NASA is back on Mars. The space agency’s InSight mission survived its fiery plunge through the Red Planet’s thin atmosphere just before 3 p.m.…
NASA is back on Mars.
The space agency’s InSight mission survived its fiery plunge through the Red Planet’s thin atmosphere just before 3 p.m. EST Monday, deploying a supersonic parachute and firing retro-rockets to touch down softly on a flat plain near the Martian equator.
Engineers manning consoles at NASA’s Jet Propulsion laboratory in California erupted in cheers, hugs and high-fives at the confirmation that the mission launched nearly seven months earlier was positioned to start the first study of the Red Planet’s interior, from crust to core.
Applause broke out again minutes later when the lander returned its first picture, a dirt-spattered image of a rust-colored and apparently flat horizon.
“It was intense, and you could feel the emotion,” said NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine, who was in the control room and received a congratulatory phone call from Vice President Mike Pence. “What an amazing day for NASA.”
Viewers gathered at watch parties around the globe to see the landing attempt, which was shown live in New York’s Times Square, among other places. They witnessed NASA’s eighth successful touchdown on Mars.
The $814 million InSight mission launched May 5 aboard a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California — NASA’s first interplanetary mission not to fly from Cape Canaveral.
