Seven minutes of terror ends with jubilation at NASA's jet propulsion laboratory in California.

 

 

 

NASA's 2.6 billion dollar rover, Curiosity, successfully touches down on the surface of Mars, overnight.

 

 

 

Mission control in California burst into cheers.

 

 

 

The SUV-sized spacecraft made it's dramatic arrival on Martian terrain bringing 17 cameras, a laser that can survey the composition of rocks from a distance and instruments that can analyze soil and rock samples.