In Photos: NASA Control Room Celebrates InSight’s Mars Landing

The InSight lander landed successfully on the surface of Mars at 1:24 am IST on Tuesday, 27 November.

From the eyes of InSight. The space capsule landed successfully on the surface of Mars at exactly 1:24 am IST on Tuesday, 27 November.

(Photo: AP)

NASA’s InSight Mars lander touched down successfully on the surface of the red planet at 1:24 am IST on Tuesday, setting off jubilation among scientists who had waited in white-knuckled suspense for confirmation to arrive across 100 million miles of space.

The first high quality picture that was received from the InSight lander.(Photo: AP)

Flight controllers at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, leapt out of their chairs, screaming, dancing and hugging, upon learning that InSight had arrived on Mars, the graveyard for a multitude of previous missions.

Scientists celebrate the landing of InSight. (Photo: AP)

"Touchdown confirmed!" a flight controller called out just before 3 pm EST, instantly dispelling the anxiety that had gripped the control room as the spacecraft made its six-minute descent.

Journalists gather at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory awaiting the landing of InSight. (Photo: AP)

Because of the distance between Earth and Mars, it took eight minutes for confirmation to arrive, relayed by a pair of tiny satellites that had been trailing InSight throughout the six-month, 300-million-mile (482-million-kilometer) journey.

The two satellites that accompanied InSight to Mars.(Photo: AP)

The two satellites not only transmitted the good news almost in real time, they also sent back InSight's first snapshot of Mars just 4.5 minutes after landing.

The first picture that came from the InSight Mars lander.(Photo Courtesy: Twitter/@NASAInSight)

The picture was speckled with dirt because the dust cover was still on the lander's camera, but the terrain around the spacecraft looked smooth and sandy with just one sizable rock visible — pretty much what scientists had hoped for.

Better photos are expected in the days ahead.

It was NASA's — indeed, humanity's — eighth successful landing at Mars since the 1976 Viking probes, and the first in six years. NASA's Curiosity rover, which arrived in 2012, is still on the move on Mars.

A depiction of the InSight Mars lander from NASA. It will drill in Mars’ surface to study the planet thoroughly.(Photo Courtesy: NASA)

InSight will be the first thorough checkup of Mars since the planet was formed about 4.5 billion years ago. It will give us a better understanding of the formation of rocky planets like Venus, Mercury and Earth, along with Mars itself.

A graphic depiction of the InSight capsule on the surface of Mars. (Photo: AP