Today, NASA is celebrating the incredible success of what may be its most ambitious achievement since the lunar landing -- dropping its one-ton, $2.5 billion Mars Science Laboratory and Curiosity Rover safely on the surface of Mars.
The celebration began at 10:32 PST Sunday night when mission control issued the ecstatic announcement, “We are wheels down on Mars. Oh, my God.”
Now, as the nuclear-powered rover sets about its two-year mission hunting down signs of life on the red planet, congratulations are coming down from the highest levels of leadership for the technology and engineering contributors that helped make the success possible.
President Obama issued a statement shortly after the landing, noting that “the successful landing of Curiosity -- the most sophisticated roving laboratory ever to land on another planet -- marks an unprecedented feat of technology that will stand as a point of national pride far into the future.”
Charles Bolden, NASA administrator, added, “it is a huge day for the nation, it is a huge day for all of our partners who have something on Curiosity, and it is a huge day for the American people."
Included in these patriotic congratulations are the American manufacturers whose designs and products helped the project make it all the way to Mars.
Key among these manufacturers is ATK (IW 500/202), a Minneapolis-based aerospace, defense and commercial products company.
“We are extremely proud to have played a role in this incredible achievement for NASA and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory,” said Dianne Sosa, ATK vice president of Engineering Services. “We congratulate the NASA team for a successful landing and look forward to the key scientific findings that will help determine the potential for life on Mars.”
