NASA's $2.6 billion rover, Curiosity, carried out a challenging landing on Mars early Monday after traveling hundreds of millions of miles through space in order to explore the Red Planet.

NASA

NASA's $2.6 billion rover, Curiosity, carried out a challenging landing on Mars early Monday after traveling hundreds of millions of miles through space in order to explore the Red Planet.

NASA

The SUV-sized Curiosity made its dramatic arrival on Martian terrain in a spectacle popularly known as the 'seven minutes of terror.'

NASA

NASA

NASA

NASA

NASA

NASA

NASA