What everyone is saying about NASA's Mars rover landing
NASA's Mars rover Curiosity successfully landed on the Red Planet late Sunday night (Aug. 5), marking a historic moment in the history of robotic Mars exploration.
罢丑别听听at 10:32 p.m. PDT Sunday, Aug. 5 (1:32 a.m. EDT; 0532 GMT Monday, Aug. 6), after a harrowing journey through the Martian atmosphere. The rover will now spend roughly two years investigating whether Mars has, or ever had, a suitable environment to host microbial life.
As news of听听spreads, here are some reactions from space exploration supporters, space industry officials, lawmakers and President Barack Obama.
Barack Obama, President of the United States听(惫颈补 Twitter)听
Tonight, on the听, the United States of America made history.
I congratulate and thank all the men and women of NASA who made this remarkable accomplishment a reality.
Charles Bolden, NASA Administrator听
Today, the wheels of Curiosity have begun to blaze the trail for human footprints on Mars. Curiosity, the most sophisticated rover ever built, is now on the surface of the Red Planet, where it will seek to answer age-old questions about whether life ever existed on Mars 鈥� or if the planet can sustain life in the future. This is an amazing achievement, made possible by a team of scientists and engineers from around the world and led by the extraordinary men and women of NASA and our Jet Propulsion Laboratory. President Obama has laid out a bold vision for sending humans to Mars in the mid-2030s, and today's landing marks a significant step toward achieving this goal. []
Buzz Aldrin,听Apollo 11 astronaut听(惫颈补 Twitter)听
@marscuriosity has successfully landed on Mars. I'm at JPL on this momentous evening. This is one of many stepping stones to manned missions
Adam Schiff, Representative (D-California)
The landing of Curiosity is a remarkable engineering achievement and the culmination of nearly a decade of work by thousands of people here and around the world. In the coming weeks and months, Curiosity will answer many of the vital听听and whether it ever had conditions suitable for life. But tonight we celebrate the genius of humankind.
This success must reinvigorate our efforts to restore funding for planetary science and future Mars missions. While we have restored some of the funding 鈥�- almost $100 million so far 鈥�- much work remains to return the Mars Program to health. Without the certainty of future missions and support, we will find it impossible to maintain the most specialized workforce on Earth 鈥�- the brilliant engineers and scientists who made this mission possible.
Charles Elachi, director of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif.
It was a great drama that was played. It felt like an adventure movie, but I kept telling myself this is real, what's happening. What a fantastic demonstration of what our nation and our agency can do.
I could only think of the words of Teddy Roosevelt as I was sitting there. 'It is far better to dare mighty things even though we might fail than to stay in the twilight that knows neither victory, nor defeat.' The team brought us victory today.
Bobby Braun, former NASA chief technologist听(惫颈补 Twitter)
I am in awe of the #MSL team. They epitomize all that is right about NASA听鈥�- an agency whose pursuit of bold challenges inspires us all.
Dianna Sosa, ATK vice president of engineering services
We are extremely proud to have played a role in this incredible achievement for NASA and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, two of our long-standing customers. Our employees dedicated years of planning and preparation to ensure mission success for this newest voyage of exploration on Mars. We congratulate the NASA team for a successful landing and look forward to the key scientific findings that will help determine the potential for听.
Julie Van Kleeck, Aerojet vice president of space and launch systems
Aerojet joins NASA and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in congratulating the MSL team on tonight's historic landing. Aerojet thrusters brought Viking 1 and 2 and the Phoenix Mars Lander 迟辞听听and we were confident that our MSL thrusters would once again help deliver success.
Visit听听for听. Follow SPACE.com on Twitter听. We're also on听听and听.
Copyright 2012听, a TechMediaNetwork company. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
