On the 26th November 2018, space crew NASA successfully landed a spacecraft on the red planet, Mars. This is marking the start of a two year mission to discover more about Mars.
Only 40% of NASA’s attempted landings have ended in success yet this one was described as perfect and flawless. The ship, named InSight, took 6 months to reach Mars from Earth and 7 minutes to descend onto the surface before landing at 7:53pm. NASA crew called the the tense landing the “seven minutes of terror”. It’s the first time in 6 years that a spacecraft has landed on Mars. Now that InSight has landed on Mars, NASA are planning to probe deep beneath the surface of our neighbouring planet to measure temperatures and allow study of its seismic activity. Scientists aim to discover a new species of life on Mars. They plan to find sources of water on Mars — perhaps even find out if is might be safe to send people up to the red planet.
Currently, scientists are celebrating the start of a two year mission to discover the hidden secrets that lie beneath the planet’s exterior. We’re all excited to find out if someday in the future humans from planet Earth could go live on Mars.