NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander got down its first full day of work in the Red Planet's chilly north polar region on Monday, while the team behind the mission released an unprecedented picture showing the probe's descent as seen from above."Speaking as an engineer, this is equivalent to the first images of landing," NASA project manager Barry Goldstein told reporters. "This was quite an engineering feat."
The picture was taken on Sunday by NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, which was passing overhead just as Phoenix was floating through Mars' thin atmosphere on the end of its parachute.
The 9-foot-wide (2.6-meter-wide) Phoenix spacecraft as well as its 30-foot-wide (10-meter-wide) parachute and cords were clearly visible, even though the orbiter was about 475 miles (760 kilometers) away. "There was an element of luck," MRO project manager Jim Erickson admitted.
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