Mars Rover Curiosity Lands successfully!! LIVE THREAD

Jet Propulsion Lab (JPL) ^ | 5 Aug 2012 | JPL

[hattend]

Landing at 10:30PM Pacific...yes, this is early so all the aviation, space, astronomy and science pingers can "get 'er done".

[af_vet_rr]

The affirmative action head of NASA will be taking the bows.

Let's see, the NASA administrator is a graduate of the United States Naval Academy, entered the Marine Corps, flew over 100 combat missions in Vietnam and Laos in A-6 Intruders, went through the US Navy's Test Pilot School, commaned a Marine Air Wing, retired as a Major General from the Marine Corps with over 30 years. He piloted two Space Shuttle flights, commanded two more.

If affirmative action means putting a former Marine who flew a lot of combat missions over Vietnam and who has a helluva lot of command experience as a Marine and even as an astronaut, then I'm all for it!

[amom]

LOL

[TXnMA]

One of the JPL guys has his 7-9 year-old daughter there to witness the historic moment. BRAVO ZULU!!!!!

I remember watching on Christmas eve when Apollo 8 emerged from the backside of the moon, and the crew read from Genesis 1.

This is truly another unforgettable moment!!

[PA Engineer]

It is what humanity was meant to do. God didn't give us these brains and hands and this universe just to live in caves and remain ignorant.

I have always felt that after Apollo America lost it's way.

[DoughtyOne]

I heard it too, and thought much the same.

[Gene Eric]

>> “You didn’t land that!”

Exactly.

[Berlin_Freeper]

[JRandomFreeper]

LOL! I just figured out what the stuff was with the 5 decimal places on the numbers for each step....

They were running a pool on some of the variables.

Humans are so human.

/johnny

[colinhester]

What was the URL for images??

[hattend]

FUBO!!!

[PA Engineer]

LOL. People do care. The Curiosity websites have been crashed. Time for a drink.

[DoughtyOne]

CURIOSITY DIRECTIONS

Martians, please read before using U. S. Rover Curiosity.

Please plug in and charge batteries fully before turning research vehicle on. Full power should be reached after roughly 12 earth hours of charging.

Failing to do this will void your warranty, and may cause serious damage to your rover.

[rdl6989]

http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/mars/images/first_images_mars.html#

Photos from Mars at link

[LibWhacker]

It’d be cool to see Opportunity roll up, extend it’s robotic hand and say, “Curiosity, I presume.” C’mon, we could do it!

[JRandomFreeper]

Don't know. I'll download them later.

/johnny

[af_vet_rr]

I agree with that. JPL does a damned good job. Wish the rest of the government space efforts were as sterling these days. Come on private sector...

Get Congress out of the way, and get rid of the influence of some of the lobbyists. They tend to really complicate space programs and make them very expensive and more resource-intensive than they need to be.

[DoughtyOne]

Thanks.

[Dimez_Recon]

Awesome dude, served his country with honor and deserves our thanks and respect. But he sucks as the head of NASA. But that has more to do with his boss then him.

[dragnet2]

[af_vet_rr]

I have always felt that after Apollo America lost it's way.

I've felt this way as well - we retreated to low earth orbit for the most party.

America was built by pioneers and we are at our best when we do big things, but there are those who want to turn us into a nation of settlers.