Nasa Mars Rover 'Curiosity' Becomes Twitter Star After Red Planet Landing

'Curiosity' Mars Rover Becomes Twitter Star After Red Planet Landing
|

The Mars 'Curiosity' rover has become a Twitter sensation after sending back its first pictures of the red planet.

The rover 'live-tweeted' every stage of the landmark landing, including the deployment of its parachute at 900mph and the separation of the craft's backshell.

Within minutes of landing the craft had added thousands of followers, quickly rising past 500,000.

The craft said during the daring landing: "Backshell separation. It's just you & me now, descent stage. Engage all retrorockets! #MSL"

After the signal confirming that the robot had landed was received on Earth at 6.31am UK time, it sent out its

first picture of the planet:

Open Image Modal

This is the first picture from Mars, sent by the Curiosity rover

Take a look at the Rover's best tweets below.