Completing what has been described as one of the most difficult landings on another planet in NASA history, the Mars rover Curiosity successfully landed on the Red Planet early this morning at about 1:32am eastern time. Just two minutes later the elated team and the Jet Propulsion Lab (JPL) received the first picture from Mars sent by the Curiosity rover.
So far the first pictures from Mars, dubbed the Red Planet, are anything but red. The first images sent back are in black and white. However over the next few days Curiosity will ‘raise its head’ so to speak, and with its Mastcam active and the dust cover removed from its lens, the rover will begin sending spectacular hi-resolution color images back to Earth.
As Curiosity penetrated the Martian atmosphere this morning and landed right on target, millions watched the events unfold live, minus the 14 minute time delay from Mars, on NASA TV and online via the NASA television internet feed. The JPL mission team erupted with cheers, hugs and even tears of joy as Curiosity beamed confirmation of its successful touchdown on the surface of Mars.
The live and recorded video and images of Mars can be viewed online and have been posted in an earlier article we wrote at the time of landing this morning (click here to see).