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TUCSON - One of the most daring missions to space is complete.

Sunday night the rover, Curiosity, landed on Mars.

There were a lot of cheers inside NASA's control room.

Curiosity made a near perfect landing with all systems operating as expected.

Space fans from around the world were allowed to tap into a live feed, by logging on to nasa.gov.

Here's some background, the SUV-size rover has been traveling inside a capsule since November 26.

Its mission is to study the possibility that life once existed or could exist on Mars.

The $2.5 billion rover is supposed to last for two years on Mars, but it may operate longer.

Minutes after its landing, Curiosity sent back its first pictures.

Here's a fun fact, Sunday happened to be the 82nd birthday of former NASA astronaut Neil Armstrong.

It's hoped the birthday has brought, and will continue to bring good luck.

And there's at least one local connection to the Curiosity mission.

The University of Arizona's hi-rise camera orbiting Mars helped NASA find the rover's landing site.