At 1:32 am EDT, NASA rover Curiosity landed safe and sound inside a large crater on Mars. The descent to the martian surface was one of the most perilous in the history of space robotics. There was no room for error as the car sized rover used a combination of parachute, rockets, and a tether to navigate the 7 mile drop to the surface. Applause erupted throughout the NASA command center as their dreams and hard work finally came to fruition.
With budget cuts and the cancellation of the space shuttle program still fresh in their minds, the NASA scientists who have worked on Curiosity see this landing as especially meaningful. There has not been another astrobiology mission to Mars since the late 1970s and scientists are eager to see what their rover comes back with. Within minutes of its landing, Curiosity was already sending back spectacular photos of a distant world. The project is slated to last an entire 2 years, during which the rover is slotted to search for signs of potential life as well as evidence that life may have existed at one point.
To read more and see a video of the touchdown, please click here.
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