---
title: "NASA Releases Video of Perseverance Touching Down on Mars"
description: "Touchdown! NASA just released footage of its Perseverance Mars rover touching down on the Red Planet. The awe-inspiring video is a nail-biter — though it ended in success, it’s yet another illustration of the extraordinary difficult of landing a heavy spacecraft on an alien world. Your front-row seat to my Mars landing is here. Watch […]"
date: "2021-02-22"
modified: "2021-02-22"
authors:
  - name: "Jon Christian"
    job_title: "Executive Editor"
    link: "https://futurism.com/authors/jonc"
url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/nasa-video-perseverance-touching-down-mars"
categories:
  - "Astronomy"
  - "Mars"
  - "NASA"
  - "Space"
tags:
  - "mars"
  - "NASA"
  - "perseverance"
  - "the digest"
---

# NASA Releases Video of Perseverance Touching Down on Mars

![NASA just released footage of its Perseverance Mars rover touching down on the Red Planet. The incredible video is a nail biter.](<https://futurism.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/mars-video.jpg>)
*\<em\>Image: NASA via Twitter / Futurism\</em\>*

## Touchdown!

NASA just released footage of its Perseverance Mars rover touching down on the Red Planet.

The awe-inspiring video is a nail-biter — though it ended in success, it's yet another illustration of the extraordinary difficult of landing a heavy research spacecraft on an alien world.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4czjS9h4Fpg

## Parachute Pants

First, the rover deploys a large parachute to slow down. Then the heat shield separated, allowing the mission's first footage of the Martian surface.

That's when things got really wild, with the ground rapidly approaching as NASA's Skycrane system slowed the descent further, before gently depositing the rover on the surface of the Red Planet, where it kicked up an enormous dust storm.

And when the landing was confirmed, there was an emotional moment, with riotous cheering audible at NASA mission control.

**More on Perseverance:** [*In Reversal, NASA Is Now Releasing RAW Images From Perseverance*](<https://futurism.com/the-byte/nasa-now-releasing-raw-images-perseverance>)

## Author
I'm responsible for editing, assigning, and scouting at Futurism, as well as occasionally writing for the site. That work involves keeping an eye on a wide range of narratives and issues, but over the past few years I've become increasingly interested in how AI is shaping the future of media, the web, and information itself. My day-to-day often involves collaborating on reporting and commentary projects bylined by my colleagues, but I try to find time to do my own reporting as well; stories I've broken for Futurism have been cited by publications including the New York Times, the Washington Post, the New Yorker, Wired, Ars Technica, New York Magazine, the Columbia Journalism Review, Bloomberg, and more. I grew up in Southern Vermont and attended Vanderbilt University. Prior to Futurism, I contributed to outlets including the Boston Globe, Vice, Wired, Slate, the Atlantic, the Outline, Ars Technica and more, and did stints in farming and food service. I currently live in Brooklyn, New York, and in my free time I enjoy pinball, word games, cycling, running, and music production.

### Author social links  
[Bluesky](<https://bsky.app/profile/jonchristian.net>)