The East African Friday February 19 2021 French President Emmanuel Macron stands in front of a screen broadcasting the landing of NASA’s Perseverance Mars rover on the planet Mars in Paris on February 18, 2021. PHOTO | AFP Advertisement After seven months in space, NASA's Perseverance rover overcame a tense landing phase with a series of perfectly executed manoeuvres to gently float down to the Martian soil Thursday and embark on its mission to search for signs of past life. "Touchdown confirmed," said operations lead Swati Mohan at 3:55pm Eastern Time as mission control at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena erupted in cheers.