NASA Probe Lands Safely On Martian Surface

An artist’s depiction of InSight — short for Interior Exploration using Seismic Investigations, Geodesy and Heat Transport. The spacecraft has been designed to give Mars its first thorough checkup since the red planet formed, about 4.5 billion years ag

Updated Nov. 26 at 3:12 p.m. ET

NASA’s InSight probe landed successfully on Mars Monday shortly before 3 p.m. ET.

Two tiny spacecraft that flew with the lander to Mars were able to relay telemetry from the probe as it descended to the surface. As a result, mission managers knew immediately that the landing had worked. Unsurprisingly, the control room at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., erupted in cheers.