How cool is it that not only did we succeed in a soft landing on Mars, but there was a camera in orbit to get an actual photo the landing?
On Monday, NASA released a black-and-white image captured during Phoenix's descent by the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, which had a bird's-eye view of the lander hanging from its parachute. It's the first time a spacecraft had taken an image of another craft during landing.
Alfred McEwen of the University of Arizona's Lunar and Planetary Laboratory said the camera aboard Reconnaissance Orbiter has taken many unique pictures of Mars, but "this one's really unique."
I know I've mentioned it before, but space exploration is an area I don't mind the government spending on (with the usual waste and fraud exceptions, of course).
