Mission to Mars — the first since 2012

Image 1. An artist's illustration of the InSight lander on Mars. Photo by: NASA/JPL-Caltech

CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida — Mars has its first U.S. visitor in years. The visitor has three legs

and one arm. It is not a person, though. It is a robot-like spacecraft.

NASA's InSight landed on Mars on Monday, November 26. Engine blasts helped slow the craft's

final drop to the red planet. A parachute helped, too. InSight landed softly on its three legs.

NASA is the U.S. space agency.

The visit follows InSight's six-month journey. InSight traveled 300 million miles. It is the first

spacecraft from the United States to land on Mars since the Curiosity rover in 2012. The InSight

is the first craft devoted to exploring underground.

The United States and Europe worked together on InSight. They have put $1 billion into this trip.

By Associated Press, adapted by Newsela staff on 11.27.18

Word Count 486

Level 540L

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Two New Experiments

The InSight has an arm that is 6 feet long. The arm will help with two new experiments.

One experiment is digging 16 feet into the ground. A self-hammering nail with heat sensors will

dig. Scientists can use this tool to see how warm the planet is. InSight also has seismometers.

These can tell scientists if marsquakes exist. They are like earthquakes on Earth but on Mars.

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Bruce Banerdt is a lead scientist at NASA. He compared InSight to a robot.

Learning How Mars Formed

InSight will be able to search inside Mars. It could help scientists learn how Mars formed. That

might help them learn about the Earth's and moon's formations, too.

First, the 800-pound spacecraft needed to land safely. Tom Hoffman leads the InSight team. He

said trying to land on Mars is "crazy."

The United States is the only country to land and work a spacecraft on Mars.

Wind gusts on Mars could have caused the spacecraft to tumble. The parachute could have

tangled. A leg could break. The arm could get stuck. Dust storms could block the sun. InSight

uses the sun for power.

Good-Luck Tradition

There were six nervous minutes. Flight controllers helped guide the spacecraft to landing. They

work in Pasadena, California. The workers ate peanuts to celebrate. This good-luck tradition

started in 1964 during the Ranger 7 moon trip.

InSight neared Mars at 12,300 miles per hour. This is really fast. It found a very flat area to land.

The flat ground kept it from tipping. There were no rocks. The robotic arm could do its job. The

arm set down the tools for the experiments.

The InSight will stay a full Mars year. That equals two years on Earth.

The landing happened days after Thanksgiving. Many worked on the holiday. They ate turkey at

their desks. Now they can take a day off to give thanks.

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