Phoenix Lander

Ten kilometers up and three minutes to landing, the Phoenix lander drifts down to the surface of Mars. This extraordinary photograph was taken by the high-resolution camera on the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. Looking at the simulation of the landing I'm even more amazed at the achievement.

3 minutes to landing

The Mars orbiter presumably "knew", if that's the right word, that the landing was successful before we did on earth. It takes 15 minutes for the signal to arrive on our blue planet.

The strangeness of it all should keep us humble - we exist not by right but by accident.