# Pages Edited 20210218
# Headlines
Mars Perseverance Rover - "Percy" Lands
The NASA Perseverance rover safely landed on Mars after its 292.5 million-mile journey from Earth, the agency confirmed at 3:55 p.m. ET Thursday February 18, 2021.
The rover landed itself flawlessly, according to the mission's team. "Percy," as the spacecraft is affectionately called at mission control, sent back its first images of the landing site immediately after touchdown, which shows the rover's shadow on the surface of its landing site of Jezero Crater.
The rover has been on a nearly 300 million-mile journey since it left Earth more than 6 months ago.
Perseverance and her teams lived up to the namesake, overcoming the challenges of preparing for the journey's final stages during a pandemic.
"This landing is one of those pivotal moments for NASA, the United States, and space exploration globally -- when we know we are on the cusp of discovery and sharpening our pencils, so to speak, to rewrite the textbooks," said acting NASA Administrator Steve Jurczyk.
"The Mars 2020 Perseverance mission embodies our nation's spirit of persevering even in the most challenging of situations, inspiring, and advancing science and exploration.
The mission itself personifies the human ideal of persevering toward the future and will help us prepare for human exploration of the Red Planet in the 2030s."
President Joe Biden called Jurczyk and said, "Congratulations, man," and shared his congratulations to the thousands of people involved in the mission.