CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. | A NASA spacecraft created to burrow beneath the surface of Mars touched down on the red planet Monday after a six-month, 300 million-mile journey and a perilous, six-minute descent through the rose-hued atmosphere.
Flight controllers at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, jumped out of their seats and erupted in screams, applause and laughter as the news came in.
A pair of mini satellites trailing InSight since their May liftoff offered nearly real-time updates of the spacecraft’s supersonic descent through the reddish skies. The satellite also transmitted back a quick photo from Mars’ surface.
The image was marred by specks of debris. But the quick look at the surroundings portrayed a flat surface with few if any rocks — just what scientists were hoping for. Much better pictures will arrive in the hours and days ahead.
“What a relief,” said JPL’s chief engineer, Rob Manning. “This is really fantastic.” He added: “Wow! This never gets old.”
Manning said the landing appeared to be flawless.
“This is what we really hoped and imagined in our mind’s eye,” he said. “Sometimes things work out in your favor.”
The three-legged InSight spacecraft reached the surface after going from 12,300 mph to zero in just six minutes as it pierced the Martian atmosphere, using a parachute and braking engines to slow down.
Radio signals confirming the landing took more than eight minutes to cross the nearly 100 million miles between Mars and Earth.
It was NASA’s ninth attempt to land at Mars since the 1976 Viking probes. All but one of the previous U.S. touchdowns were successful.
NASA last landed on Mars in 2012 with the Curiosity rover.
