One of the most complicated missions ever attempted by NASA, the landing of the one-ton rover Curiosity inside a crater on Mars after a 500 million kilometer journey, has apparently gone without a hitch.

Curiosity landed at 10:32 p.m. Pacific Time on Sunday, 5:32 GMT Monday, and it wasn't long before the first pictures arrived, including one of the Martian surface framed by Curiosity's wheel.

At a post-landing news conference, the scientists in charge of the program were welcomed like rock stars, and could barely contain their excitement. (You can watch a video of the event on YouTube.)

"So that rocked. Seriously. Was that cool or what?" said Richard Cook, Deputy Project Manager, Mars Science Laboratory