{"id":16927,"date":"2018-11-26T21:36:59","date_gmt":"2018-11-26T21:36:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/federaltimes\/uncategorized\/2018\/11\/26\/nasa-insight-spacecraft-lands-on-red-planet-after-6-month-journey\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T04:37:49","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T04:37:49","slug":"nasa-insight-spacecraft-lands-on-red-planet-after-6-month-journey","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/federaltimes\/management\/2018\/11\/26\/nasa-insight-spacecraft-lands-on-red-planet-after-6-month-journey\/","title":{"rendered":"NASA InSight spacecraft lands on red planet after 6-month journey"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/atype-video-jwplayer>
NASA’s Rob Manning explains the critical steps that must happen in perfect sequence to get the robotic lander safely to the surface.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. \u2014 A NASA spacecraft designed to burrow beneath the surface of Mars landed on the red planet Monday after a six-month, 300 million-mile journey and a perilous, six-minute descent through the rose-hued atmosphere.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After waiting in white-knuckle suspense for confirmation to arrive from space, flight controllers at NASA\u2019s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, leaped out of their seats and erupted in screams, applause and laughter as the news came in that the three-legged InSight spacecraft had successfully touched down.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhat a relief,\u201d Manning said. \u201cThis is really fantastic.\u201d He added: \u201cWow! This never gets old.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

InSight, a $1 billion international venture, reached the surface after going from 12,300 mph (19,800 kph) to zero in six minutes flat, using a parachute and braking engines. Radio signals confirming the landing took more than eight minutes to cross the nearly 100 million miles between Mars and Earth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Viewings were held coast to coast at museums, planetariums and libraries, as well as New York\u2019s Times Square.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
A image transmitted from Mars by the InSight lander is seen on a computer screen at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory Monday, Nov. 26, 2018, in Pasadena, Calif. (NASA via AP)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

NASA last landed on Mars in 2012 with the Curiosity rover.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cLanding on Mars is one of the hardest single jobs that people have to do in planetary exploration,\u201d InSight\u2019s lead scientist, Bruce Banerdt, said before Monday\u2019s success. \u201cIt\u2019s such a difficult thing, it\u2019s such a dangerous thing that there\u2019s always a fairly uncomfortably large chance that something could go wrong.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mars has been the graveyard for a multitude of space missions. Up to now, the success rate at the red planet was only 40 percent, counting every attempted flyby, orbital flight and landing by the U.S., Russia and other countries since 1960.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The U.S., however, has pulled off seven successful Mars landings in the past four decades, not counting InSight, with only one failed touchdown. No other country has managed to set and operate a spacecraft on the dusty surface.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

InSight was shooting for Elysium Planitia, a plain near the Martian equator that the InSight team hopes is as flat as a parking lot in Kansas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The stationary 800-pound (360-kilogram) lander will use its 6-foot (1.8-meter) robotic arm to place a mechanical mole and seismometer on the ground. The self-hammering mole will burrow 16 feet (5 meters) down to measure the planet\u2019s internal heat, while the seismometer listens for possible quakes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
In this handout provided by NASA, Tom Hoffman, InSight Project Manager, NASA JPL reacts to the first image to be seen from the Mars InSight lander shortly after confirmation of a successful touch down on the surface of Mars, inside the Mission Support Area at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory on Nov. 26, 2018 in Pasadena, California. (Bill Ingalls\/NASA via Getty Images)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

No lander has dug deeper on Mars than several inches, and no seismometer has ever worked on the planet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Germany is in charge of InSight\u2019s mole, while France is in charge of the seismometer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

An ecstatic Philippe Laudet, the French Space Agency\u2019s project manager, said at JPL that now that the seismometer is on Mars, a \u201cnew adventure\u201d is beginning.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By examining the interior of Mars, scientists hope to understand how our solar system\u2019s rocky planets formed 4.5 billion years ago and why they turned out so different \u2014 Mars cold and dry, Venus and Mercury burning hot, and Earth hospitable to life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

InSight has no life-detecting capability, however. That will be left to future rovers, such as NASA\u2019s Mars 2020 mission, which will collect rocks that will eventually be brought back to Earth and analyzed for evidence of ancient life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives <\/i>support<\/i><\/a> from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute\u2019s Department of Science Education. The AP is solely responsible for all content.<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A NASA spacecraft designed to burrow beneath the surface of Mars landed on the red planet Monday after a six-month, 300 million-mile journey and a perilous, six-minute descent through the rose-hued atmosphere.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":53289,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-noindex":"","_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-nofollow":"","_yoast_wpseo_canonical":"","_acf":"","_yoast_wpseo_primary_category":15,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_smg_distribution_targets":[]},"categories":[104,31,15,33],"tags":[],"coauthors":[1768],"class_list":["post-16927","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-acquisition-update","category-home","category-management","category-newsletters"],"acf":{"subheadline":"","legacy_arc_id":"VETXE4PQYJDDZFTEWIONQKIFPQ","arc_canonical_url":"\/management\/2018\/11\/26\/nasa-insight-spacecraft-lands-on-red-planet-after-6-month-journey\/","remove_feature_photo":true,"is_sponsored":false,"subtype":"","redirect_url":"","disable_inline_ads":false,"native_logo_pretext":"Presented By:"},"yoast_head":"\nNASA InSight spacecraft lands on red planet after 6-month journey - Federal Times<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"A NASA spacecraft designed to burrow beneath the surface of Mars landed on the red planet Monday after a six-month, 300 million-mile journey and a perilous, six-minute descent through the rose-hued atmosphere.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"NASA InSight spacecraft lands on red planet after 6-month journey\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"A NASA spacecraft designed to burrow beneath the surface of Mars landed on the red planet Monday after a six-month, 300 million-mile journey and a perilous, six-minute descent through the rose-hued atmosphere.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/federaltimes\/management\/2018\/11\/26\/nasa-insight-spacecraft-lands-on-red-planet-after-6-month-journey\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Federal Times\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2018-11-26T21:36:59+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-08-08T04:37:49+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Marcia Dunn, The Associated Press\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Marcia Dunn, The Associated Press\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\n\t \"@context\": \"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\n\t \"@graph\": [\n\t {\n\t \"@type\": \"Article\",\n\t \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/federaltimes\\\/management\\\/2018\\\/11\\\/26\\\/nasa-insight-spacecraft-lands-on-red-planet-after-6-month-journey\\\/#article\",\n\t \"isPartOf\": {\n\t \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/federaltimes\\\/management\\\/2018\\\/11\\\/26\\\/nasa-insight-spacecraft-lands-on-red-planet-after-6-month-journey\\\/\"\n\t },\n\t \"author\": {\n\t \"name\": \"migration\",\n\t \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/federaltimes\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/cc76c831bb37a926738c8391fca7a3b1\"\n\t },\n\t \"headline\": \"NASA InSight spacecraft lands on red planet after 6-month journey\",\n\t \"datePublished\": \"2018-11-26T21:36:59+00:00\",\n\t \"dateModified\": \"2026-08-08T04:37:49+00:00\",\n\t \"mainEntityOfPage\": {\n\t \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/federaltimes\\\/management\\\/2018\\\/11\\\/26\\\/nasa-insight-spacecraft-lands-on-red-planet-after-6-month-journey\\\/\"\n\t },\n\t \"wordCount\": 647,\n\t \"commentCount\": 0,\n\t \"publisher\": {\n\t \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/federaltimes\\\/#organization\"\n\t },\n\t \"image\": {\n\t \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/federaltimes\\\/management\\\/2018\\\/11\\\/26\\\/nasa-insight-spacecraft-lands-on-red-planet-after-6-month-journey\\\/#primaryimage\"\n\t },\n\t \"thumbnailUrl\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/08\\\/GettyImages-1065500248-Copy.jpg.jpg\",\n\t \"articleSection\": [\n\t \"Acquisition and Management Update\",\n\t \"Home\",\n\t \"Inside the Agencies\",\n\t \"Newsletters\"\n\t ],\n\t \"inLanguage\": \"en-US\",\n\t \"potentialAction\": [\n\t {\n\t \"@type\": \"CommentAction\",\n\t \"name\": \"Comment\",\n\t \"target\": [\n\t \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/federaltimes\\\/management\\\/2018\\\/11\\\/26\\\/nasa-insight-spacecraft-lands-on-red-planet-after-6-month-journey\\\/#respond\"\n\t ]\n\t }\n\t ]\n\t },\n\t {\n\t \"@type\": \"WebPage\",\n\t \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/federaltimes\\\/management\\\/2018\\\/11\\\/26\\\/nasa-insight-spacecraft-lands-on-red-planet-after-6-month-journey\\\/\",\n\t \"url\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/federaltimes\\\/management\\\/2018\\\/11\\\/26\\\/nasa-insight-spacecraft-lands-on-red-planet-after-6-month-journey\\\/\",\n\t \"name\": \"NASA InSight spacecraft lands on red planet after 6-month journey - Federal Times\",\n\t \"isPartOf\": {\n\t \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/federaltimes\\\/#website\"\n\t },\n\t \"primaryImageOfPage\": {\n\t \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/federaltimes\\\/management\\\/2018\\\/11\\\/26\\\/nasa-insight-spacecraft-lands-on-red-planet-after-6-month-journey\\\/#primaryimage\"\n\t },\n\t \"image\": {\n\t \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/federaltimes\\\/management\\\/2018\\\/11\\\/26\\\/nasa-insight-spacecraft-lands-on-red-planet-after-6-month-journey\\\/#primaryimage\"\n\t },\n\t \"thumbnailUrl\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/08\\\/GettyImages-1065500248-Copy.jpg.jpg\",\n\t \"datePublished\": \"2018-11-26T21:36:59+00:00\",\n\t \"dateModified\": \"2026-08-08T04:37:49+00:00\",\n\t \"description\": \"A NASA spacecraft designed to burrow beneath the surface of Mars landed on the red planet Monday after a six-month, 300 million-mile journey and a perilous, six-minute descent through the rose-hued atmosphere.\",\n\t \"breadcrumb\": {\n\t \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/federaltimes\\\/management\\\/2018\\\/11\\\/26\\\/nasa-insight-spacecraft-lands-on-red-planet-after-6-month-journey\\\/#breadcrumb\"\n\t },\n\t \"inLanguage\": \"en-US\",\n\t \"potentialAction\": [\n\t {\n\t \"@type\": \"ReadAction\",\n\t \"target\": [\n\t \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/federaltimes\\\/management\\\/2018\\\/11\\\/26\\\/nasa-insight-spacecraft-lands-on-red-planet-after-6-month-journey\\\/\"\n\t ]\n\t }\n\t ]\n\t },\n\t {\n\t \"@type\": \"ImageObject\",\n\t \"inLanguage\": \"en-US\",\n\t \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/federaltimes\\\/management\\\/2018\\\/11\\\/26\\\/nasa-insight-spacecraft-lands-on-red-planet-after-6-month-journey\\\/#primaryimage\",\n\t \"url\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/08\\\/GettyImages-1065500248-Copy.jpg.jpg\",\n\t \"contentUrl\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/08\\\/GettyImages-1065500248-Copy.jpg.jpg\"\n\t },\n\t {\n\t \"@type\": \"BreadcrumbList\",\n\t \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/federaltimes\\\/management\\\/2018\\\/11\\\/26\\\/nasa-insight-spacecraft-lands-on-red-planet-after-6-month-journey\\\/#breadcrumb\",\n\t \"itemListElement\": [\n\t {\n\t \"@type\": \"ListItem\",\n\t \"position\": 1,\n\t \"name\": \"Home\",\n\t \"item\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/federaltimes\\\/\",\n\t \"ad_zone\": \"home\"\n\t },\n\t {\n\t \"@type\": \"ListItem\",\n\t \"position\": 2,\n\t \"name\": \"Inside the Agencies\",\n\t \"item\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/federaltimes\\\/management\\\/\",\n\t \"ad_zone\": \"management\"\n\t },\n\t {\n\t \"@type\": \"ListItem\",\n\t \"position\": 3,\n\t \"name\": \"NASA InSight spacecraft lands on red planet after 6-month journey\"\n\t }\n\t ]\n\t },\n\t {\n\t \"@type\": \"WebSite\",\n\t \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/federaltimes\\\/#website\",\n\t \"url\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/federaltimes\\\/\",\n\t \"name\": \"Federal Times\",\n\t \"description\": \"Federal Times\",\n\t \"publisher\": {\n\t \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/federaltimes\\\/#organization\"\n\t },\n\t \"potentialAction\": [\n\t {\n\t \"@type\": \"SearchAction\",\n\t \"target\": {\n\t \"@type\": \"EntryPoint\",\n\t \"urlTemplate\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/federaltimes\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"\n\t },\n\t \"query-input\": {\n\t \"@type\": \"PropertyValueSpecification\",\n\t \"valueRequired\": true,\n\t \"valueName\": \"search_term_string\"\n\t }\n\t }\n\t ],\n\t \"inLanguage\": \"en-US\"\n\t },\n\t {\n\t \"@type\": \"Organization\",\n\t \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/federaltimes\\\/#organization\",\n\t \"name\": \"Federal Times\",\n\t \"url\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/federaltimes\\\/\",\n\t \"logo\": {\n\t \"@type\": \"ImageObject\",\n\t \"inLanguage\": \"en-US\",\n\t \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/federaltimes\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\",\n\t \"url\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/federal-logo-white.png\",\n\t \"contentUrl\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/federal-logo-white.png\",\n\t \"caption\": \"Federal Times\"\n\t },\n\t \"image\": {\n\t \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/federaltimes\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\"\n\t }\n\t },\n\t {\n\t \"@type\": \"Person\",\n\t \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/federaltimes\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/cc76c831bb37a926738c8391fca7a3b1\",\n\t \"name\": \"migration\",\n\t \"image\": {\n\t \"@type\": \"ImageObject\",\n\t \"inLanguage\": \"en-US\",\n\t \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/9e8d47be443ce94ce7fc357677b5f9c70235bb1f59e7267a102a74af58c04f59?s=96&d=mm&r=gcf4cb6ee0ec29e49e7a963234e4340ec\",\n\t \"url\": \"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/9e8d47be443ce94ce7fc357677b5f9c70235bb1f59e7267a102a74af58c04f59?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\n\t \"contentUrl\": \"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/9e8d47be443ce94ce7fc357677b5f9c70235bb1f59e7267a102a74af58c04f59?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\n\t \"caption\": \"migration\"\n\t },\n\t \"url\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/federaltimes\\\/author\\\/migration\\\/\"\n\t }\n\t ]\n\t}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"NASA InSight spacecraft lands on red planet after 6-month journey - Federal Times","description":"A NASA spacecraft designed to burrow beneath the surface of Mars landed on the red planet Monday after a six-month, 300 million-mile journey and a perilous, six-minute descent through the rose-hued atmosphere.","robots":{"index":"noindex","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"NASA InSight spacecraft lands on red planet after 6-month journey","og_description":"A NASA spacecraft designed to burrow beneath the surface of Mars landed on the red planet Monday after a six-month, 300 million-mile journey and a perilous, six-minute descent through the rose-hued atmosphere.","og_url":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/federaltimes\/management\/2018\/11\/26\/nasa-insight-spacecraft-lands-on-red-planet-after-6-month-journey\/","og_site_name":"Federal Times","article_published_time":"2018-11-26T21:36:59+00:00","article_modified_time":"2026-08-08T04:37:49+00:00","author":"Marcia Dunn, The Associated Press","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Marcia Dunn, The Associated Press","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/federaltimes\/management\/2018\/11\/26\/nasa-insight-spacecraft-lands-on-red-planet-after-6-month-journey\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/federaltimes\/management\/2018\/11\/26\/nasa-insight-spacecraft-lands-on-red-planet-after-6-month-journey\/"},"author":{"name":"migration","@id":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/federaltimes\/#\/schema\/person\/cc76c831bb37a926738c8391fca7a3b1"},"headline":"NASA InSight spacecraft lands on red planet after 6-month journey","datePublished":"2018-11-26T21:36:59+00:00","dateModified":"2026-08-08T04:37:49+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/federaltimes\/management\/2018\/11\/26\/nasa-insight-spacecraft-lands-on-red-planet-after-6-month-journey\/"},"wordCount":647,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/federaltimes\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/federaltimes\/management\/2018\/11\/26\/nasa-insight-spacecraft-lands-on-red-planet-after-6-month-journey\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/GettyImages-1065500248-Copy.jpg.jpg","articleSection":["Acquisition and Management Update","Home","Inside the Agencies","Newsletters"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/federaltimes\/management\/2018\/11\/26\/nasa-insight-spacecraft-lands-on-red-planet-after-6-month-journey\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/federaltimes\/management\/2018\/11\/26\/nasa-insight-spacecraft-lands-on-red-planet-after-6-month-journey\/","url":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/federaltimes\/management\/2018\/11\/26\/nasa-insight-spacecraft-lands-on-red-planet-after-6-month-journey\/","name":"NASA InSight spacecraft lands on red planet after 6-month journey - Federal Times","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/federaltimes\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/federaltimes\/management\/2018\/11\/26\/nasa-insight-spacecraft-lands-on-red-planet-after-6-month-journey\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/federaltimes\/management\/2018\/11\/26\/nasa-insight-spacecraft-lands-on-red-planet-after-6-month-journey\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/GettyImages-1065500248-Copy.jpg.jpg","datePublished":"2018-11-26T21:36:59+00:00","dateModified":"2026-08-08T04:37:49+00:00","description":"A NASA spacecraft designed to burrow beneath the surface of Mars landed on the red planet Monday after a six-month, 300 million-mile journey and a perilous, six-minute descent through the rose-hued atmosphere.