LA CANADA FLINTRIDGE, Calif. After traveling 300 million miles through the solar system, NASAs InSight spacecraft descended through the Martian sky Monday and touched down safely on the smooth surface of Elysium Planitia shortly before noon.
The news elicited cheers, high-fives and fist-bumps from the scientists and engineers assembled at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in La Canada Flintridge. It means that the two-year mission to study the inside of Mars formally called Interior Exploration using Seismic Investigations, Geodesy and Heat Transport is a go.
Touchdown confirmed, mission commentator Christine Szalai announced at 11:54 a.m.
