NASA's InSight lander sent back its first photo of Mars within minutes of touching down - take a look

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NASA's InSight lander sent back its first photo of Mars within minutes of touching down - take a look

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nasa insight mars lander landing success mission control staff hugs high fives 03 jpl caltech youtube

NASA JPL/YouTube

Scientists and engineers inside mission control at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory celebrated the landing of the InSight Mars probe on November 26, 2018.

  • NASA just successfully landed on Mars for the eighth time in the agency's history.
  • The InSight lander quickly sent back a photo of its new Martian view.
  • InSight will now spend approximately two Earth years on Mars, checking for quakes and taking the planet's temperature.

NASA's InSight lander hit Mars on Monday at 2:54 p.m. ET.

As scientists at mission control erupted in cheers and handshakes, the craft sent back its first visual proof that it had touched down on Martian soil safely. 

The speckled photo came from one of InSight's two built-in cameras. It looks gritty because the lens still had its dust cover on, but that part will eventually come off as the lander settles in.

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nasa insight mars lander landing success first photo jpl caltech youtube

NASA JPL/YouTube

The first photo that NASA's InSight Mars lander sent back to Earth on November 26, 2018.

The image, which shows the flat plane where the InSight landed and a bit of the Martian horizon, appeared on screen at mission control just moments after the 794-pound lab plopped down. 

InSight will spend about two Earth years checking out the red planet, some 140 million miles away from Earth. The robot will attempt to hammer a heat probe 16 feet deep into Martian ground - a depth that has never been explored before - to check the planet's temperature. It will also use a seismometer to track quakes, and a pair of antennas with a radio transmitter will record how much the planet shakes and wobbles as it orbits.

Read MoreNASA just dropped a solar-powered lander onto Mars - here's what InSight will do on the red planet

Scientists hope that the roughly $828 million mission will help answer questions about how rocky planets - including Earth, Mars, Venus, and Mercury - formed. 

This is only the eighth time that NASA has successfully landed on Mars, and mission control was pretty psyched that the lander made it safely after speeding through the solar system for six months.

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Here's what the scientists' reaction looked like:

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