NASA Rover Lands on Mars!
Artist’s view of Curiosity hanging from descent stage of Mars Science Laboratory (NASA)
NASA Rover Lands on Mars!
NASA's most advanced Mars rover, Curiosity, has landed on the Red Planet on Monday, Aug. 6. The one-ton rover, hanging by ropes from a rocket backpack, touched down onto Mars to end a 36-week flight and begin a two-year investigation.
NASA Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) spacecraft that carried Curiosity succeeded in every step of the most complex landing ever attempted on Mars. The mission is managed by NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) for NASA's Science Mission Directorate in Washington. The Curiosity’s science payload includes the DAN (Dynamic Albedo of Neutrons) instrument, provided by Russia’s Federal Space Agency. "This is an amazing achievement, made possible by a team of scientists and engineers from around the world and led by the extraordinary men and women of NASA and our Jet Propulsion Laboratory”, said NASA Administrator Charles Bolden.
More pictures from Curiosity’s landing site: http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/msl/multimedia/raw/
NASA.gov image gallery for MSL/Curiosity: http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/msl/multimedia/gallery-indexEvents.html