Opportunity Lands on Mars
By Leonard David
Senior Space Writer
posted: 12:21 am ET
25 January 2004

PASADENA, Calif. -- Mars has received a one-two exploration punch as the second Rover - Opportunity - achieved a successful landing tonight on the red planet.

Engineers and scientists broke out in cheers and tears here at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), mission control for the Mars Exploration Rover (MER) program.

Opportunity landed in the Meridiani Planum region of Mars. The spacecraft's exact whereabouts are not precisely known, but appears to have touched down within a pre-determined ellipse within Meridiani Planum.

The spacecraft slammed into the top of Mars' atmosphere at about 12,000 miles per hour (5.4 kilometers per second). That event was followed by a series of death-defying entry, descent and landing events.

Taking all of six minutes to plummet to the martian landscape, Opportunity bounced across Mars wrapped in its cocoon of airbags before coming to a complete stop.

"We're on Mars everybody. We're getting a strong signal," said Rob Manning, JPL's Entry, Descent and Landing manager.

http://www.space.com/missionlaunches/opportunity_lands_040125.html