- PASADENA, Calif. (Reuters)
- The Opportunity space craft has landed on the surface of Mars, NASA engineers
at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory said Saturday.
-
- At about 9:06 p.m. local time (12:06 a.m. EST/0506 GMT)
engineers received a signal that Opportunity had touched down on the Meridiani
Planum, a smooth plain near Mars' equator on the other side of the Red
Planet from its twin rover, Spirit.
-
- "We are on Mars, everybody," Wayne Lee, the
entry, descent and landing specialist, said after scientists received a
signal from Opportunity when the airbag-encased space craft began bouncing
on the Mars surface.
-
- The lander shot through the Martian atmosphere in what
appeared to be a flawless six-minute sequence, exactly like Spirit's landing
about three weeks ago.
-
- Some nine minutes after landing, there was evidence that
the spacecraft was still rolling gently, which was not unexpected because
the plain is very flat. © Reuters 2004. All Rights Reserved.
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