ST. LOUIS (KMOX) - Perseverance is home. On Mars that is.
The rover made touchdown Thursday afternoon on the Red Planet successfully. And as soon as it got there, images of the planet were tweeted out.
"I’m safe on Mars. Perseverance will get you anywhere," the rover tweeted.
The rover introduced the world and Americans to the Jezero Crater on Mars.
KMOX'S previous reporting:
Today marks a momentous day as Jet Propulsion Lab’s Perseverance rover, (NASA's most sophisticated to date), land on the surface of Mars on Thursday, February 18, around 12:55 p.m. P.T.
You can watch live coverage of the event in the video above. You might see or hear Saint Louis University graduate Fernando Abilleira. He'll be leading way at mission control as the deputy mission manager in charge of design and navigation.
He's worked for NASA since 2004 and has multiple degrees from SLU, including a bachelor's degree in aerospace engineering (1999) and a master's (2001) after studying at the Parks College of Engineering, Aviation and Technology at SLU.
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He and other scientists have to guide the rover down to the surface of the Red Planet which is a major challenge because it's arriving at 12,000 miles an hour.
"I can tell you that Perseverance is operating perfectly right now that all systems are go for landing," Jennifer Trosper, Perseverance deputy project manager says.
The rover was launched in late July and it will have traveled 292.5 million miles on its journey from Earth when it lands.
The mission is to search for signs of ancient microbial life, and collect rock and dust samples to take back to Earth.
It will additionally test technologies that someday could be used on Mars by astronauts, including a system for converting atmospheric carbon dioxide to oxygen.
Also along for the exciting trip is Ingenuity, a helicopter NASA plans to test for flight on another planet.
You can watch the countdown and landing commentary beginning on Thursday at 2:15 p.m. ET. Tune in via NASA's public TV channel, website, app, YouTube, Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitch, Daily Motion or THETA.TV.
NASA is offering both a Spanish language show for the landing and photo booths and activities for kids and students via a NASA interactive or you can sign-up for a virtual experience of the landing.
"If there's one thing we know, it's that landing on Mars is never easy," Marc Etkind, NASA associate administrator for communications, told CNN in a statement. "But as NASA's fifth Mars rover, Perseverance has an extraordinary engineering pedigree and mission team."