RED PLANET

Curiosity Lands Safely on Mars

Begins two-year mission.

An eight-month journey across the reaches of space has ended safely for NASA’s Curiosity rover, which landed safely on Mars on Sunday. The rover began beaming images of the planet’s surface back within minutes of its successful descent through the planet’s atmosphere at a staggering 13,000 miles per hour. “I can’t believe this. This is unbelievable,” said Allen Chen, who helped oversee the rover’s safe landing. The NASA craft will spend the next two years on an unprecedented mission exploring the surface of Mars, traveling through the Gale crater, and searching for signs that Earth’s neighbor may once have hosted life.