Jeff Foust wrote a great article on the successful landing of NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander in this week's The Space Review called A Second Chance at Mars:
The fact that NASA had dubbed the entry, descent, and landing phase of the mission, when the spacecraft slowed from 20,000 km/h to zero, “seven minutes of terror” was not exactly inspiring.
A lot was riding on this landing and NASA spent a considerable amount of time warning everyone how risky it was going to be but, as you know, it all turned out well in the end.