by Chris Bodenner
Money quote from our Facebook page:
On July 20, 1969, my father made me come inside from playing baseball in the front yard to watch the moon landing. I was not happy. Baseball was more important. Of course, ever since I've been grateful for his insistence. Last night, at about 11:20 Arizona time, my son — seemingly lost inside the internet, as usual — said, "Dad, you should come over here and watch this." I sat with my father's grandson and "watched" us (virtually) land on Mars, the second time in my life a loved one has forced me to witness the amazing.
The above photo is of Curiosity and its parachute falling to Mars. Watch the descent from the perspective of the rover here. More images and updates at Curiosity's Twitter page. Adam Mann previews what's to come:
After the probe’s safe landing, it sent several pictures of its wheels on the ground to mission control to let engineers know that everything was okay. But these dusty, close-up images cannot compare to the snapshots that the rover will soon be taking. Curiosity is packed with no fewer than 17 cameras to shoot high-quality photos and videos in black-and-white, color, and 3-D stereo of the Martian landscape.
The Dish 