Central Oregonians cheer as NASA’s Perseverance rover lands on Mars
NASA ambassador, La Pine fifth-grader excited by successful touchdown
SUNRIVER, Ore. (KTVZ) -- NASA has moved one step closer to possibly discovering life on other planets, and Central Oregonians were cheering Thursday's successful landing of the Mars rover Perseverance with the rest of the country.
Over 1 million people tuned into NASA’s live stream, waiting for the words “touchdown confirmed” -- and to see the eruption of cheers from the Jet Propulsion Laboratory's control room, and the first new images from the red planet.
Just after 1 p.m., more than 127 million miles away, NASA’s newest rover officially touched down after a voyage of nearly seven months.
Oregon Observatory Manager Bob Grossfeld in Sunriver said he was relieved at the successful mission.
"Glad it all happened smoothly,” he said.
Grossfeld has been a NASA ambassador for about 20 years. He explained the latest rover's mission.
"So we're actually going to look for samples,” Grossfeld said. “We're going to go back and get them, and bring them back to the Earth. So that's super cool."
He hopes the rover helps NASA answer some big questions.
"Is it possible that life was there at one time?" Grossfeld said. "And if so, what happened? Is it possible to be able to sustain life in the future?”
Grossfeld said the future of space exploration is with the youth.
"The kids running around today -- I know there's a fifth-grade class watching this thing live -- well, they may be the generation that goes to Mars,” Grossfeld said.
One of those students, Samantha Berry from Rosland Elementary in La Pine, is fascinated by space and watched the rover landing stream in class.
"I was really happy for the NASA team, because they worked seven months and they worked really hard for it,” Berry said.
Grossfeld says he's confident there’s only more discoveries yet to come.
"Because this is just a stepping stone,” Grossfeld said. “We’re going to move on. As humankind has a tendency to push on forward, this is just one stepping stone -- and it’s super-exciting."
