I watched it on Youtube...

Well, I caught the last few minutes of the landing but it was good to see the first pictures arrive.

I had the radio on while I was watching and the 7.30am reported that the life expectancy in the US citizens has decreased by one year, more if you are black. Thank you Mr Trump another record for you.

I can't say that seems much of a problem they have been getting people safely back to Earth since the 1960s to a planet where there is a thick atmosphere and far more more gravity, in comparison landing an unmanned vehicle on Mars should be a piece of piss.

I like the way the Rover looks like Chitty Chitty Bang Bang

I hope we haven't taken any tardigrades there, like on the moon

Sorry Bruce but in your own words, ow did they work that out?

Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) near Los Angeles less than 24 hours after the landing.

The picture, looking down on the rover, shows the entire vehicle suspended from three cables unspooled from the sky crane, along with an “umbilical” communications cord. Swirls of dust kicked up by the crane’s rocket thrusters are also visible.

Seconds later, the rover was gently planted on its wheels, its tethers were severed, and the sky crane - its job completed - flew off to crash a safe distance away, though not before photos and other data collected during the descent were transmitted to the rover for safekeeping.

The image of the dangling science lab, striking for its clarity and sense of motion, marks the first such close-up photo of a spacecraft landing on Mars, or any planet beyond Earth.

Next week, NASA hopes to present more photos and video - some possibly with audio - taken by all six cameras affixed to the descending spacecraft, showing more of the sky crane maneuvers, as well as the supersonic parachute deployment that preceded it.

More pictures arriving from the Mars Rover on the Martian surface:

More pictures arriving from the Mars Rover on the Martian surface: