Camera on Mars Orbiter Snaps Phoenix During Landing

[Ronn! Blankenship]

PASADENA, Calif. -- A telescopic camera in orbit around Mars caught a 
view of NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander suspended from its parachute 
during the lander's successful arrival at Mars Sunday evening, May 25.

The image from the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment 
(HiRISE) on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter marks the first time 
ever one spacecraft has photographed another one in the act of 
landing on Mars.

[...]

"We saw a few other bright spots in the image first, but when we saw 
the parachute and the lander with the cords connecting them, there 
was no question," said HiRISE Principal Investigator Alfred McEwen, 
also of the University of Arizona.

Full text and picture at 
<http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/phoenix/news/phoenix-20080526.html>


. . . ronn!  :)