TOUCHDOWN - Mars Landing of Curiosity Successful - First Images Coming In

UPDATE: The Rover Curiosity has landed successfully on Mars.

According to NASA Command Center, it's "all systems go" for the planned Mars landing at about 1:31 a.m. Aug. 6 (10:31 p.m. Aug. 5 on the West Coast). The latest update at 10:02 p.m. EDT reads:

Its approximately 352 million mile (567 million kilometer), 36-week journey from Earth nearly complete, NASA's Mars Science Laboratory spacecraft and its Curiosity rover are "all systems go" for touchdown in Mars' Gale Crater tonight at 10:31 p.m. PDT (1:31 a.m. EDT Aug. 6). This morning, flight controllers decided to forgo the sixth and final opportunity on the mission calendar for a course-correction maneuver. The spacecraft is headed for its target entry point at the top of Mars' atmosphere precisely enough that the maneuver was deemed unnecessary. In addition, this afternoon, mission controllers determined that no further updates are necessary to the onboard information the spacecraft will use during its autonomous control of MSL's entry, descent and landing. Parameters on a motion tracker were adjusted Saturday for fine-tuning determination of the spacecraft's orientation during its descent. As of 6:18 p.m. PDT (9:18 p.m. EDT), MSL was approximately 36,000 miles (57,936 kilometers) from Mars, traveling at a speed of about 8,400 mph (about 3,755 meters per second.

Get regular press updated on the NASA website and tune in for the live touchdown.