Curiosity, Welcome to Mars!

Great job, NASA!  You've gotten Curiosity to Mars!

First images coming..  The first image is a thumbnail of a wheel in the foreground and the horizon of Mars in the background.  The first full resolution image is the shadow of Curiosity on the face of Mars.

I watched the landing live through the NASA JPL feed and it is hard to believe how smoothly it went.  Every piece of the entry vehicle operated exactly as designed.  The communications equipment worked perfectly with only short dropouts as various portions of the entry vehicle separated.  The is a fantastic feat of engineering.  I can't wait to see the science this rover produces.

Update:  Added photos of Curiosity during its parachute descent phase taken by the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter.

Update 2:  The mother lode of space ephemera blogs posted a great image collection of how we have imagined travel to Mars:
http://dreamsofspace.blogspot.com/2012/08/curiousity-on-mars-august-5-2012.html

Update 3:  Added photo of Curiosity's shadow with Mt. Gale in the background.

First High Resolution Image

Here is the first high resolution image from Curiosity.  The crud is dust on a protective shield that has now been lowered.

Fresh Image from the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter posted by NASA August 6:  Curiosity in descent under the hyper-sonic parachute.

 
Mission Control Post Landing Confirmation:  Here are a few shots of the control room post landing taken from my LCD.

Victory and relief.

This is the guy in charge of the entry vehicle team.  He cleaned up pretty good for someone who flunked Geometry in high school.

First images.  I'm still smiling!

Landing Plus 18 hours:  Curiosity's shadow with Mt. Gale in the background.  Our rover is going to climb that bad boy sometime during its two year mission.  "Our rover" as in during the press conference last night, the mission director mentioned that it cost each American around $7.00.  I think a little national pride is worth seven bucks.