Liftoff Videos

Every mission, with the videos that tell it

Rover or lander

A rover or lander mission puts a spacecraft on the surface of another world. A lander stays where it touches down. A rover drives across the terrain to study rocks, soil and dust. Radio signals take too long to cross space for real-time driving, so rovers work with some autonomy. The two working Mars rovers are NASA’s Curiosity and Perseverance, both in this list. Perseverance arrived with the Ingenuity helicopter, which ended its mission in 2024. Rovers must survive heavy launch loads, extreme temperatures, dust and cosmic rays, and keep working with no repairs for as long as the mission lasts.

Events

  • Curiosity

    Curiosity is a one-ton, car-sized rover built to find out whether Mars ever had conditions that could support life. The landing was the hard part.

    3 videos
    • NASA
    • NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory
    • Modern Mechanisms

  • Perseverance

    Perseverance is the first rover whose landing was recorded on camera, and NASA released the footage in 2021.

    5 videos
    • NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory
    • Mark Rober
    • NASA

Videos on this topic

The videos, in date order

Drag, zoom or press play to watch them on this page.

  1. Curiosity’s Mars Landing: Sky Crane, Touchdown and First Images

    NASA

  2. Curiosity’s Mars Landing: Entry, Descent and Sky Crane at JPL

    NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory

  3. Perseverance: Seven Minutes From Mars Atmosphere to Touchdown

    NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory

  4. Perseverance: Inside JPL Before the Seven Minutes of Terror

    Mark Rober

  5. Perseverance Landing on Mars: Descent Call-Outs and Real Footage

    NASA

  6. Perseverance’s Mars Landing: Descent Callouts From 12 km Up

    BBC News

  7. Perseverance Landing Footage: Parachute to Sky Crane Touchdown

    Guardian News

  8. How Mars Rovers Land and Get Power: Airbags to Flying Platform

    SciShow Kids

  9. NASA Moon Base Rovers: VIPER, Pegasus and the Crewed Lunar Vehicle

    NASA

  10. Curiosity at 14: Keeping a Mars Rover Running by Remote Control

    Modern Mechanisms

  11. How the Sky Crane Landed Curiosity on Mars in Seven Minutes

    Future Systems Explained

  12. Six Mars Rovers Compared: Landings, Discoveries and Distances

    Cardsplained
Play video: Six Mars Rovers Compared: Landings, Discoveries and Distances

Six Mars Rovers Compared: Landings, Discoveries and Distances

Cardsplained

Duration 12:42

Watch video

Dates are when each video was first published on YouTube.

All the videos

  3. Curiosity at 14: Keeping a Mars Rover Running by Remote Control

    Mission explainerModern Mechanisms · 10:53

    Mission: Curiosity

  4. How the Sky Crane Landed Curiosity on Mars in Seven Minutes

    Vehicle explainerFuture Systems Explained · 3:00

  6. Perseverance Landing Footage: Parachute to Sky Crane Touchdown

    DocumentaryGuardian News · 3:09

    Mission: Perseverance

  7. Curiosity’s Mars Landing: Sky Crane, Touchdown and First Images

    Launch coverageNASA · 9:23

    Mission: Curiosity

  8. Perseverance: Inside JPL Before the Seven Minutes of Terror

    Mission explainerMark Rober · 15:58

    Mission: Perseverance

  9. Perseverance: Seven Minutes From Mars Atmosphere to Touchdown

    Mission explainerNASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory · 3:11

    Mission: Perseverance

  10. Perseverance’s Mars Landing: Descent Callouts From 12 km Up

    Mission explainerBBC News · 3:26

    Mission: Perseverance

  11. Perseverance Landing on Mars: Descent Call-Outs and Real Footage

    DocumentaryNASA · 3:26

    Mission: Perseverance

  12. Curiosity’s Mars Landing: Entry, Descent and Sky Crane at JPL

    Launch coverageNASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory · 2:31

    Mission: Curiosity

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