whoosh!—your parachute pops out and slows your fall to a gentle 200 mph. Rocket thrusters guide you the rest of the way down to a soft landing. Sound crazy? That’s exactly what happened when the Perseverance (pur-suh-VEER-uhns) rover landed on Mars in February of 2021. 

Perseverance’s parachute was the biggest one ever used for a Mars mission. It was 70.5 feet wide, or as long as two buses parked end to end. This special space parachute was made of light but extra-strong nylon, Technora (stronger than steel!), and Kevlar (the stuff used to make bulletproof vests). The parachute worked by “catching” the air and slowing down Perseverance’s fall. Because there’s so little air to “catch” on Mars, small rocket thrusters slowed the fall even more to give the rover a soft landing.

Do you ever feel like you’re falling and about to crash? Maybe it’s when you study your hardest and still bomb the test, or when your parents are fighting over and over again. Trust God to give you a soft landing. That might mean that your problem gets fixed and disappears. Or it might mean that God helps you get through it. His “parachute” might look like a shoulder to lean on, a note from a friend, or a Bible verse that He slips into your day. When you feel like you’re about to crash, keep holding on to Him, and He’ll help you land softly.

Prayer

God, thank You for always being there to catch me when I fall and feel like I’m about to crash. Amen.