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PASADENA, Calif. – When Nasa's InSight module crossed the final line of its Mars route yesterday, there were applause, tears, hugs, and handshakes to mark the successful landing.
But did you see the touchdown dance? Flashes and you may miss it in the replay of the video. That dance of clapping hands, clapping and dancing? Yes, it happened. And it's lovely!
"It's actually a landing party," said Gene Bonfiglio, one of NASA's two landing, landing and landing systems engineers who conquered our hearts with the landing dance on Mars. He threw his hands up in the air like a football referee. "You know, like" Touchdown! " [NASA’s InSight Mars Lander: Full Coverage]
"As in the NFL," added Brooke Harper, who performed the ball with Bonfiglio. "We thought it was very appropriate to have a touchdown celebration for an official lander touchdown on Mars."
NASA's landing, descent and landing systems engineers Brooke Harper (right) and Gene Bonfiglio (left) celebrate NASA's successful InSight on Mars with a touchdown dance at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory mission control center in November 26, 2018 in Pasadena, California.
Credit: Bill Ingalls / NASA
And fitting was. When the signal confirming the safe landing of the InSight probe on Mars arrived at the NASA mission control center at the agency's Jet Propulsion Laboratory on Monday (Nov. 26), Bonfiglio and Harper stood in one of three long rows of consoles and began their routine.
It was a touchdown dance, so it's no surprise that the engineers were inspired while watching the NFL games.
"We're just two football fans," Bonfiglio told Space.com. He's a fan of the New England Patriots. Harper roots for the heads of Kansas City. "And we got really bad at it," Bonfiglio said.
Bonfiglio and Harper decided to do the dance months ago while InSight was still sailing toward Mars. But what kind of dance should they do?
Then Bonfiglio saw some football fans perform the dance on TV. His wife loved it. Your son, too. And here was the birth of the Mars InSight touchdown.
The two engineers trained for weeks to help InSight celebrate its big day. And yes, there was some concern about the misfortune of landing by pre-planning for success.
"We have our little superstitions, just like everyone else does," Harper said. "For me, I definitely had some reservations, but I had confidence in our teams and in our spacecraft.
And as InSight preached his landing, Bonfiglio and Harper preached their commemorative dance. The rest, as they say, is history.
You can see some incredible pictures of the landing day InSight Mars here.
NASA's InSight Mars landing module was launched on the Red Planet in May and will spend about two Earth years (about a year from Mars) studying the Martian interior with a set of seismometers, a probe and other instruments. Scientists hope the $ 850 million mission will help them better understand how Mars has formed and answer questions about the formation of other rocky and terrestrial planets.
Send an email to Tariq Malik at [email protected] or follow it @tariqjmalik. Follow Us @Spacedotcom and Facebook. Originally posted in Space.com.
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