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/federaltimes\/management\/2018\/11\/26\/nasa-insight-spacecraft-lands-on-red-planet-after-6-month-journey\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/federaltimes\/management\/2018\/11\/26\/nasa-insight-spacecraft-lands-on-red-planet-after-6-month-journey\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/federaltimes\/management\/2018\/11\/26\/nasa-insight-spacecraft-lands-on-red-planet-after-6-month-journey\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/GettyImages-1065500248-Copy.jpg.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/GettyImages-1065500248-Copy.jpg.jpg"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/federaltimes\/management\/2018\/11\/26\/nasa-insight-spacecraft-lands-on-red-planet-after-6-month-journey\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/federaltimes\/","ad_zone":"home"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Inside the Agencies","item":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/federaltimes\/management\/","ad_zone":"management"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"NASA InSight spacecraft lands on red planet after 6-month journey"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/federaltimes\/#website","url":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/federaltimes\/","name":"Federal Times","description":"Federal Times","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/federaltimes\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/federaltimes\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/federaltimes\/#organization","name":"Federal Times","url":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/federaltimes\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/federaltimes\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/federal-logo-white.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/federal-logo-white.png","caption":"Federal Times"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/federaltimes\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"}},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/federaltimes\/#\/schema\/person\/cc76c831bb37a926738c8391fca7a3b1","name":"migration","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/9e8d47be443ce94ce7fc357677b5f9c70235bb1f59e7267a102a74af58c04f59?s=96&d=mm&r=gcf4cb6ee0ec29e49e7a963234e4340ec","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/9e8d47be443ce94ce7fc357677b5f9c70235bb1f59e7267a102a74af58c04f59?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/9e8d47be443ce94ce7fc357677b5f9c70235bb1f59e7267a102a74af58c04f59?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"migration"},"url":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/federaltimes\/author\/migration\/"}]}},"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"Federal Times","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/federaltimes","push-errors":false,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/GettyImages-1065500248-Copy.jpg.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/federaltimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16927","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/federaltimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/federaltimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/federaltimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/federaltimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16927"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/federaltimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16927\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16930,"href":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/federaltimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16927\/revisions\/16930"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/federaltimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16927"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/federaltimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16927"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/federaltimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16927"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/federaltimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=16927"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}