Mars!
Mars Landing
The Block Twins have been waiting for this day since July 30 last year when a rocket launched from Florida carrying the newest robotic explorer to Mars! Today was the day that Perseverance was scheduled for landing…
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Swati Mohan
The live feed from NASA was SO exciting (anxiety-ridden, but exciting)!
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Parachute
Such a relief when the parachute deployed!!!
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Engines
And joy when the rocket engines came on!
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Safe!!!
Jubilation!!! Perseverance has landed safely!!! Just to get to the surface intact is amazing…
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First Photos
…but now the science work starts! Brand new images from the surface of the red planet began to arrive within minutes!
The Quimper Hitty human’s father was an astronomer when she was a child, so she and the Hittys always have a keen interest in extra-terrestrial events and discoveries! Hip Hip Hooray, and long live Perseverance!
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Quimper Hittys 
Thank you Block Twins (and Hitty Humans father) for your interest!!! (which I share) I was only listening to it all on the radio (CBC Radio One). This is absolutely wonderful visual account, to receive almost live! Thank you thank you thank you. (My interest was first awakened by my own father, who would take me out at night (the best thing about it) to look at the stars, and learn and learn and learn, from a very early age. Sp, as a teacher, of course The Universe was an annual study, culminating in Whole School Night School, when school started at 7:00PM and continued all night (students brought their PJs and sleeping bags) until the parents brought breakfast (to wake the sleeping, and take home the sleepy). Something none of them have forgotten, decades later. Yes! I DO miss it. So Thank You! Block Twinds and Hitty Human – you have a kindred spirit here. Immensely appreciated.
Sorry about the ecstatic typos peppered here and there!
We were all a-twitter here too, and your message was perfectly coherent to us! We love to share our fun!
And there’s a Canadian engineer taking part in piloting Perseverance and Ingenuity. Her name is Farah Alibay. Girl power!!! Thank you for taking us on this adventure!
It was so interesting to hear Swati Mohan’s play-by- play of the EDL (we learned what that was – Entry – Descent – Landing!) and to know that it was happening already ten minutes ago! Now to the next stage of engineering – flying the Helicopter and piloting the land rover! It is amazing to think of all that going on up there!
Thank you Block Twins and Kjerstin for keeping us abreast of space happenings. I’m afraid I’m in the dark about such things but surely wish I knew more.
We can’t help ourselves…looking up in the dark was my dad’s job for decades, so we are attuned to such things! He got a week off around the full moon – we kids had to tiptoe around during the day the rest of the time! It is ingrained in my bones! The problem for me (and the block twins) is that we were born in the southern hemisphere, so the constellations are all different to the ones we grew up with…ah for a glimpse of the “Clouds of Magellan”.
Delightful! Thank you for your amazing ability to capture the moment! Wow….
You are welcome! We were riveted – hooray for scientists and engineers!
space exploration is big at our house so we were riveted by the oh so tricky landing of the Perseverence. The diverse ground crew was an added plus. What an accomplishment ….now for the excitement of what this rover will transmit. Seeing the twins so enthralled made me smile!
We were so amazed to seeing the photos just minutes after that incredible landing! It was so exciting, and the twins didn’t even have to stay up all night to watch it (though they did stay up late chattering about it!)
Yes, our household was watching and praying for a safe landing . Just amazing . Can hardly wait to see if life on Mars ever existed. New discoveries will come forth for sure. Love that the block twins watched too .
Wasn’t it heart-stopping!? Even though it was all over by the time we saw it…I loved the commentary by Swati Mohan, and her jubilation at the successful landing! The twins were enthralled!
Perseverance was well named…. Such an achievement, and such patience from the twins, too.
The twins were quite jittery – small shrieks and little wooden heel-drumming were the soundtrack of the landing for us! We were so lucky it occurred at a reasonable time of day for us – BC being in the same time zone as the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California. It was interesting to learn that the scientists and engineers who are now in charge of the work, are now on “Mars clock” time!
I wonder how they’ll manage with the different day length. Their circadian rhythms will be all over the place!
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