Curiosity’s shadow on Mars, the first photo returned after the landing on Sunday night. (Credit: NASA/JPL)
NASA landed its Curiosity rover safely on Mars Sunday evening. It is the largest and most ambitious mission ever launched to the Red Planet. It also used a novel sky crane system to lower the car-sized rover onto the surface. This system apparently worked flawlessly.
I watched the landing with 2,000 people during the Planetary Society’s Planet Fest celebration at the Pasadena Convention Center. It was bedlam in here when we got word of the landing. An awesome way to view history.
It’s been a great weekend for NASA. On Friday, the space agency started the next stage of the commercial crew program. And today, it landed a vehicle the size of a Mini Cooper on a distant world that is 14 light minutes away.
We are all Martians tonight.
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