One year ago today, the Mars Science Laboratory rover Curiosity touched down on the Martian surface after a harrowing descent and daring sky-crane maneuver. Since then, the rover has traveled one mile over the surface of the red planet, gathering soil samples, analyzing the thin Martian atmosphere, drilling into rocks, and snapping photographs. While we haven’t yet found proof that life existed on Mars, Curiosity has discovered strong evidence of water flowing in streams, clues as to how Mars lost most of its atmosphere, and the basic elemental building blocks for life. It’s only been one year, and Curiosity has already taught us much about our planetary neighbor. Hopefully the next year will be just as eventful.
Scroll through our interactive timeline below to relive highlights of Curiosity ’s first year on Mars.
UPDATE: We’ve added additional milestones to cover Curiosity ’s ongoing mission.