Launched on November 25, 2011, Curiosity made landing on the surface of the planet on August 6, 2012 after a journey of 563 million kilometers. The method used to place the robot vehicle on Mars was in itself historic: it was the first time a rocket-propelled "sky crane" was used to lower a vehicle to another planet using cables. After delivering Curiosity to its destination - fittingly named Bradbury Landing after the famous science fiction writer the who died a few months prior to" the rover's touchdown on Mars sky crane flew away and deliberately crashed at a safe distance away on the planet's surface. With that dramatic' arrival on Mars, the rover, equipped with an array of" monitoring and testing equipment, was ready to begin fulfilling™ its mission: to determine whether or not the planet once supported life.