We often say “You never know where Twitter will take you,” but here’s one that (almost) defies imagination. Last night, we saw that NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (@NASAJPL) was live-tweeting the journey to Mars. As Curiosity, the car-sized rover, made its descent onto the Red Planet, the #JPL team shared Twitter updates directly from the command center. And that stream reveals a truly remarkable and historic sequence of events:
Just turned off the uplink signal – the spacecraft will operate autonomously through landing. Take care Curiosity. Godspeed.
#msl#jpl#nasa— Bobak F. (@tweetsoutloud) August 6, 2012
Right now
#CUriosity has transitioned to#EDL mode.This means her fault protection has been battle shorted, and she is going in.— Adam Steltzner (@steltzner) August 6, 2012
Curiosity is about to vent the cruise stage part of its cooling system in prep for separation
#MSL— Ray Baker (@RaySBaker) August 6, 2012
No comment needed. Entry minus 3 minutes.
#MSL#EDL twitter.com/LeeCuriosity/s…— Steven Lee (@LeeCuriosity) August 6, 2012
And then, after the “seven minutes of terror”, in the words (and through the eyes) of the Curiosity rover itself:
It once was one small step… now it’s six big wheels. Here’s a look at one of them on the soil of Mars
#MSL twitter.com/MarsCuriosity/…— Curiosity Rover (@MarsCuriosity) August 6, 2012
This monumental scientific achievement quickly inspired an Twitter outpouring of awe, pride, and even a dash of levity:
At the historic landing of
@marscuriosity at@nasajpl last night. What an accomplishment!#MSL twitter.com/RepKarenBass/s…— Congressmember Bass (@RepKarenBass) August 6, 2012
Dear
@marscuriosity, Neil deGrasse Tyson signing out on Earth. Back to work – for us both. Closing my Twitterverse wormhole to Mars.— Neil deGrasse Tyson (@neiltyson) August 4, 2012
The rover “Curiosity” successfully landed on Mars this AM, proving a historic moment for space exploration and the US. goo.gl/DsCBt
— John Shimkus (@RepShimkus) August 6, 2012
@sesamestreet Science is cool. Yip-yip-yip-yip… Uh-huh. Uh-huh.#STEM#MSL— Curiosity Rover (@MarsCuriosity) August 6, 2012
So, uh,
@marscuriosity. Hi there.Welcome to the neighborhood.Sorry about the mess.Haven’t had guests in a while.— The Surface of Mars (@surfaceofmars) August 6, 2012
The @MarsCuriosity account will continue to share updates from the rover’s explorations, including photos from the surface of Mars. As Buzz Aldrin (@TheRealBuzz) once said, “Mars is there, waiting to be reached”. Thanks for taking us there, @NASAJPL team.
Source: Twitter Blog
