InSight Mars lander moments

InSight is a $1 billion international project. It includes a German mechanical mole that will burrow down 16 feet (5 meters) to measure Mars' internal heat. The lander also has a French seismometer for measuring quakes, if they exist on our smaller, geologically calmer neighbor. Because of the distance between Earth and Mars, it took eight minutes for confirmation to arrive.

The three-legged InSight landed on the western side of Elysium Planitia, the plain that NASA was aiming for. Project manager Tom Hoffman said the spacecraft landed close to the bull's-eye, but NASA did not have yet have the final calculations. The 800-pound (360-kilogram) InSight is stationary and will operate from the same spot for the next two years.

InSight was trailed throughout its six-month 300-million-mile (482-million-kilometer) journey by a pair of tiny satellites. The two experimental satellites not only relayed the good news in almost real time, they sent back InSight's first snapshot of Mars just 4½ minutes after landing. Up to now, the success rate at the red planet was only 40 percent.

InSight reached the surface of Mars after going from 12,300 mph (19,800 kph) to zero in six minutes flat, using a parachute and braking engines. "Landing on Mars is one of the hardest single jobs that people have to do in planetary exploration," said InSight's lead scientist, Bruce Banerdt. It was NASA's ninth attempt to land at Mars since the 1976 Viking probes.

InSight will remain in one place during the two-year mission. The stationary 800-pound (360-kilogram) lander will use its 6-foot (1.8-meter) robotic arm to place a mechanical mole and seismometer on the ground. The mole will measure the planet's internal heat, while the seismometer listens for possible quakes. InSight has no life-detecting capability, however. That will be left to future rovers.