Touchdown

NASA, that strange mix of Murphy and magnificence, landed the InSight probe earlier this afternoon, safely finishing off a seven-month, 300 million-mile journey. All indications suggest the probe is in the place scientists want it to be, and it will spend the next two months or so getting ready for its scientific mission.

InSight, which is an acronym for Interior Exploration Using Seismic Investigations, Geodesy and Heat Transport, will deploy a small container of seismology equipment to check out "marsquakes" and such, as well as a heat probe that will dig about 16 feet under the surface of Elysium Planitia to see whatever may be seen down there.