InSight lands safely on Mars

A NASA spacecraft designed to burrow beneath the surface of Mars landed on the Red Planet Monday. It was the end of a six-month, 300-million-mile journey for the InSight spacecraft, which included a perilous descent into the planet’s atmosphere that eventually resulted in a safe landing on the planet’s surface. It’s the first NASA landing on Mars since the Curiosity rover in 2012.

InSight is a $1 billion international venture. It’s designed to burrow 16 feet below the surface to learn more about the planet and its origins. No previous lander has dug deeper than several inches below the surface of Mars.