NASA's second Mars rover, Opportunity, bounced to a safe landing on the surface of the Red Planet today hours.
Opportunitysent its first images of Mars back to Earth today, about four hours after hitting the surface.
Engineers at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory celebrated as the probe landed. It is It is the first time two robotic rovers have been set down on opposite sides of Mars.
"What a night," NASA administrator Mr Sean O'Keefe said. "As the old saying goes, 'It's better to be lucky than good.' But the harder we work the luckier we get."
Mr Rob Manning, entry, descent and landing manager, said the Opportunityoutperformed its twin Spiritwhich, despite a near-textbook landing on January 3rd has had problems.
But got NASA good news from Spiritlast night after it reestablished communications after 48-hour silence.
"I came here prepared for a funeral," NASA associate administrator Mr Ed Weiler said. "Talk about a roller coaster ride: I saw the resurrection of one rover and the birth of another."