The following is a statement from NASA Administrator Sean O'Keefe regarding Saturday's successful landing of the first Mars Excursion Rover (MER), Spirit, on the Martian surface. "Congratulations to the Mars Rover team on achieving a successful landing on the surface of Mars by the Rover Spirit. This amazing feat, coming so soon in the New Year, is a tribute to the dedication to the many men and women throughout NASA and our many partners who worked extremely hard to give our amazing rovers the best chance for success on their mission of exploration on the Red Planet. "In a few weeks, Spirit's twin Opportunity will be landing on the other side of the planet. The rovers will soon begin their mission to search the rocks of Mars for signs that water may have been present for lo

The Stardust probe has done what it was designed to do -- a fitting tribute to any aircraft of spaceship. It went out to meet the comet Wild 2, made a hair-raising near pass at almost 14,000 mph. Operating more than 242 million miles from Earth, Stardust came within 149 miles of Wild 2 (pronounced Vilt 2), snapping photos like a mad tourist and scooping up tiny particles of what could be the original cake mix used to form the universe. "We have successfully collected samples from a comet and we're bringing them home," said Don Brownlee, of the University of Washington, the mission's main scientist.

It's extraordinary news. NASA has confirmed that its Spirit Rover has reached the surface of Mars, as scheduled, at 2035 PM PST (2335 PM EST) Saturday. NASA's JPL has received early signals from the rover indicating that it survived the landing and is operating. We'll have more information as it is released.