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 It's a stitch-up ... snapshots from Spirit's navigation camera are joined together to make this 360-degree panorama By PAUL SUTHERLAND NASA’S Spirit Rover bounced on to the Red Planet yesterday to show how missions to Mars should be done. The US lander survived a dramatic six-minute descent to the martian surface after a six-month journey from Earth. And it began sending back incredible snapshots of a desolate, rock-strewn desert 100 million miles away. There were scenes of wild jubilation at mission control in Pasadena, California, as Spirit called home to say it was safely down in Gusev Crater.
 First look ... early view from Spirit's onboard camera of its landing site
Scientists and technicians — one in a stars and stripes shirt — danced with joy. One screamed: “Wow! We are on Mars.” The whoops of delight contrasted with the gloomy mood among Britain’s Beagle 2 scientists in North London yesterday. Professor Colin Pillinger was trying to put a brave face on things but not a whelp has been heard from Beagle since it landed on Mars on Christmas Day. Anxious scientists knew that two out of every three missions to Mars had ended in failure.
 Fish eye ... camera points down to show immediate area around lander Picture: REUTERS
First signals indicated that the six-wheeled, golf buggy-sized craft’s parachutes and landing airbags had worked correctly. But everyone, including Nasa boss Sean O’Keefe, was holding their breath before Spirit called in to say she was safely down and in good shape.
 Suspense ... retro-rockets fire in impression of lander above Mars, left, and Nasa artist's view of Spirit's safe landing Right picture: REUTERS
It was the news workers at Nasa’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory had dreamed of hearing. But nothing had prepared them for the astonishing pictures that began flowing back three hours later. The first were just black and white. Some were rapidly stitched together like holiday snaps to produce a dramatic martian panorama. Spirit’s landing site in the crater is thought to be a long-dried-up lake bed.
 Motoring on Mars ... an impression of Spirit and, inset, front wheels still covered yesterday Inset picture: REUTERS
When checks on its onboard equipment are complete, the probe will go trundling about the area at two inches per second. It will examine rocks and look for signs of water — and even life. Incredibly, the Yanks plan to do it all again when Spirit’s twin spacecraft, Opportunity, lands on the other side of Mars on January 25. Yesterday’s landing came on top of another triumph on Friday when Nasa’s Stardust spaceprobe flew through a comet, taking dramatic pictures and collecting fragments to bring back to Earth. Nasa’s last successful Mars landing was Pathfinder in 1997. That sent out a little rover, Sojourner, that travelled the length of a football pitch in 12 weeks of life.
 Rock star ... Nasa artwork shows Spirit's probe that will check out boulders
Spirit and its companion, Opportunity, will travel up to ten times as far over three months. One thing the two rovers cannot do is go and find Britain’s Beagle 2. It is hundreds of miles away. British boffins still hope that Beagle’s own mothership, Mars Express, might find her missing pup. But they seem to be clutching at straws. Professor Pillinger famously likened his mission to a football match. They were playing the second leg away, he said, and hunting the Beagle meant they had gone into extra time. The truth is that America and Britain are playing in different leagues. Putting Nasa’s team against the UK’s is like pitching Manchester United against Margate FC. Nasa’s was a Premiership side with decades of experience, years of planning and, importantly, unstinting support and funding from its political masters and the American people. The Nasa probes cost £545million to send to Mars against just £45million that went into Beagle 2. No wonder Nasa’s boys are over the moon — or rather Mars — and the Brits feel sick as a parrot.
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